YLW-NAN (Fiji)
 

I paid $31.50 AP service fee plus $211.90 in taxes for a grand total of $243.40
Routing is: YLW(AC)-YVR(UA)-LAX(SQ)-SIN(SQ)-AKL(NZ)-NAN(NZ)-AKL(SQ)-SIN(SQ)-LAX(AC)-YVR(AC)-YLW
NAN is my point of turnaround.... and I have a stop-over in SIN and YVR.
All flights are in BIZ Class and cost 100,000 miles..

I am just new member of FlyerTalk but have been reading the forums quite a bit lately and I'm surprised how wonderful you FF are!! I mean the taxes you paid on these intl flights are amazing for reward flights!! I would hope to book an all J class intl flight to Australia or New Zealand someday, and by the sounds of it booking through the call centre and not using as much AC is the way. However, how far in advanced do you have to book these to get J seats?:confused:

today HAM- DUS-MIA return YYZ-DUS-HAM J class
 

All legs business

All LH

$174.00 Total

(which I think is a great deal)

Whoa!! These are crazy itineraries!! How many stop overs are you allowed each way on reward flights? With the exception of your point of return is there a limit on how long you can stay on each stop over? Sorry I'm a newbie, thanks!!!:)

I just did 4 tickets in the last month, 1 with aeroplan, 1 with us, and 2 with united, here is how they broke down for taxes&fees



Aeroplan EWR-YYZ-NRT-BKK-NRT-JFK $181.79/$24.26 USD + 100,000 Miles

USAIR LAS-LAX-BKK-LAX-BKK $44.81/$90.00 USD +120,000 Miles ($90 fee = $50 for dm reward redemption, $40 for using calling center)

United LGA-ORD-PVG-SIN-BKK-PVG-ORD-LGA $65.09/$0 USD +125,000 Miles
United PVG-SIN-BKK-PVG $32.81/$0 USD +30,000 Miles

Mileage wise, Aeroplan is by far the cheapest, yet most expensive for taxes/fees.

It's not an exact science and depends on the route that you are after, but your chances are much better this year to get the J seats due to the economy. Routes to Asia seem very accessible in Business Class. For example, I just booked YYZ-PEK-BKK-HKT return, all in J class, for October so that was about a 6-month advance booking.
The trick is to spend some planning time using the ANA search tool testing various routes and coming up with an itinerary before you start with the Aeroplan call centre.

Superstarry

YYC-DEN-LNK on UA in econo -- $98 CAD in extra charges

I thought the taxes and fees would be the same regardless of who ticketed the award, for US I can understand the extra $50 for booking fee, but why is there such a big difference?

Differences in surcharges for different airlines

Differences in country fees, e.g. USA has pricey fees

etc etc.

The only way is to compare apples to apples, ie two different programs flying exactly same flights to see who is ripping us off more . . .

What this shows is that one needs to shop around even on reward tickets to get best price, seating, airlines, schedule etc. combination that fits what you need.

can one get the amount of tax for booking using AC miles by calling when you do not have enough miles?

I just edited to break out the fees from taxes, for US i got charged $90, 50 for the DM award redemption, and $40 for using the calling center

Yes...I do like 'creative' award routings.

AE now allows 2 stopovers plus your point of turnaround on intercontinental awards. They also allow travel over either or both oceans on many Asian destinations. This allows you to construct some fantastic value award redemptions using AE miles.

Lowest charges of the day for this agent
 

Lowest price of the day for agent I talked to. $6

Day 1 CA1281 Beijing (PEK) HAILAR (HLD) Economy Confirmed
Day 2 CA1132 HAILAR (HLD) Beijing (PEK) Economy Confirmed
Day 3 CA101 Beijing (PEK) Hong Kong (HKG) Economy Confirmed
(no stopovers allowed but this gave me what I wanted since no other flights valid)

20000 points--would have taken business for 30K but only available on 1 leg
Total taxes/fees $6.00 CAD
(no booking fee--taxes for Air China have to be calculated manually with an agent)

Reminds me of the good old days when reward travel was essentially free!^

Total cost on discount tickets would have been about $500 CAD so an OK but not great use of points. I have a ton so am trying to liquidate a few . . .

YOW - IAD (UA)
IAD - GVA (UA)
GVA - BCN (LX)
BCN - LIS (TP)
LIS - PHL (US)
PHL - YOW (US)

$176.75 + $31.50 AP call centre fee

YOW - IAD (UA)
IAD - JFK (UA)
JFK - FRA (SQ)
FRA- GVA (LH)
GVA -FRA (LH)
FRA - JFK (SQ)
JFK - IAD (UA)
IAD - YOW (UA)

80K pts + $136.72 + $31.50 AP Call Centre fee