Originally Posted by
Randy Petersen
As for the 50,000 miles and $600 in taxes? Well, imagine the other person who is paying $500 for the ticket and then $600 in taxes. Let's remember, the award redeemer is not being singled out.
My main program is LH Miles & More, and I think I have seen instances there where it seems that the paid ticket would have been cheaper than an award plus "taxes and fees". I am not 100 % sure, but I think that LH adds more mysterious "taxes and fees" to award tickets sometimes than they do to paid tickets. But perhaps I am remembering it incorrectly.
Edit: OK, I just tried it out with LH. Flight MUC-CDG-MUC either with "Ready to Fly" special weekend offer or as an award. And the "fuel and security surcharge" is NOT the same - they charge € 20 for the paying passenger and € 50 for the award passenger - exactly the same flights:
München (MUC) nach Paris (PAR) : Abflug: Fr 11 Apr - Rückflug: So 13 Apr
Datum Von Nach Flug Dauer Klasse
Fr 11 Apr 08:50 München, Franz Josef Strauss 10:20 Paris LH4242 1h30 Economy
So 13 Apr 21:15 Paris 22:45 München, Franz Josef Strauss LH4255 1h30 Economy
Here's the paying passenger:
Steuern, Gebühren & sonstige Zuschläge (pro Person)
Hier sehen Sie eine Auflistung aller anfallenden Steuern, Gebühren und sonstiger Zuschläge pro Person
Treibstoff- und Sicherheitszuschlag (YQ) EUR 20,00 --> this is the "fuel and security surcharge"
Flughafensicherheitsgebühr (DE) EUR 4,85
Passagier Service Charge (International) (QX) EUR 8,00
Andere Steuer/Gebühr (IZ) EUR 1,00
Flughafensteuer (FR) EUR 3,92
Flughafensteuer (FR) EUR 9,63
Passagier Service Charge International (RA) EUR 14,24
Summe EUR 61,64
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Here's the award passenger:
Steuern, Gebühren & sonstige Zuschläge (pro Person)
Hier sehen Sie eine Auflistung aller anfallenden Steuern, Gebühren und sonstiger Zuschläge pro Person
Treibstoff- und Sicherheitszuschlag (YQ) EUR 50,00 --> this is the "fuel and security surcharge"
Flughafensicherheitsgebühr (DE) EUR 4,85
Passagier Service Charge (International) (QX) EUR 8,00
Andere Steuer/Gebühr (IZ) EUR 1,00
Flughafensteuer (FR) EUR 3,92
Flughafensteuer (FR) EUR 9,63
Passagier Service Charge International (RA) EUR 14,24
Summe EUR 91,64
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Comes out to € 88.64 + 14.00 "Ticket service charge" = € 102.64 for the paid ticket and 15,000 miles + € 91.64 for the award ticket.
So, Randy, they are indeed singling out the award redeemer. This was just the very first example I checked, I am sure there are more.