Originally Posted by
Flying for Fun
Would you share the date you are seeing a 65K economy award on BA? I haven't seen a Y award on BA NA-EU over 50K. Fees and taxes should be ~$310 on a Y award redemption.
Nonetheless, BA redemptions are extremely poor value NA-EU. An AA award would be 22.5K non-peak & 30K peak with minimal taxes. Alternatively, AS will market AAs flight close to the fees & taxes of the BA award and you would earn 100% EQN in Mileage Plan.
James
OP is looking at a roundtrip award, not one-way. Note that there is both US departure and arrival taxes on trip (indicating roundtrip booking). As far as "correct" carrier surcharge, there is nothing that binds carrier surcharge rates on revenue fares to the BA surcharge rates on AS award ticket bookings. In this case, BA is charging $270 each way on coach awards (vs. $200 each-way on coach revenue fares). While it doesn't seem fair, it's just the way it is. The only real solution is to avoid BA metal flights.
Note that ordinarily on awards without carrier surcharges, the $21 US departure/arrival taxes are waived by US because the awards are considered so-called "zero fare" tickets (due to an IRS ruling). However, the BA surcharges means the awards are no longer considered zero fare tickets which triggers the $21 US arrival/departure taxes on award. Another reason to avoid awards on BA metal.