Originally Posted by kuroneko
Not for something that is supposed to be "free"! I have about 72k orphan miles in flying blue acct that I tried to use recently on an intra-europe flight. The taxes and fees on this "free" trip ended up being nearly USD $200! Instead, I booked a paid ticket for $389 (and elected to put the miles in Delta, needless to say).
This is really a deterrent from actually using my miles. Any suggestions on what to do with these orphan points?
We had some discussions on FT already, if a payment with miles should include all applicable taxes imposed by the Governments, fees from airports, fuel surcharges etc.
It used to be this way during the old Flying Dutchman era, but I guess only a few regulars on this board will remember, because so many jumped ship...
IMO taking airlines to court to let a judge decide , if it is okay to charge all these fees/taxes on what is supposed to be a free flight paid with a virtual currency, is the only way to change the status quo, but even if it would be ruled illegal, airlines would retaliate and increase the amount of miles pretty soon.
DL is offering base fares of € 200+ from Germany to the US,so it is certainly a better value to pay in € rather than miles...