hindukid

So I want to book an award ticket BRU-LHR-ORD-SEA-LIH It had to be sent to the rate desk because of the British airways flight from BRU.

They hit me with a $35.60 fuel surcharge. Not happy about the amount for a 218 mile flight but I expected it.

Now the rate desk is adding in 16.30 US International arrival tax. Also 4.50 ORD PFC, 4.50 SEA PFC and $7.40 in segment taxes and 8.20 Hawaii arrival fee. None of these are charged when booking at aa.com.

Any advice. i can suck it up but for 2 pax its about $81.80. I would think that the rate desk should know that these taxes are not charged on an award ticket but I really don't know how to convey this message.

hindukid

UPDATE: After some prodding I was able to speak directly with the AA rate desk. Turns out they had it right.

What they told me was that because I had a British Air segment from BRU-LHR they hit me with 35.50 fuel surcharge. But because of that the US gov't no longer considers this a free ticket. Therefore the gov't now insists that AA pay PFC, segment fees, hawaii tax and international arrival tax. So because the ticket is no longer free in the eyes of the US gov't, they are wanting an additional $40.90 from me.

Although I have noticed that BA website is still not charging any of these US taxes.

Dave Noble

How much would just a separate ticket on a flight ( or train if planning to stay in London ) be? might it be cheaper than the additional taxes?

hindukid

Problem is that then the UK will hit you with $195 tax since you are now beginning journey in the UK.

Actually I am going to be in London. I was thinking that since the UK gov't was robbing me it was worth it to have a fun day riding the train to Brussels and exploring that city a little.

But now that I am getting robbed by BA instead, the cost savings is not that much.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

I presume that you tried -- and failed -- to get award seats on AA metal from BRU or CDG back to the U.S., right?

hindukid

Correct. I can actually get seats from DUB the following day (july 7). But going to BRU meant taking the train which seemed fun DUB means flying which seems boring. Plus it will cost me $200 for 2 plane tix and 100 for DUB airport hotel so cost savings is mostly gone.

Also I like the evening flight from LHR because it allowed for some fun before flying home. 10am flights mean no sightseeing in Europe and you still get home to late to do any work anyways. Not really sure why AA likes to schedule everything at 10 or 11am. Just means a waste of a day on both continents IMO.

newbluesea

Yeah to hell with AA maximizing aircraft usage and crew times when we all know all tourists love to have full days for sightseeing and the like on two continents even

kebosabi

Why not take a train to Paris and start your award travel from CDG? AA flies ORD, DFW, JFK and MIA out of there and it's only about 3 hrs on Thalys from Brussels and Paris

How about routing BRU-MAD-US or BRU-HEL-US?

hindukid

July 6 or July 7. The only AA transatlantic flights I can find with availability to ORD in Y or C is from LHR, MAN or DUB. BA website shows no availability for MAD-ORD so I assume that is not an option. I need a stopover in ORD so it needs to be nonstop from Europe.

Wexflyer

You do realise that you don't have to fly to Dublin, don't you? You can also indulge your preference for a train to Dublin, with an inclusive cruise - standard one way train/ferry tickets (walk-up fares, not advance purchase) rom London to Dublin are a very, very reasonable 33 quid, each (with no extra taxes, YQ, etc. etc.). Take the night ferry and you can also solve the hotel issue.

metzby

Last year wasn't AA flying LHR-BRU with a 777 or some such?

tom911

I have one of those booked next month. For those not familiar with the service, a good place to read up on it is seat61.com

hindukid

Will look into the ferry to dublin. At this point I am more leaning to just paying the $195 British tax but we'll see.

Probably of more concern to this board is the implication this has on any award connecting at LHR.

Now essentially for a connection within Europe you are looking at an additional:

35.50 YQ charge
36.80 UK Airport fee
20.00 Phone fee
16.30 US Arrival tax

4.50 PFC per connection
3.70 segment tax per connection

So that's $108.60 plus $8.20 per connection within the US. That is a lot of money to be adding to an award ticket. If I were on a direct BRU-ORD flight my taxes would be $57. But flying via LHR brings them to $170.90. I would say that AA is at a huge disadvantage compared to competitors. You can't even just buy your own ticket to the gateway because that gateway is likely LHR and then the UK will hit you up for $200.

Wexflyer

You do realise that it costs real money to keep HM is the style to which she is accustomed and entitled, don't you?

Happy

Flying back from CDG is not much cheaper.

I just ticketed CDG-MIA-LAX-LIH for 2 persons. It was at $168xx at reservation, but went up to $178xx at ticketing 5 days later. I did not bother to call to find out why the taxes added an additional $10 in 5 days, let alone the make-up of the taxes. I know CDG has a much higher departure tax than MAD as the same itinerary if flying back from MAD would cost only $80xx for 2 persons. But I need to fly back from Paris, so I accept the doubling of taxes.