Originally Posted by
yscleo
Looking at a trip Toronto to Taiwan in Jan./2012.
Buying *A ticket is $1170 tax-in. Using AE points to book, not so good connections, the tax/surcharges comes to $530. Ouch.
It doesn't seem worth it to use AE points when AC adds all those charges.
Choose a different way of getting there and avoid AC to minimize your surcharges. There are several *A ways of getting there other than AC.