Kevinccl

Right, it's a bit of devaluation. Connecting through HKG with CX was very good deal before. The award fare was $0. If you do the same day connection at HKG, there is no HKG departure Tax. And of course, no $17.5 US international tax (US) each way and $4.5 US Facility Charge (XF) due to the $0 fare.

Now with this $6 "Fare" (each way), the (US) and (XF) tax items are imposed. For a round trip with HKG connection both ways, that adds up $51.5 comparing to the previous. That's higher than NRT connection with JL, which is $31 for r/t.

It's not that huge, but on the principle, passing HKG security fee as "Fare" does seem controversial.

Madison Guy

I also find the pricing odd: xxx-xxx-LAX-SYD-CNS, AA award in F on AA/QF has total taxes and fees of $47.20USD. Return CNS-BNE-SYD-LAX-xxx-xxx (1 extra intra-OZ segment) runs $134.10USD. AA tells me it is Australian departure fees. Really? Wow - and everybody complains about the U.K. APD....

Dave Noble

UK APD is a lot higher than Australian Departure taxes. The equivalent in APD for such a distance ( e.g. LHR-SYD ) would be GBP184 approx $333 ). There are other taxes such as PSC to add for a london dept

All taxes coming in at $134 is not even close to that. $35 of the taxes will be US taxes

Madison Guy

Thanks for the info. Just sorta took me by surprise that ex-OZ is like 2.5-3x the taxes/fees of ex-US. (Used to the U.K. jab I guess...)

Dave Noble

Well... thats only really because the US taxes are not charged when departing the US. If the US didn't have the peculiarity of not charging them on free tickets, it makes the comparison quite unfair

The airport charges are quite high in Oz and going CNS-BNE-SYD-US does help ramp up the taxes. If you were just doing SYD-LAX the taxes would be lower ( approx $112)

A breakdown on CNS-LAX would be of the order

Australian Passenger Movement Charge (AU) $51.60
Australian Domestic Passenger Service Charge (QR) $18.70
Australian Domestic Passenger Service Charge (QR) $9.60
Australian Safety & Security Surcharge (WG) $5.20
Australian Int'l Passenger Service Charge (WY) $25.90


USDA APHIS Fee (XA) $5.00
US Immigration Fee (XY) $7.00
US Customs Fee (YC) $5.50
US International Arrival Tax (US) $17.50


As a comparison , LHR-LAX taxes for non stop in business class is $346.83

Madison Guy

Thanks again. Sadly, via BNE is the only way to get to SYD for the (same-day) US flights with the termination of the early QF921(?) SYD-CNS that used to be there.

AA's web breakdown is similar, though not the same, as yours:


Base fare, taxes and carrier-imposed fees


Adult fare, taxes and carrier-imposed fees

Base fare $0.00 USD
Per person

PASSENGER MOVEMENT CHARGE $51.60 USD
AUSTRALIA
PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE $28.30 USD
AUSTRALIA
SAFETY AND SECURITY CHARGE $5.20 USD
AUSTRALIA
PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE $25.90 USD
AUSTRALIA
US APHIS USER FEE $5.00 USD
UNITED STATES
US FEDERAL INSPECTION FEE $7.00 USD
UNITED STATES
US SECURITY FEE $5.60 USD
UNITED STATES
US CUSTOMS USER FEE $5.50 USD
UNITED STATES



Total Adult taxes and carrier-imposed fees
$134.10 USD
Per person

Dave Noble

The AU taxes look the same to me , other than merging the 2 QRs together 1x $28.30 vs $18.70 and $9.60

The US taxes I would expect to be different since you are continuing on from LAX. It does look like the International Arrival Tax has not been charged; perhaps that is another curio that doesn't get charged on free tickets

Madison Guy

That was my biggest question- but it was in my favor!!!
Your posts (as always) have been most helpful Did you get those numbers using some publically-available tool, or just adding known current fees?