JPS76

Hoping someone can shed some light. Looking at LHR-DXB-LHR in PE on same dates and same flights and carrier imposed charges:

Both quoted online:

Cash Price fare - £183
Cash and MFU - £289

I could understand if this was an increase in APD due to the upgrade into Club, but that's not the case.

What am I missing? Are BA taking the p1$$ ??

KARFA

Going from WTP to CW whether in a revenue/reward/revenue&UuA booking the difference is carrier surcharge I am afraid. When you do your UuA from WTP you pay the extra avios and the difference between TFC for WTP and CW.

TFC for WTP rtn
Air Passenger Duty - United Kingdom £156.00
Passenger Service Charge - United Kingdom £44.91
Passenger Service Charge (International) - United Arab Emirates £15.10
F6 - United Arab Emirates £7.10
TP - United Arab Emirates £1.00
ZR - United Arab Emirates £2.00
Carrier imposed charge £183.00
-----------------------------------------------------
Total taxes, fees, carrier imposed charges or fuel surcharge, where applicable, per person £409.11

TFC for CW rtn
Air Passenger Duty - United Kingdom £156.00
Passenger Service Charge - United Kingdom £44.91
Passenger Service Charge (International) - United Arab Emirates £15.10
F6 - United Arab Emirates £7.10
TP - United Arab Emirates £1.00
ZR - United Arab Emirates £2.00
Carrier imposed charge £289.00
-----------------------------------------------------
Total taxes, fees, carrier imposed charges or fuel surcharge, where applicable, per person £515.11

Andriyko

I just priced up a LHR-DBX-LHR return and the carrier imposed charge is the same whether it is a cash ticket or an MFU from WT.

KARFA

WT->WTP yes the carrier surcharge stays the same. Doing a UuA does tend to involve paying more cash due to the APD increase though.

Going from WTP->CW (this is what I assume the OP is pricing up) carrier surcharge goes up (see my example above) so the extra cash you pay for the UuA is mostly if not all extra carrier surcharge.

Then CW->F carrier surcharge stays the same. Typically there is very little if any extra cash to pay for this type of UuA,

Globaliser

What isn't clear is whether the MFU / UuA that you want to do is to buy a WT ticket and upgrade to WT+ using Avios, or tpo buy a WT+ ticket and upgrade to CW using Avios.

The figures you have quoted are not comparing like with like. The surcharge is for WT+ in one instance, and for CW in the other instance, as KARFA says. But is a WT+ --> CW upgrade what you actually want to do?

JPS76

Thanks for the responses. So the two fares:
- Cash booking
- Using cash and upgrade with points in Exec Club booking page

If I book a PE fare with cash and then upgrade with points afterwards would the increase in carrier charges occur?

Andriyko

The way I read the OP's post was that the UUA is from WT to WTP (hence the question about the difference in the carrier surcharges), but it looks like the upgrade is from WTP to CW, which explains the difference.

Yes, it would.

KARFA

The TFC you end up paying would be exactly the same in the end. The TFC for a cash booking in CW would be the same compared to either a reward booking in to CW or a WTP booking with a UuA to CW.

There is no way around it - other then not booking with BA from LHR! One option to DXB used to be reward bookings on AB from Germany since the TFC was much less, but that option is gone now with the demise of AB.

JPS76

Thanks everyone...these points are generally worthless these days aren't they, and what with APD too...what a con.

Cheers

KARFA

I would disagree. Have a look at the guides on here, there are plenty of ways you can use avios and get really good value from them. However, if you are not convinced please feel free to send your avios to me

Globaliser

No, they're not. Sometimes they're not worth using, but sometimes they are.

If you can post more details of why you think they're not working for you, then we may have some ideas to suggest.

jp-mco

JPS76

Its all very subjective and I was just stating my opinion. I shall run down my points on Euro routes as I refuse to pay the amounts of cash to BA when using points. I appreciate the program has moved on since I joined over 15 yrs ago...

And I'm not BA bashing, the APD doesn't make it worthwhile either - not value for money in my eyes when there are plenty of ex-EU deals - YMMV of course. I'm happy you guys still make hay.^

Globaliser

Well, it's a matter for you whether or not you choose to cut off your nose to spite your face. But if you are contemplating doing a UuA, then you have always had to hand over significant sums of cash to use your points in this way, in the form of the underlying fare whether or not surcharges or APD enter into it. So point blank refusing to do this, even though the final outcome can actually be a very good value way to travel, doesn't seem to make much sense.

Using Avios on short-haul is often a very good value way of using your Avios. I don't know whether or not you recognise the value of the fixed RFS fee. But either way, it is hard to reconcile your preparedness to use Avios for short-haul flights on the one hand and your assertion on the other hand that Avios are "a con".

JPS76

Yes - it is a matter for me, so you should've just stopped there. Like I said - my opinion, but I guess you just need to have the last word...