Originally Posted by
pps197
I assumed that the fees for economy were MUCH lower.
I'm just looking at booking a reward economy flight LHR-LAX-LHR for a family member, and I was taken aback at the £330 cost of this "free" flight.
They're not free by any stretch of the imagination. As you've discovered; and the airline hasn't marketed award flights as "free" for a very long time.
This is why the usual advice here is that redeeming for economy awards is usually (although not always) a very bad idea.
The "carrier imposed charge" is the item formerly known as the "fuel surcharge".