They will automatically assign you a Executive Club number if you don't have one, just apply using the link.

I don't think BA should have to absorb government taxes - but the fees are mostly "fuel surcharges" which, of course, are imposed themselves to generate revenue without officially raising ticket prices.

An air ticket is for transportation from A to B. To charge a passenger a surcharge to use it for what was intended is a bit rich.

As a result, Award tickets are simply discounted tickets.

Welcome to FT IFlyWhenIHave2. ^

I was hoping to take advantage of this because we have an annual ORD-MAN trip for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant and 3 possible free tickets would be awesome. But which taxes and fees do they charge exactly? I just looked up both ORD-MAN and ORD-LHR returns on ba.com and total taxes and fees were $550 per person - we flew with US Airways this week for $600 per person total. Obviously this wouldn't work out to well for us! Thanks!

It's a Chase Bank visa card with the BA piece as a perk of the card, so it's only open to people who would normally be able to get a Chase Bank visa card. If you don't live in the US I'd say not.

Anybody with a valid US Social Security number and reasonable credit can apply. Usually this means US residents, since having a US-based job is now the only way to apply for a SSN.

YQ is not a tax, or a fee imposed upon BA by another authority. It is a fee arbitrarily imposed by BA on fares and awards. Its impact on fares is not much, since most base fares are adjusted down such that the net fare (base fare + YQ) is competitive with other carriers. Where it bites is when it comes to awards, since your miles no longer cover the entirety of the fare, effectively turning your miles-only redemption into a cash+miles (or PCPM in BA terminology) redemption.

But use your BA miles on AA for the same routing and your costs decrease considerably?

Okay credit
 

I have just okay credit and was wondering if you think I would be more likely to get the card if I opted to transfer debt from another credit card? Not sure if this is an incentive for them to give me an account because they are looking to earn interest. Thanks

Only on AA domestic. BA charges YQ when redeeming awards on AA metal TATL, TPAC or to South America (ridiculous, since AA doesn't charge YQ on its own awards). Just doesn't pass the smell test.

Out of interest, does anyone know if the YQ charged on AA flights get passed back to AA, or does BA pocket the money?

So a flight on BA from say, Chicago to LHR and a flight on AA will be the same tax and fee wise?

Does that also apply if flying in J or F?

Yes and yes. As a matter of fact, you may end up paying slightly more on AA because I remember reading somewhere that "AA YQ" (whatever that means) is treated as taxable by AA, and a number of taxes show up on the AA itinerary that otherwise would not if it were a "real" award ticket.

Edit: I should clarify - the AA flight will have YQ charged on it when redeeming using BA miles. If you were redeeming with AA miles or paying for it with cash, there would be no YQ, since AA doesn't charge YQ.

Nobody here knows for sure, but given that the YQ charges are set by BA, and scale as BA's YQ scales, it would be reasonable to assume that BA pockets them. The same applies to a number of other OW airlines on which BA charges YQ but AA does not (JL and QF to name two).

Remember, AA does charge fuel surcharges, but these are calculated into the base fare, not outside of it like YQ, so for all intents and purposes they are invisible to the passenger (i.e. they are done right). And to my knowledge, AA's fuel surcharges vary greatly from BA's.

Maybe a silly question.... But what does YQ stand for? Is it just another industry acronym that means 'Fuel Surcharge'?

Cheers,
Rick

Applied and got the message that the application would be reviewed within 10 days and notification sent within 30.

AA does actually impose a fuel surcharge against its revenue fares on transatlantic and transpacific routes. For example, a business class fare JFK-LHR return on AA, booked on aa.com will include a fuel surcharge of US$ 472.00 which incidentally is the same fuel surcharge BA imposes on the same route.

Yes but the difference is that AA does not charge YQ on their awards - or at least they didn't before JBA. A bunch of airlines charge YQ as a fee and not a fare component, but it is not charged to awards for reasons that BA could take a look at.

YQ, ABC, XYZ...lovely.

Anyway, fuel surcharges and the like I will concede. But I have yet to read a valid reason as
to why BA should absorb government imposed taxes.

H

Nobody is saying they should. The whole point is the BA imposed fuel surcharge is significantly above other market players.

I stand corrected on the amount of fuel surcharge applied, as this is probably post-alignment. However, AA does not use the YQ method of adding fuel surcharge. It is calculated as part of the base fare, and unless you look up the fare rules, you typically don't even see it.

I had not realised that this was a discussion about microeconomic business decisions :rolleyes: For
the avoidance of doubt, I dislike the fuel surcharge as much as the next person.

My sole point was to question why there is a view that BA should not pass along taxes for
redemption flights. I appreciate that it makes a benefit less so because it has some strings
attached, namely a monetary payment.

H

I don't believe anyone has suggested that BA should not pass along taxes - the question is whether or not they should pass on the fuel surcharge (YQ) which is a BA imposed charge, not a government one.

Anyone know if this offer is still valid? I can't get the link to work when I click on the "Apply Now" link from Britishairways.com US site.

Thanks

Worked for me yesterday ...

Newbie here. I am considering applying for this card. I can't figure out the BA website. Does anyone know what the fuel surcharge is RT from HOU to HNL.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, linda705,

You can use the ITA website to estimate the amount of taxes/fees/surcharges you can expect to pay on a BAEC redemption.

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/

For a HOU-HNL coach fare, ITA lists the following taxes/fees:
US Transportation Tax (US) $14.11
US Alaska/Hawaii Departure Tax (US) $16.40
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) $10.00
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $16.50
US Flight Segment Tax (ZP) $14.80

Note, not all of the above are fixed fees: the US Transportation Tax is calculated as a percentage of the base fare (7.5%) and thus works out as zero against a redemption fare.

Thanks! Thanks for sharing the link to the ITA website.

Does anyone know if you can still qualify for this offer if you already hold a UA Chase Visa?

That is up to Chase but if you don't have too many accounts already open with them (3+), then you should still be approved (credit pending) and you would qualify for this.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

I believe that some of the fixed fees only apply to cash tickets, so the BA fees for an award ticket HOU-DFW-HNL are likely to be minimal. A dummy booking done at ba.com will display the actual fees.

Having another Chase-issued frequent flyer program card (UA) itself will not cause you to be ineligible for this offer (I have both). As infamousdx has mentioned, it is a function of your total credit relationship with the bank.

Anyone else get a follow-up call from Chase after submitting the application?

I applied for the BA Visa from my Chase.com account. I just got a call from Chase's fraud department just now to ask a few security questions such as who my car loan was through, a previous address of mine, and some other questions. I don't remember going through any of these questions when I opened up my UA Chase credit card.

After I answered her questions she put me on hold to finish submitting the application and came back saying it was successfully submitted; however the approval decision would be mailed within 14 days.

So an award flight from ORD-HNL on American would just require us to pay these/similar taxes?

Anyone receive their card yet?
 

I just called the Chase Credit Card 800# to check the status of my application. The automated system said I was approved, announced my credit line and interest rate, and said I should have received the card by now.

Has anyone else gotten their BA Chase card from this offer? I think last Wednesday was when I applied and then received a follow-up call on Sunday. I wouldn't think this would be enough time to have already received the card.

The system gave me the option to report that I had not received the card, but I chose not to select it as I didn't want the one in transit to be scrapped and have to wait for a re-issue.

Which 800 number did you call?

I wasn't aware of this until I asked thepointsguy on his blog but regarding the Companion ticket for spending $30,000 in a year, the year is a CALENDAR year, not an anniversary year from the date you opened the card.

I thought that was handy to know because we're already down 3.5 months in 2011!

Try 888-338-2586

1-800-432-3117 was the number that I called. I pressed an option for application status and then an option for credit card application status.

get your card expedited for free
 

you can get your card shipped in two days once its approved.I applied friday . approvedon monday. shipped rapid on tuesday- in my hand on wednesday- happy 100k soon !!added to my households 250k..now time to go trip hunting on ba.com

Thanks for the replies. I found a different CC status number, which gave me the automated "30 days wait, etc, etc".

Then yesterday, logged into my Chase/CO debit account and found a new Chase VISA card listed on my account page, only 2 days after I applied. Nice!