stratofortress

I normally hate these threads, but this one seems particularly pertinent. One of the ways foreign (esp. European) carriers devalue their programs is to add fuel surcharges and various taxes and fees to their frequent flyer redemption tickets. US Carriers haven't done this, which is one reason they remain such a good deal.

With DL now going this route, do you think it's likely AA will follow?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121457802794410919.html

SJCFlyerLG

This is probably one that all carriers are going to leap on...

edlin303

Well, the way these have been going, I would expect AA to see their surcharge and raise them a fee.

I have little doubt they will implement this soon. They have very little to lose if they do add the surcharge, especially if their competition is doing it too. The carriers seem to have all discovered that we will all still fly no matter how many fees and charges they pile on. I only hope they waive it for elites, but that seems very unlikely as well.

brp

I agree that it's unlikely to be waived for anyone if it gets added. I expect that it will, and I don't have any strong objections (other than, sure I don't want to pay more). This is a cost to them that they're passing along, and I can make peace with that. I see this as very different from things like checked bag fees.

Cheers.

kebosabi

And this happened to be one of the biggest reasons my Japanese co-worker who holds status on JL was green with envy

His roundtrip award ticket in J using JAL miles: $400+ in taxes and fuel surcharges

My LAX-NRT=HND-CTS-HIJ//NRT-ICN-HKG-LAX OW award ticket: $103 in taxes + $15 over-the agent fee


But the way things are going, I guess we'll be seeing more legacies going this route in order to stay afloat.

sdix

It's not waived for elites (Gold at Least.) Personally I think it's BS. I've "paid" for those FF miles and now I have to pay more to use them? Not only is it harder to get the damn seats they have the balls to suck more money out of their best fliers.

But, FF miles are a drug and we are all adicts so the airlines have us where they want is.

zipadee

The e-mail said DL hopes its temporary and will look at rescinding it once fuel costs fall. Yeah right.

edlin303

Actually, I think the checked bag fee is more similar than you do. That one makes sense because it directly impacts weight, and capacity for cargo, both of which drive up the cost per seat to fly the plane. This one is asking people to help cover the fuel they use. For the bag fees they waive them for elites as a courtesy, not because they elites' bags don't take up space or weight. They _could_ extend the same courtesy on the surcharge if they wanted to.

I also don't think it's unfair. My concern is just that the carriers seem to play leapfrog with these changes lately so I would be happy if they only matched the surcharge, and didn't decide to one-up DL while they were at it.

brp

One could argue, though, that the FF miles offset the cost of the actual ticket, which is the base plus some of the fees. Someone buying a ticket pays for the ticket and pays for the fuel surcharge. The FF miles cover the ticket cost. In that case, it's not a charge to use the miles, but a surcharge representing their added costs. On the flip side, no one could have to pay fuel surcharges and they could go under. Then we get to see how much the miles are really worth

Cheers.

AndyAA

AA already has a fuel surcharge, though they didn't bother to label it as such. Its the new $5 Awards booking fee.

aaupgrade

I think they just should start breaking down the price of all the tickets. Sell the tickets for $1 and then add the following fees:

Pilot fee
First Officer fee
Flight Attendant fee (Varies by COS)
Seat fee (Varies by COS)
Checked bag fee
Carry-on bag fee
Weight fee
Fee Management Structure fee (your portion of paying someone to figure out these fees)
Management Bonus fee
Taxiing fee
Take-off fee
Landing fee
Gate fee
Customs fee
Immigration fee
Fuel fee
Distance fee
Meal fee
Ticketing fee
Booking fee
Reservation fee
Chance of Upgrade fee (whether you get the upgrade or not aka UA and CO)
Upgrade Granted fee
Award Booking fee (US already has this)
Award Ticketing fee (US has this too!)
Seat Reservation fee
Premium Equipement fee (varies for 767, 777, 747, 380)

That way they have the lowest prices around and Ma and Pa Kettle can think they are gettign a great deal! Yea!

Plus the other advanatge is the will g et close to the same amout of money for an award ticket as they do for a paid ticket. And as customers, we can save a whole $1. Kind of reminds me of the $1 bet between Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd's characters in Tradign Places.

OK, enough fun for one day.

Night Flyer

Things could be a lot worse than the DL surcharge. The european carriers charge their full-blown fuel surcharge applicable to a paid ticket on the route for which the award is redeemed, which can be several hundred dollars. And although I imagine that's coming our way sooner or later, since personally I only redeem miles for long-haul premium-class flights, I'll take a $50 surcharge as the far lesser evil.

giggy

apply for the x credit card and get 25000 miles (almost) enough for a FREE sic ticket. all the CC companies are gonna have to redo their tv ads ouch

zakami

AA is already adding a fuel surcharge for award flights on 9W. I was going to get an award for a DEL-BOM-COK-BOM-DEL flight but aborted but I found out the taxes on the award would be $241. It cost me only $183 to buy a DEL-COK-DEL flight on S2 and was more convenient since we were able to get a non-stop as opposed to connecting through BOM.

oldpenny16

All these changes in fees! I can't plan my budget for 2009 and I have to submit it. What do I need a seer?