Originally Posted by dvs7310

Fuel surcharges are regulated in Japan. So there is a tiny bit of YQ on ex-Japan tickets, but it's so negligible that it doesn't matter. They do have YR, which is also a fuel surcharge, but it's a lot less than YQ ex-CAI, ex-OSL, etc. So even if the Japan price is a bit higher, once you build your itinerary, if you're using a bunch of high YQ carriers (QF, BA, MH, and I believe CX as well) then ex-Japan can work out less overall.

I recall people posting with prices from other countries and were talking $2k+ in fuel surcharges alone, for ex-Japan it should be less than $400 regardless of carriers chosen.