rankourabu

Its been like that for years - AC flights are preferred, maybe now LH flights will be preferred as well.

Also, AE choosing to charge F rates for UA/US transborder/domestic connecting flights, also pushes down all TATL UA/US business class down to "F"

Sunny Day

Aeroplan might get all of us once or twice with their bogus surcharge during redemption but people are not going to be fooled the next time. They will end up hurting themselves in the long run. Do they think people are going to keep collecting these miles when they are useless? I for one will use up my account balance and will not collect anymore Aeroplan miles from now on unless I don't have any other options.

rankourabu

With the increasing cost of fuel, many airlines have started charging fuel surcharges on redemption tickets. All fuel surcharge amounts are applied by Aeroplan on behalf of the ticketing carrier and are passed through directly to the ticketing carrier. Fuel surcharge amounts are determined by each airline and may change from time to time. Aeroplan has applied fuel surcharges for flight rewards on Air Canada since 2004. The fuel surcharge amounts to be applied by Aeroplan for flights on Star Alliance airlines will be the same as those applied by the individual airlines within their own frequent flyer programs.

Fuel surcharges to flight rewards on the following Star Alliance airlines will be effective as of the dates noted below:

November 30th, 2011: Asiana Airlines, Thai Airways International, All Nippon Airways, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, British Midland Airways
December 14th, 2011: Aegean Airlines, Japan Airlines, TAM Airlines, South African Airways, TAP Portugal airlines
These are in addition to fuel surcharges to flight rewards on Lufthansa that became effective on November 9th 2011 at 7pm.

Members making voluntary changes after the applicable effective date to existing bookings with these airlines will also be subject to the fuel surcharges.

Fuel surcharges to flight rewards on other Star Alliance member airlines not referenced in this notice will come into effect only if those airlines elect to apply them within their own frequent flyer programs.

mapleg

What a depressing read. There's not a lot left after that...you can still do a mini RTW without those airlines, but I would imagine there would be lot of competition for the few remaining flights without surcharges.

Seriously rethinking my future travel goals now.

PS-just tried signing into AP website to see if they had officially said anything, and all I get is
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Lemme guess-they are putting the bad news on line as I type this...

Yul_voyager

Also, until when the other airlines wont charge YQ ?
That just really sucks

jarusoba

I actually have no problem with this if ALL other *A FFPs are doing the same. More surcharges mean less competition for those seats. But I think there are some FFPs who don't charge YQ for other airlines. So to AP!

echino

In my mini-RTW for two people in J, last segment LAX-YVR is booked one seat in J and one in Y, because only one J was available. Now, if the J seat gets released and I call to get it, will I have to pay the YQ for the whole RTW?

yycworldtraveler

You should be able to change from Y to J for no charge. That has been the policy in the past. However, with all the customer unfriendly moves made by Aeroplan this year this could be next on their hit list of policies to change.

YEG USER

Yes, you'll have to pay. Your ticket will be reissued and you'll have to pay on the YQ in effect at the time of re-issue.

Hopefully you are flying to LAX on AC. If you are I would suggest that you try to upgrade at the gate instead of paying in advance. On a business class ticket you will be allowed to upgrade for free at the gate (subject to availability after eUpgrades, LMU's, etc.).

echino

Ouch.

I am booked on July 2, 2012, on AC555. My chances of upgrade at the gate are less than zero.

untamed

I am just hoping UA, DL won't follow.

CZBB

I wouldn't mind if it really was a fuel surcharge, but it isn't. There are lots of documented cases where the fuel surcharge can exceed the fuel cost per seat. Easy to calculate, AC's last quarterlies pegged the fuel cost at 5c/seat/mile. Oh, and their 2004 fuel cost? 4c/seat/mile.

GUWonder

DL already "led" in ripping off customers this way -- the IOS surcharge for a whole host of trips starting outside the US hit DL mileage tickets already. I'm just waiting for the next shoe on that one to drop.

... and AA charges fuel surcharge for mileage tickets that include a BA segment.

I, unfortunately, expect UA won't hold out for a lot longer and some way or another they'll get on the same customer-unfriendly bandwagon too.

The industry's lemmings are just that, lemmings the lot of them. They're in bed together and more than happy to play scratch my back scratch your back and split the peanuts and bananas.

It's the gutting of the value of miles earned from (regular paid) flight tickets for getting new flight tickets (i.e., mileage tickets), that has me patting myself on the back for having gotten lifetime elite status in other programs since the value in the airline programs seems to be:

1. gravitating away from earn miles/spend miles for flights; and

2. gravitating toward merely getting treated somewhat better than other passengers and more akin to a manner that was standard for most all passengers a couple of decades ago when dealing with airline personnel and requests made of such.

Much like my FT signature for many years: this game is not as fun as it used to be.

Mr. Max

Below is Air Canada's (rather lame) explanation for the fuel surcharges from Facebook. Essentially they claim the other airlines requested the surcharges, in confidential documents, which they will not share.


Michael Mulligan

Adding fuel surcharges and recent devaluations = fail for Aeroplan and Air Canada. "Fuel" is a necessary function of flying an airplane. Calling it a "surcharge" is a joke. It's like charging a Pilot Surcharge. Time to move to a different airline and program whenever possible. Where there is an Air Canada monopoly move to Tango as Aeroplan points are now worth so little.

Aeroplan & Air Canada = disloyalty & greed.
Like · · about an hour ago ·

Air Canada Hi Michael, a request was received by Lufthansa Airlines to start collecting Fuel Surcharges on all tickets for their airline immediately. The fuel surcharge is currently the same that is being charged to their points members as well. Each airline assesses its own requirements for fuel surcharges on an ongoing basis – as long as Star Alliance apply fuel surcharges to their own frequent flyer program tickets, we will be required to collect it as such.
about an hour ago · Like

Michael Mulligan This explanation is unlikely and inconsistent with the Aeroplan explanation that the fees are paid to the "ticketing carrier" which = Air Canada. Air Canada has been pushing for this charge to be added as they have stood alone charging "Fuel Surcharges" on Aeroplan redemptions for several years. The decision to add these surcharges to several other alines within weeks of each other make the suggestion that this was initiated by Lufthansa even less likely. If you have some correspondence to support your assertion that this extra charge was initiated by Luftansa please post it. Just post the email or put the letter in a scanner.
53 minutes ago · Like

Air Canada Hi Michael, The fee's being collected by Aeroplan are turned over to Air Canada and then we forward them to Lufthansa and the other airlines that have requested the fuel surcharge be collected. Thanks
46 minutes ago · Like

Michael Mulligan As requested please post to the correspondence to support your claim that these charges were added at the request of Lufthansa. If that doesn't exist, please acknowledge that your explanation is incorrect and that the charges were added at the request of Air Canada to conform with the state of affairs that has existed for the past several years whereby Air Canada was the only airline to charge fuel surcharges for Aeroplan flights. It is very unlikely that Lufthansa, and several other airlines, each requested that these charges be added within days of each other after Air Canada stood alone for years.
36 minutes ago · Like · 1

Michael Mulligan Fuel surcharges to flight rewards on the following Star Alliance airlines will be effective as of the dates noted below:

November 30th, 2011: Asiana Airlines, THAI, ANA, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, bmi

December 14th, 2011: Aegean Airlines, Adria Airways, TAM, South African Airways, TAP Portugal

These are in addition to fuel surcharges to flight rewards on Lufthansa that became effective on November 9th 2011 at 7pm.
31 minutes ago · Like

Air Canada Hi Michael, We do not post confidential documents online. As stated this was requested by the airlines, as such they are also collecting Fuel Surcharges from their members as well. Thanks
30 minutes ago · Like

Michael Mulligan Your customers will be waiting for Air Canada to introduce the Pilot Surcharge as a result of "Confidential Documents" from other airlines. It's impressive that the "Confidential Documents" from Lufthansa, Asiana Airlines, THAI, ANA, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, and bmi all managed to show up within days of each other. Your explanations is an obvious sham. Thanks.
20 minutes ago · Like

rankourabu

wow, United/Continental and USAirways must be pretty special not to receive these magic requests from all 13 carriers overnight