Here I am at home convalescing after having my appendix removed (thanks in advance for all your get well wishes
) - so I decided to do a little study of the Fuel Surcharges that airlines will charge for the same itinerary. The tables below summarise the results
For simplicity I devised an itinerary that keeps the number of segments low – namely
LHR-(BA/CX/QF)-HKG-(JL)-NRT-(AA)-JFK-(LA)-SCL-(IB)-MAD-(RJ)-AMM-BUD-(AY)-HEL-LHR
Starting from LHR – I produced three itineraries – one with a BA flight for the first segment, then CX then QF. The next itinerary started from HKG flying JL – it ended with a LHR-HKG tagged on the end. And so on, ending with an itinerary starting BUD-HEL and ending AMM-BUD
Summary results in local currency:
Code:
Airline Start Cur’cy Base All Tax YQ Component
BA LHR GBP 2,052 442.20 178.00
CX LHR GBP 2,052 412.70 112.00
QF LHR GBP 2,052 442.20 185.50
JL HKG HKD 27,600 2,959 78.00
AA NRT JPY 370,000 31,340 3,500
LA JFK USD 4,404 225.98 -
IB SCL USD 3,304 596.29 190.00
RJ MAD EUR 2,472 246.62 107.62
MA AMM
AY BUD HUF 637,800 70,000 -
Summary results in AUD:
Code:
Airline Start Base All Tax YQ Component
BA LHR 3,697.30 796.76 320.72
CX LHR 3,697.30 743.60 201.80
QF LHR 3,697.30 796.76 334.23
JL HKG 4,107.14 440.33 11.61
AA NRT 4,786.55 405.43 45.28
LA JFK 5,091.33 261.25 -
IB SCL 3,819.65 689.35 219.65
RJ MAD 3,899.05 388.99 169.75
MA AMM
AY BUD 3,665.52 402.30 -
YQ Findings:
- The tool would not let me start an itinerary with MA as the first carrier (neither AMM-BUD nor BUD-HEL)
- AY and LA charged no YQ
- JL and AA charged a small YQ
- RJ, CX and IB were in the middle
- BA and QF were the expensive ones