jamesbrownontheroad

US723 DUB-PHL / US967 PHL-SFO in Y; 22,500 miles and £46.40 taxes

simonsmith

Just booked: 16th dec LHR CPT via JNB C class SAA Returning 26th Dec CPT to LHR 2 people:

37500 each plus £255 plus tax; £427.23 each

PS Can any one reassure me that the taxes are ok; I would be grateful Tx

dewsburyborn

Hey Godfather - Good to see that you followed the spirit of the thread and saved yourself some overhead on this one !

What month is this for ?

jamesbrownontheroad

< 2 weeks from today. Can't believe I've never exploited the loophole of flying US ex-DUB and saving so much on APD and YQ.

Normally I would agree that one shouldn't redeem only miles for Y, but this is the longest redemption I've ever made: 5793 miles.

Hope to confirm the inbound and post it here in the next hour.... and you're going to like that one too

onlysuites

Was thinking about doing that too, then looked into Ryan Air's fares ex UK. £30 o/w fare + £40 luggage charges + £5 admin fee + fee for paying fees + fees for paying fees on fees that have just been paid.

In the end it worked out only £80 cheaper. Not worth it.

HIDDY

Indeed.....I'd be looking for a three figure saving at least and be wanting a break in the departure city as well before I would do that. More comforting to have your flights all under the one itinerary should something go drastically wrong.

dewsburyborn

Agreed - not really worth it for THAT saving - but if there's more than 1 pax - and you're in a premium cabin, the saving that you can make can go a long way to something in the US ..........

dewsburyborn

Agreed - that's why LBA-DUB, then DUB-TATL in J is quite attractive
(all the better if on US for nil YQ)

pogonation

Why don't you just fly on Aer Lingus then? They are frequently cheaper than ryanair... e.g. most dates in Feb are £34.99 one way inc tax + £5 handling fee + £12 bag = £52 ^ and a better overall experience IMO

onlysuites

Like yourself NCL is one of my locals and they don't fly from here. But I see what you mean, if I was to fly ex MAN or EDI then I would definitely choose them.

jamesbrownontheroad

If you thought that was good... well, I might be on the verge of surprising even myself.

As promised, I was in the process of making another redemption, this time with NZ, which required a few hours for the taxes to be calculated. When I called back after the suggested two hours, the taxes were so cheap I suddenly decided to use to money saved extend my stay by an extra 24 hours. That meant another few hours for the taxes to be recalculated for the later departure date. When I called back.... the taxes for the new date were even cheaper...

The taxes have been debited from my card and the booking is "confirmed" if not fully ticketed. I've even called my bank to double check I heard the agent correctly when they confirmed the taxes. Could anyone with more experience than me in these matters please tell me if something has gone horribly wrong?

NZ2 LAX-LHR in J / BD6 LHR-GLA in Y+; 33,750 miles and £15.20 taxes

Am I missing something?

Grafton001

Just book a C&M redemption for late December DUB-FRA (LH) in C and FRA-JFK (SQ) in C next morning - 18,750 miles and £281.00 cash & taxes.

ikura

No fuel surcharge on Air New Zealand flights that do not originate from LHR, so nothing major. Taxes are as follows:

United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) US$ 21.50
US International Departure Tax (US) US$ 16.30
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) US$ 2.50
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) US$ 4.50

Looks like they forgot to charge you the UB.

jamesbrownontheroad

I'll drop it off on my way through LHR-T1...

21H21J

Booked in 15 minutes (after hours checking on ANA)

MAN - FRA LH C
FRA - ORD LH C
ORD - SAT UA Y

2 x 18,750 miles + £105 cash + £305 tax + £4.50 for using a BMI credit card