It is a protection against fraudulent use of an account
By requiring the account holder to pay the taxes by card on an award issued from the account, there is less chance of someone coming and claiming miles were fraudulenetly used
Unless the award is being issued for travel on BA or IB, the only charges will be taxes ( other than expedited processing fees )
For LHR-PHX , for 1 person, the taxes in business class are $313.10 one way
United States APHIS Passenger Fee Passengers (XA) US$3.96
United States Customs User Fee (YC) US$5.77
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge Departures (UB) US$59.00
United Kingdom Air Passenger Duty APD (GB) US$217.80
United States Immigration User Fee (XY) US$7.00
US International Arrival Tax (US) US$18.60
Some of the US taxes may be exempt on an award
Last edited by Dave Noble; Jul 2, 2019 at 8:38 pm