Feb 22, 2019, 9:45 am
Last edit by: JDiver
Help with British Airways / BA and IB / Iberia Surcharge / YQ (AA award on BA or IB)
Please see here for the current thread.
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
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
*Note: BA now calls the YQ a "carrier imposed surcharge" after complaints about the so-called original "fuel surcharge" language. As of October 2017 BA seems to be calling the YQ an "Insurance and Security Surcharge".
ARCHIVE: Avoiding YQ Surcharge: AA award on BA / British (& Iberia - 2012-2016)
May 21, 2012, 1:14 am
#16
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: SUX
Programs: BA Silver; HHonors Gold; SPG Gold; Points but dirt with everyone else
Posts: 8,050
May 21, 2012, 1:31 am
#17
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: AA Lifetime PLT , BA Silver , BD RIP , HH Gold, SPG / Marriott PLT , EF Subscriber
Posts: 6,702
That must be why since the launch of Scheduled Air Travel in Brazil every Brazilian Long Haul Airline has failed to make enough money to survive. Any idiot can run a business at a loss.
Last edited by UncleDude; May 21, 2012 at 1:37 am
May 21, 2012, 4:20 am
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere I need to be.
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May 21, 2012, 6:01 am
#19
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: eastern Europe & NC
Posts: 4,527
NO, it is simply a matter of being honest and including fuel in the fare where it should be. Fuel is not an optional extra, but a basic cost of the service being sold. Planes do not fly without it. Seperating it and calling it a ''tax'' is nothing but F-R-A-U-D! and airlines should be prohibited by law from doing it. Hooray for Brazil!
May 21, 2012, 6:07 am
#20
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: eastern Europe & NC
Posts: 4,527
Those are all for optional extras. Fuel is NOT an optional extra. It is an essential to the product offered. A better analogy would be like going into a bar, ordering a beer, and having a surcharge for the glass, or ordering a pizza and being surcharged for having any crust at all (toppings would be an optional extra, but not the crust which is an essential).
May 21, 2012, 6:15 am
#21
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,473
Silly statement.
I didn't realize that since the start of commercial air travel service in Brazil--going back decades and prior to the advent of YQ bahksheesh--that all carriers based in Brazil failed due to the lack of a YQ bahksheesh.
Show me proof that the absence of YQ (since what, a few months or a year or two) has a strong correlation to fiscal demise for all Brazilian carriers.
May 21, 2012, 7:00 am
#22
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Signatures
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: London, England
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador, National Exec, AA EXP Emeritus
Posts: 9,765
Come to think of it, I've actually been hit with a service charge at a restaurant when I was not informed in advance... On the other hand I've never gotten a bill from BA for fuel surcharge after I flew an award. @:-) In neither case did I get indignant and act like I was being defrauded, despite the fact that the restaurant may have actually been dishonest.
I don't like fuel surcharges, but I do think it's awfully narrow minded to call it fraud. But if you like the Brazilian model, your best bet is to contact your local legislators and ask for the same in your country. Not many legislators read FT, so you may find that has more efficacy.
May 21, 2012, 7:52 am
#23
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: LON SIN HKG
Programs: AA, SPG, Hh, Amex MR, Marriott, ICH, VA, CC, LH
Posts: 433
Goalposts
I tend to agree with Mr H Rider. Some might refer to it as the game of changing goal posts. Sadly those goal posts never seem to change in favour of the consumer.
May 21, 2012, 8:06 am
#24
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: LON SIN HKG
Programs: AA, SPG, Hh, Amex MR, Marriott, ICH, VA, CC, LH
Posts: 433
Some economists express concern that developed nations such as the UK are deeply affected by anti competitive practices and pricing. Where the nation as a whole is damaged by core and necessary services, whether transportation, communications, or industrial utilities, it does call into question those who are benefiting from disreputable practices where the greater economic good is jeopardised.
An idiot can run a business at a loss? Perhaps this is an area where others might feel that the general public are taken for idiots, and the poorer for it to boot.
May 21, 2012, 12:19 pm
#25
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: AA 1M
Posts: 31,475
YQ started in this past decade, what reason do you have for the losses incurred before that?
May 21, 2012, 2:39 pm
#26
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4,861
NO, it is simply a matter of being honest and including fuel in the fare where it should be. Fuel is not an optional extra, but a basic cost of the service being sold. Planes do not fly without it. Seperating it and calling it a ''tax'' is nothing but F-R-A-U-D! and airlines should be prohibited by law from doing it.
If you order something from a company that has only an Internet presence (no storefront), there is no option to pick-up the item personally. Yet, you get charged shipping and/or handling. Would you like to outlaw that practice?
May 21, 2012, 3:57 pm
#28
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 1999
Posts: 12,097
There is nothing to explain, as none of these are related to awards, which are still in the tariff as "free".
May 21, 2012, 4:02 pm
#29
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 1999
Posts: 12,097
From 2001-2010, U.S. airlines had a cumulative net loss of approximately $54 billion.
May 21, 2012, 5:15 pm
#30
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Southern California
Posts: 391
Even as of yesterday, I tried to book LAX-HNL award tickets on AA using BA Avios and the website is charging USA Departure Tax. I am not leaving USA.
How does one deal with it, would calling to book the ticket not incur this charge?
How does one deal with it, would calling to book the ticket not incur this charge?