I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around the varying (random?) amounts of YQ on BA -- at some point, this feels like it's just a way to bilk people out of more money. Wasn't BA essentially put on notice when they settled in Dover v. British Airways? Fuel costs have been historically low for quite some time, so unless BA hedged at a time when oil prices were peaking, a lot of this seems like a money-grab. Are fuel costs actually pegged to fuel costs? If it's not fuel, then perhaps make an additional and transparent line item that reads, "Revenue Enhancement Charge." As alleged in the court filing in Dover v. British Airways, "British Airway’s 'fuel surcharge' is actually a 'Revenue Enhancement Charge.' While a fuel surcharge would theoretically protect an airline against unusually high and unstable fuel prices, BA did not tie its fuel surcharges to fuel prices. Instead, British Airways used the fuel surcharge as an opportunity to charge its Executive Club Members hundreds of dollars for each “free” Reward Ticket, to increase its own revenue regardless of whether fuel prices were high or low."

While I recognize that BA can tell customers that the YQ is X amount during the check-out process--and that, as a customer, I can choose to proceed with the purchase or not--the fact that none of these YQ charges have any rhyme or reason is maddening. Moreover, it seems that YQ charges (at least a range) should clear to me as a customer before I set out and accrue points through credit cards, for example. With BA, it feels like total cost for reward redemptions is a constantly moving target. For instance, a ticket that I've been saving up 100,000 Avios for is actually 100,000 Avios + 600 GBP. Or, maybe it's 256 GBP or 873 GP. It's about as clear mud!

Again, I'm relatively new to BA and the Avios ecosystem, but a lot of a lot of what I'm noticing (at least coming from DL and AF/KL) leaves a bad taste. Is this just how BA operates, or am I missing something?