GRUflyer

Dear FTers,


So we all (most of us) know that the beauty of leaving or departing from Brazil is that Brazilian Law prohibites the charge of YQ or any carrier imposed taxes, other than government taxes, to any final price of the ticket.

That has a great side effect: no airline is allowed to charge YQ ex Brazil on redemption fares.

So today I booked GRU-LHR-GRU in F and was quoted USD850 in "Fees". After my CC was charged and I got my ticket, I rang back and demanded to see the breakdown of the "Imposed Charges".

Guess what?

They admitted they were charging YQ, and said that since I complained, they would refund me USD550 (!!) which they should not have charged in the first place.

In a true FT spirit I called back later and tried another booking. Guess what price was quoted for taxes on GIG-LHR-GIG?

USD 850!!

OUTRAGEOUS!

They could get sued BIG time in Brazil if I turn them in....

Jenzo

I would, they are doing something illegal that you know about, and as such this needs to be stopped for those who dont know about this.

GRUflyer

To make matters worse...


They described it as "YQ charge"

Of course we know what YQ stands for.... but what about others?

When I said "And that stands for Fuel Surcharge which is illegal ex Brazil, right?"

The attendant quickly said he would talk to a Supervisor, and returned with the answer "we have credited your card back with USD 600"

paul4040

This has come up a few times before on here. By all means report them and let us know how the bureaucracy deals with them.

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourc....flyertalk.com

GRUflyer

They no longer allow Brazilian Accounts to make online bookings via ba.com so to waive those fees manually.

But now they have completely lost any decency....

Timbuku

Last week I was charged 282 EUR for an F reward from GRU to LHR and I thought it was cheap.

I tried a dummy booking now and the fee is listed as *Fuel surcharge EUR249.01*. I will call and demand a refund.

BLHD

Could you clarify, $550 or $600?

With that sort of inaccuracy... I advise you not to sue BA, you'll be ripped to pieces in Court if you can't get your own testimony right.

GRUflyer

So you should!!! ^

BA needs to get burned for that.

Calchas

BA could re-arrange the price of a redemption ticket to be some flat cash base fare (as a fare not a "tax" or a "fee") plus the appropriate Avios quantum. So if you proceed you may end up worse off.

On the other hand, one has a moral duty to assist in upholding the law of one's community.

As a side note, does this apply for the entire ticket issued out of Brazil or just the sectors? If one was feeling particularly sneaky, and planning a lot of trips, one could telephone and get all the sectors on the same ticket, and then get a refund of the entire tax/fee element.

JAXBA

Things may have changed since my time at BA, but basically the loophole was, to my understanding, that YQ could not be charged on published fares departing Brazil, or redemptions sold and ticketed in Brazil. So BA just used a MEX office to process Brazilian redemptions and collect the YQ.

Another side effect of Brazilian law is that the Brazilian Customer Relations line must be answered, in Portuguese, within about 30 seconds of the phone ringing - I was therefore taught how to say 'Obrigado por ligar British Airways. Um momento por favor' whenever my Brazilian colleague's phone rang and she wasn't at her desk...

HIDDY

My BA redemptions are issued in Mexico as well.

Avios.com doesn't charge the higher rate so there is a workaround if you're willing to take the chance.

GRUflyer

It is something in between.... around USD 580 I believe, given the fact that there is a currency convertion in between...


Of course I cannot prove it exactly how much it was, since your beloved BA does not issue an invoice clearly stating what they are charging.... but then again, what kind of thief would do that, right?

shorthauldad

I feel sure the Mileage Run folks have something along those lines already, although I can't find it now.

Something like GRU-LHR-xxx-LHR-yyy-LHR-zzz-LHR ...

It was all in Y though

GRUflyer

BA was already fined over that, along with LH - which I personally turned in.

BA was using MEX and LH was using EZE.

The law states "for tickets ORIGINATING in Brazil" so they were shut down for that.

Ever since, LH closed its EZE base and moved all the telephone calls to California, from what I understand from the agents.

Calchas

JNB, I think. (!)

One for the AA folk.