Actually, some countries have the regulation that forces airlines to quote fuel surcharge in base fare. Basically, if fuel surcharge is quoted as YQ charge, it won't be included in base fare. If fuel surcharge is quoted as Q charge, it will be included in base fare. Back in the early fuel surcharge days, quite many airlines, including UA, charged fuel surcharge as Q charge and the US regulation required airlines marketing in the US to quote fuel surcharge as Q charge. A while ago, airlines lobbied the US government, and they got this regulation disappeared. Airlines certainly would quote fuel surcharge as Q charge only if it is enforced by regulation. I don't know if UK has this regulation, but I understand that BA quotes fuel surcharge as Q charge in the countries where this is required. IIRC, EK is one of few airlines that quote fuel surcharge as Q charge regardless of regulation.