stickyfingers85

Hello

I'm trying to use my avios to book a flight through BA with Malaysia Airlines from TPE to BKI on 1st May and return on 6th May. However, the amount of tax charged on the BA website seems to be very high!

When I look at the flights directly on the Malaysia Airlines website i get this information



Using XE.com it works out at about £71 in tax per person

However, when i book using Avios on the BA website i get this:



Then when you click on the info button for the tax I get this:



So it looks like they are charging BA Surcharges for a Malaysia Airlines flight, is that right? Maybe its correct?

Sorry if i'm being an idiot but was just very surprised at the cost of the flight, even when booking with avios. In total it only works out at about £80 cheaper to book with 40,000 avios for 2 people, than it is to just pay the full price on the Malaysia Airlines website

What do you think?

Thanks in advance

Dave_C

I'd defer to the experts, but it does seem rather naughty of BA on the face of it.

londonbus

Assuming 1 avio = 1p, 40,000 = £400.

Spend £400 to save £80? doesn't seem right to me...

Sounds like short-haul economy redemptions in Europe before Reward Flight Saver...

littlefish

I can't see what's going on either:

The TWD 1860 Govt & Airport charges compute to c.£39.60 (BA show as £40). So that seems to co-ordinate well enough.

The TWD 4736 Fuel & Insurance surcharge computes to c.£104.20 (BA show as £154.60). Hmm that's £50 too high

Odd.

neuromancer

Hasn't BA always charged their fuel surcharge (when there is one), instead of partner's? I've saved a lot buying awards through Iberia plus, as their surcharge is much lower, than the same flight booked through BAEC.

stephem

BA is assessing per segment fuel surcharges on MH awards. But they appear higher than BA charges for other carriers on the identical route.
Look at CX vs MH on KUL-HKG.

In business, many of the fuel surcharges are tolerable, but on a few, like kul-lax, I'd clearly take CX for less surcharge.

The surcharges make short and mid haul SEAsia awards on MH utterly worthless, since the cash fares on many of these routes are extremely low due to presence of an LCC. Look at SIN-KUL in Y, $50 fuel surcharge and various other taxes totaling $73 for an award that can be had w no miles for $79 or $32 if you will tolerate air Asia.

KenJohn

Definitely are

I replaced my CX flight with an MH flight between PEK and KUL. CX flight was via HKG. Both booked with Avios on ba.com. The "taxes" were definitely higher; from under GBP 100 to GBP 275-ish. Still went for the MH flight since it was direct, arrived earlier and took fewer Avios.

Compare this with my Avios redemption on AA on MIA-ATL where it was GBP1.60 in taxes.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Doesn't BAEC simply tack on whatever fuel surcharge the operating carrier charges on paid tickets? If MH's paid tickets have a higher YQ than CX's paid tickets on the same route, that would explain the disparity.

DWFI

That's because AA does not charge YQ domestically.

If BA charged it for AA domestic that would pretty much be fraud. It's borderline fraud now since they pocket the YQ for all partner airlines - they do not actually pay it to the partner airline.

lizban

So am I understanding this correctly? BA charge a fuel surcharge for flights they aren't operating and retain this rather than pass this on too the carrier?

Raffles

Correct.

The fuel surcharge is kept by the ticketing airline and not the operating airline.

That is why, for example, BA imposes a fuel surcharge on AA transatlantic rewards even though AA does not impose a surcharge itself.

London to New York using AA miles on an AA plane incurs no surcharge. The same AA flight using BA miles incurs the surcharge.

I am interested in seeing what AA charges for Malaysia Airlines awards. If it is a nominal sum, it is another reason to build a balance with AA.

(Lizban - and, back to your BMI board post, that is why I wouldn't have given back those 75,000 miles to BMI! Because they were ripping you off on the fuel surcharge whenever you redeemed them!)

Swiss Tony

Interestingly, BA don't charge any YQ on domestic redemptions with MH. I presume this is because they don't have a space in their YQ matrix for this category, whereas they do have some zone-based system that covers Taiwan to Borneo (which isn't, to the best of my knowledge, a route BA ply at the moment )

stickyfingers85

So basically what you are all saying is that the tax they are charging is correct?

It's a shame, was really looking forward to trying out MH

Hannibal Lecter

Provided this guy knows what he is talking about

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20166237-post9.html

IAN-UK

So isn't the best idea for an Avios collector to whack the things over to Iberia and book MH flights through Iberia Plus?

(when they get around to recognising MH as a OW member ...)