Originally Posted by
Jxxlewis
I am a newbie at this so if this is a stupid comment forgive me. I am looking to go to Great Britain in the fall and want to cash in miles to fly Club World. The 'free' ticket shows over $500 in taxes, fees etc from Phoenix. This is significantly more than the approximate $150 tax and fees for US Air or Delta. The beauty of BA for me is its non stop. These fees are really steep. I assume its the fuel adjuster but why aren't the other airlines charging so much? is there any way to avoid some of these fees?
Welcome to FT Jxxlewis!
You are 100% correct, it is the fuel surcharge. The BA YQ charge for the PHX-LHR route is USD 418, for US, DL and NW it is zero. Now for paid tickets that is not all that serious as the BA fare is quite a bit lower so that the total amount is not as different. One could say that the US based airlines have partly absorbed the QA surcharge in their fares. But of course for an award ticket you dont see that 'saving' and you bear the full brunt of the surcharge. It is not impossible that BA will adjust the surcharge in the coming months (as they did in December), but for now you are stuck with it.
Look at ITA (
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/) to see the make up of the fare. This should give you a pretty good idea of the 'taxes' you will have to pay for an award ticket.