Originally Posted by AJLondon
That's not a fair comparison IMHO.
If you were comparing different cars eg. Ford vs Volvo vs BMW etc on the basis of fuel efficiency then that would be reasonable.
Similarly here if comparing different fuel surcharges, if BA's is found too unreasonable, then surely one should look at a comparsion with alternative airlines like UA,AA,VS etc (for transatlantic say) and not start comparing it to say the QEII.
But my pile of BA Miles, stashed up predominantly from flying BA before the fuel surcharges came into effect are best used on BA and therefore I have little choice to use them on other airlines. Add that to the fact I happen to live in the UK and so am:
a.) More likely to use BA for personal flights regardless of fees on award redemptions.
b.) More likely to find myself restricted to BA by a corporate travel policy.
c.) More likely to still collect BA Miles because they are the easiest frequent flyer miles to collect for a UK resident.
I'm not against the idea of fares going up to reflect increased fuel costs, I'm not even against the fees on award tickets going up to reflect higher oil prices. What I am against is the hugely disproportionate nature of the fees that have been added to award tickets.
It's really nothing more than blatant profiteering (just like the CC fees) and straight out of the Ryanair way of doing business. Of course it works because the market is strong enough to support it - but that still doesn't mean we can't all have a whinge about it.
