Oct 14, 2014, 10:32 am
Last edit by: Prospero
Help with British Airways and Iberia Carrier Imposed Surcharges
Using AAdvantage miles for awards using British Airways generally* incurs very high carrier imposed surcharges / fees (BA charges their own BAEC flyers these for Avios redemptions as well). AA awards on IB incur considerably lower fees (~$50 one way transatlantic is quoted by one member, the link to travelisfree.com below gives a BA flight with $458 YQ, IB $96). One FTer claims $700 BA YQ fees for SAN-PRG return, which is not unusual). You are likely to find lots of availability on BA using the aa.com award booking facility.
Intra-European awards using BA have significantly lower carrier imposed charges; some members may find using AA or other partner transatlantic connecting to BA may be acceptable.
NOTE: Paying YQ may trigger a host of other taxes and fees otherwise not charged on awards that do not include carrier imposed surcharges such as YQ. Flights within the Americas are YQ exempt.
As this is still flying on an award, these carrier imposed surcharges do not qualify for EQM or EQD earning.
Be sure to read the oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on thread wiki for information on searching for and finding alternative flights or those not shown on aa.com, which airlines' websites can find those, etc.
Read more about BA Carrier Imposed Surcharges on AA awards here (rrgg supplied most of these below:
Fuel Surcharge for AA award redemptions on BA are up - again.
Partner airline awards now bookable on AA.com (AB, AS, AY, BA, HA, HG, QF, RJ, US)
Does AA push most of its European Awards to BA to collect fuel surcharges?
Charts from TravelIsFree for the three alliances and how you will pay (or avoid) YQ: http://travelisfree.com/2014/04/15/m...surcharges-yq/
HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
AA oneworld and Other Airline ("All Partner") Award information, rules (2015 on)
Originating a flight in the UK incurs an Air Passenger Duty, reduced for seats with less than 40" seat pitch (except those originating from originating in BFS / Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands (INV) or Islands, and connections less than 24 hours do not incur UK Air Passenger Duty, though they do incur airport Passenger Service Charges). Separate topic, dealt with:
UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures (Master Thread); defines what the APD is in the wikipost.
Avoiding crazy UK "APD" taxes when transferring through LHR on separate tickets
Archived posts May 2012 - 2016 may be read here.
Using AAdvantage miles for awards using British Airways generally* incurs very high carrier imposed surcharges / fees (BA charges their own BAEC flyers these for Avios redemptions as well). AA awards on IB incur considerably lower fees (~$50 one way transatlantic is quoted by one member, the link to travelisfree.com below gives a BA flight with $458 YQ, IB $96). One FTer claims $700 BA YQ fees for SAN-PRG return, which is not unusual). You are likely to find lots of availability on BA using the aa.com award booking facility.
Intra-European awards using BA have significantly lower carrier imposed charges; some members may find using AA or other partner transatlantic connecting to BA may be acceptable.
NOTE: Paying YQ may trigger a host of other taxes and fees otherwise not charged on awards that do not include carrier imposed surcharges such as YQ. Flights within the Americas are YQ exempt.
As this is still flying on an award, these carrier imposed surcharges do not qualify for EQM or EQD earning.
Be sure to read the oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on thread wiki for information on searching for and finding alternative flights or those not shown on aa.com, which airlines' websites can find those, etc.
Read more about BA Carrier Imposed Surcharges on AA awards here (rrgg supplied most of these below:
Fuel Surcharge for AA award redemptions on BA are up - again.
Partner airline awards now bookable on AA.com (AB, AS, AY, BA, HA, HG, QF, RJ, US)
Does AA push most of its European Awards to BA to collect fuel surcharges?
Charts from TravelIsFree for the three alliances and how you will pay (or avoid) YQ: http://travelisfree.com/2014/04/15/m...surcharges-yq/
HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
AA oneworld and Other Airline ("All Partner") Award information, rules (2015 on)
Originating a flight in the UK incurs an Air Passenger Duty, reduced for seats with less than 40" seat pitch (except those originating from originating in BFS / Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands (INV) or Islands, and connections less than 24 hours do not incur UK Air Passenger Duty, though they do incur airport Passenger Service Charges). Separate topic, dealt with:
UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures (Master Thread); defines what the APD is in the wikipost.
Avoiding crazy UK "APD" taxes when transferring through LHR on separate tickets
Archived posts May 2012 - 2016 may be read here.
Carrier Imposed Surcharge / YQ: AA award on BA / British (& IB) & avoiding it
Jan 17, 2020, 12:29 pm
#302
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,521
Lots of airlines fly through LHR, so you have options other than BA. Other airlines have surcharges too but at different levels.
Also, your ultimate destination is Greece, so there are a lot of options to avoid LHR altogether.
Jan 17, 2020, 12:33 pm
#303
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,632
In a reply above you were given the link to the main thread on the subject. The answer to your question is contained in the wiki of that thread, in fact in one of the first sentences.
Just to be clear, your question is perfectly reasonable; however, it is old news here and it's not worth discussing all over again. This is why some major threads have wikis.
Revenue flights are a different issue---the bottom line is all that matters, so who cares how they get to the total.
Just to be clear, your question is perfectly reasonable; however, it is old news here and it's not worth discussing all over again. This is why some major threads have wikis.
Revenue flights are a different issue---the bottom line is all that matters, so who cares how they get to the total.
Last edited by SeeBuyFly; Jan 17, 2020 at 2:43 pm
Jan 17, 2020, 12:36 pm
#304
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Fly AA, AY, IB (much lower fees than BA) and connect in the US and EU. E.g. BOS-DFW-MAD-ATH. You’re paying the carrier imposed surcharge, previously fuel surcharge, for flying BA. See the Wikipost for more information.
Jan 17, 2020, 12:37 pm
#305
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,628
Indeed - $1300 is the exhorbitant carrier surcharge for business class r/t US-Greece ( $650 each way )
You can reduce this to $879 by booking 2 x one way tickets.
The surcharge for Greece - US in business class is $229 , so adding $650 , brings it to not quite so bad $879
If you want to avoid surcharges, you need to avoid BA. If you can get AA for the transatlantic portion, they would drop to about $60 each way
For economy class you would drop from $400 to $308.60 with 2 x one way tickets
You can reduce this to $879 by booking 2 x one way tickets.
The surcharge for Greece - US in business class is $229 , so adding $650 , brings it to not quite so bad $879
If you want to avoid surcharges, you need to avoid BA. If you can get AA for the transatlantic portion, they would drop to about $60 each way
For economy class you would drop from $400 to $308.60 with 2 x one way tickets
Jan 17, 2020, 1:39 pm
#307
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: BOS
Programs: Aadvantage, MileagePlus, Hawaiian Miles, Skymiles
Posts: 73
Indeed - $1300 is the exhorbitant carrier surcharge for business class r/t US-Greece ( $650 each way )
You can reduce this to $879 by booking 2 x one way tickets.
The surcharge for Greece - US in business class is $229 , so adding $650 , brings it to not quite so bad $879
If you want to avoid surcharges, you need to avoid BA. If you can get AA for the transatlantic portion, they would drop to about $60 each way
For economy class you would drop from $400 to $308.60 with 2 x one way tickets
You can reduce this to $879 by booking 2 x one way tickets.
The surcharge for Greece - US in business class is $229 , so adding $650 , brings it to not quite so bad $879
If you want to avoid surcharges, you need to avoid BA. If you can get AA for the transatlantic portion, they would drop to about $60 each way
For economy class you would drop from $400 to $308.60 with 2 x one way tickets
Jan 17, 2020, 1:41 pm
#308
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: BOS
Programs: Aadvantage, MileagePlus, Hawaiian Miles, Skymiles
Posts: 73
Did you find that as a single routing or is it necessary to book multiple tickets?
Jan 17, 2020, 1:48 pm
#309
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: BOS
Programs: Aadvantage, MileagePlus, Hawaiian Miles, Skymiles
Posts: 73
That’s an easy one, just avoid booking BA flights on the long haul portion.
Carrier Imposed Surcharge / YQ: AA award on BA / British (& IB) & avoiding it
Carrier Imposed Surcharge / YQ: AA award on BA / British (& IB) & avoiding it
Jan 17, 2020, 1:50 pm
#310
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: BOS
Programs: Aadvantage, MileagePlus, Hawaiian Miles, Skymiles
Posts: 73
OP: Avoid BA for the Transatlantic, if possible, which will get rid of the vast majority of the carrier imposed fees
Otherwise, simply pretend there is no availability to your destination if BA is the TATL carrier
Additionally, connecting in London brings up UK APD, a tax
Otherwise, simply pretend there is no availability to your destination if BA is the TATL carrier
Additionally, connecting in London brings up UK APD, a tax
And that helps with a work-around?
Jan 17, 2020, 2:45 pm
#311
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,204
No it does not if you fly something like BOS-LHR-Europe.
Yes
Trans Atlantic
To avoid BA to avoid their carrier surcharge see if you can get an AA reward to somewhere else in Europe and then fly to your ultimate destination from there.
Trans Atlantic
To avoid BA to avoid their carrier surcharge see if you can get an AA reward to somewhere else in Europe and then fly to your ultimate destination from there.
Jan 17, 2020, 3:40 pm
#313
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,204
Jan 17, 2020, 4:22 pm
#314
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,951
But yes, as others have said, BA fees are much higher. Not coincidentally, BA availability tends to be much better because the value proposition is dramatically worse (and presumably BA’s revenue management is much more willing to make awards available because they get revenue from the awards).