Tom Williams

I have shifted away from AF/KLM and Flying Blue for the last few years, but I still have a lot of miles that I try to use for domestic US tickets on Delta. It is a very rare case when I can actually find availability, since Delta has unofficially raised the "cheap" award ticket from 25,000 to 40,000 miles, but they still pretend that the 25,000 level exists. Apparently FB miles can only be used for this nearly non-existent level.

Now I actually found availability at this level for a flight from Atlanta to Columbus, Ohio (447 miles), but FB charges $140 per ticket for taxes! This seems outrageous to me: Delta (and American, and United) would charge only $10 for the same flights on an award, and the cost to purchase the ticket is $297, including all taxes and fees. This means that FB is offering a 50% discount on the purchase for 25,000 miles, not a free ticket.

Am I doing something wrong?

KLflyerRalph

No, FB is notorious for sky high taxes and surcharges. Best use of FB miles is therefore on J tickets or promo@wards.

Zembla

I only use miles on longhaul J because of this.

Interesting detail which has been discussed before here: Usually the tax on an award ticket turns out considerably higher than the tax on a purchased ticket.

cityflyer369

IMHO this is not true. Taxes and surcharges should be the same as for paid tickets. What happens though is that cheap promotional tickets have reduced surcharges to keep them cheap, and if you make this comparison you get the impression that taxes and surcharges are higher on award tickets. But IMHO this is not a reasonable comparison.

Gajan

I thought that FB did not charge fuel surcharges for DL intra-US awards?

KLeM

I cannot seem to find a direct flight from Atlanta to Columbus, I do find flights from Atlanta to Columbus with a stopover in Detroit. The taxes and surcharges for this flight are indeed 107€ = $140.