BA redemption ticket showing 'face value' on website that used to change FFP
 

Recently I made two redemption ticket on BA.com. While in need to change the FFP to another company, I went to the most useful and famous fellow oneworld airline website to make the modification.

To my surprise, that website displayed the face value of the BA.com redemption ticket.

Ticket 1, LHR -DUB, one way, using BA miles, peak travel. The displayed price is £47.81 Since the fees are:
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) £13.00
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) £29.81
Total £42.81
SO the fare BA is charged is £5.00

Consider the fare I paid was 4,500 + £17.50
So the cash component BA needs to pay is £30.31
Since BA can write off the fare of £5 which I do not know the truth, but discount the £5 for the purpose of maximise the Avios value, So the 4,500 avios in this case worth £25.31. Per 1,000 Avios is worth £5.62 (1 Avios = £0.0056)


Ticket 2, LGW - JER, one way, using BA miles, off-peak travel. The displayed price is £33.06
Since other fees are:
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) £8.05
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) £7.34
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) £13.00
Total : £28.39
So the fare BA to charge is £4.67

Consider the fare I paid was 4,000 + £17.50
So the cash component BA needs to pay is £15.56
Since BA can write off the fare of £4.67 which I do not know the truth, but discount the £4.67 for the purpose of maximise the Avios value, So the 4,000 avios in this case worth £10.89, So per 1,000 Avios worth £2.7225 (1 Avios = £0.0027)


If you have any redemption ticket, you might wish to check the 'face value' out on that oneworld airline website fast, I think it is a glitch to show the price. This function may be taken away very soon once they discovered the bug. If you can not see the price on the front page (it flashes once and then disappear), you just need to go to modify traveller information page where the price will be shown.

Sorry I can not tell the website name just in case BA sees this. But for many frequent travellers on BA often in the need to change FFP numbers in reservation, you should know which airline I am talking about. And please keep it as a secret as long as possible as I hope this bug can last a little bit longer.

So what is your redemption ticket cost BA?:p

Aren't those just the fees and taxes?

(These are capped on RFS of course, but BA still need to pay the airport, etc).

This is just the sum of taxes/fees/charges. For a non-RFS award ticket it should be identical to the cash component paid. For an RFS award ticket you can find it through ITA Matrix.

For example a LHR-DUB ticket has non-fare components of:
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) £13.00
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) £29.81

Total £42.81 as per your figure above.

Have added more information now.:rolleyes:

Well, no. BA still has to pay a fare apparently. I checked against Matrix and I can conclude both ticket I had indeed had a fare attached.

Pay a fare to whom? Itself?

(Assuming the redemptions you've written about are both BA metal)

BA and Avios are separate companies now.

I am not clear even if this is a "face value" with a hypothetical fare why it matters?

I am doing a redemption to avoid paying a fare. I couldn't really care less how BA wants to account for it between itself and AGL.

Although OPs post is slightly confusing, and claims to show the 'secret hidden fare cost', his point can be summed up as thus:

Actual fees and taxes vary
Avios rate varies for peak & off-peak
RFS fee is £17.50

Therefore the 'value' of the Avios you spend varies.

I don't think this is any great surprise. The whole idea of the RFS is that it provides a standardised cost for European redemptions, and so there's bound to be routes where you're getting better value than others.

Incidentally, this can become more interesting when booking single flights into LON, where the fee is often lower than £17.50...

I assume when I made a redemption via BA EC on BA metal, BA EC has to make a transaction to BA to 'pay' for my flight.

Yes they are. And I am particular interested how BA would be charged if you redeem a ticket on, let us say CX or AA.

So why do you come back to join the conversation. You could just ignored the post. The reality is that I think occasionally people get curious, like me did. The true spirit about Frequent Flyer is to learn things you did not know about travel. For me, I have no idea how much BA would charge for a redemption ticket, and now, I accidently learnt the real figure and I am more than happy to share this info with people here. Someone here could find the 'rubbish knowledge' like this entertaining and helpful. Of course you can have your own attitude, but I truly wish that you could keep it to yourself.

No, the point is that redemption ticket is not FREE. The fare is not £0 like someone would like to believe. There is a fare attached to redemption ticket and people outside the airline would never know how much the 'fare' was. And for the first time, traveller could find out the true fare of a redemption ticket.

Suppose you made a redemption with BA. BA has to pay the fees and taxes on your behave if it is RFS, not only that, BA has to pay a fare upon the fees and taxes.

Similar to long haul redemption and redemption on other airlines, you pay the taxes and fees and avios. BA will collect the taxes and fees then have to pay a fare on your behave.

The main object is to find out how much BA paid for a redemption ticket ex. fees and taxes. Especially if someone here had a long haul business/first redemption, the fare BA is to pay would be the most intriguing question. :p

Why should BA care if you can? BA has never made any secret of the fact that if you book an RFS, BA is subsidising the cash element of that ticket. It was intended to be an enhancement, in the genuine sense, of short-haul redemptions. I would have thought it more likely that BA would not be upset for you to know that you've paid £17.50 for a ticket on which the TFC are more like £40.

Well just checked that for a JAL redemption booked on BA.
The fare is showing as 0 CNY and the fare equivalent as 0 EUR.
The only prices displayed are the taxes that I've actually paid so I am definitely not sure that what you are seeing is a "face value".

Oh dear, you have taken my post completely the wrong way. No problem sharing information - I do it all the time on here. I didn't call the post or the information therein rubbish btw or say you shouldn't have posted it.

I am just trying to understand why you thing it matters or why you think it is a glitch or bug which should be taken advantage of? I get the impression based on your further post that it is entertainment value only?

Also there is no indication this is actually the value BA/AGL use.

But that would be to make the mistake of assuming that the amount stated in the "fare" box is actually paid by BA to anyone, rather than being a purely notional amount that has no attachment to reality.

Anyway, for what it's worth, all I can see for "fare" in my award bookings is zero, zilch, nada - whether the redemptions are in Z class, U class, X class or (and this was the bit that had triggered my suspicions) V class.