36902BRF

Yep the last time I compared the surcharges a few weeks back VS has now exceed BA. If you book two one-ways you will reduce the surcharges somewhat since your return will be booked at the ex-UK rates vs the more usurious stick it to folks departing the US rate. I basically won't use VS ex-US at this point (at least on VS points) even with half off points it doesn't make sense (I also hold a number of BoA CC free upgrade certs which allows me to book a cabin and upgrade to the next higher cabin only paying the additional cash surcharges of course and won't use those ex-US either but will from other countries--the good news is the VS ones are more flexible in this regard than the BA certs). From the UK it can still make sense to fly VS given the somewhat lower surcharges and the fact that ex-EU surcharges are higher on other carriers as well if not to the same extent as VS and BA. Basically with the BoA CC cert I can get UC from LHR to east coast of US for 17,500 points (premium econ points requirement) + $731.65 in surcharges (J rate). As an alternative AF from CDG is 70,000 points + $338.35.. So basically I am looking at paying $393.30 more in cash but saving 52,500 in points. That is like buying points for 7/10 of a cent which isn't bad (also VS points are much easier for me to earn than AF too). A decent if not incredible deal. The math for the 50% of deal here is closer to paying 1.7 cent per point which is a poor value in my book. So even with this deal if you have a choice of carriers to redeem on this may still be poor deal. However if you are points constrained it may well represent a good deal compared to cash.