Ex-US Fuel Surcharges for F up 50%

Old Jan 6, 2019, 8:27 am
  #76  
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Originally Posted by golfmad
I sent a note to BA about this via ba.com/contactus on Friday and received a call back from customer services this morning. The lady said she had checked and that the increased charges were nothing to do with BA and were new government imposed taxes/fees.

What collective evidence - if any - do we have to the contrary please? I will take it up with them but at the moment I have nothing to present to them. Thanks
it really is the extra carrier surcharge imposed by BA. The evidence is just pricing up a CW return exUS and an F return and compare the TFC. The only difference is now an extra $200 per flight carrier surcharge going from CW to F.

Ask them to specify what these new government imposed taxes are exactly and see what they claim.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 8:37 am
  #77  
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Thanks. Will do.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 1:25 pm
  #78  
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Originally Posted by Andriyko
But I am not talking about any commercial benefit for airlines in structuring their prices the way they do. And I am not sure why the question 'then why do airlines do it?' is directed to me. I am not the airlines and I do not come up with the way the final price is arrived at. I was making a point strictly from the point of view of a passenger - I don't care what is what in the final price. I assume other passengers do not either. I gave an example of the same US$700 tickets offered by LH and PS. That the former's ticket was 30% the fare and 70% the carrier imposed surcharge, while the latter's was the other way around should not really matter; which is why I asked why some people are so angry about these surcharges and call them dishonest and a ripoff. Reward tickets aside (and it has been for many years now that the frequent flyer currency only replaces the fare part), I don't see how it affects cash bookings at all. Again, I find Lufthansa's price structure a bit ridiculous (really low fares and humongous surcharges), but if their tickets are often the cheapest I don't see what the big deal is. Even with the example of the lost corporate account, as far as I understood, the issue was not that the price was part fare and part surcharge, but that no rebate was given for the surcharge to bring the overall price down to be competitive. People are getting personal with me simply for asking why it matters what the cash price is composed of.
Sorry to jump back a few weeks on this, but you miss a trick.

Rebates are a big profit source for professional services business. Company books a 5k flight which you, the client, repays. Except the company gets a fat year end rebate on the base fare which it pockets.

Whether the fare component is 70/30 or 30/70 base and charges makes a big difference here.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 1:36 pm
  #79  
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Originally Posted by golfmad
I sent a note to BA about this via ba.com/contactus on Friday and received a call back from customer services this morning. The lady said she had checked and that the increased charges were nothing to do with BA and were new government imposed taxes/fees.

What collective evidence - if any - do we have to the contrary please? I will take it up with them but at the moment I have nothing to present to them. Thanks
If this is a US trip, I would write to the DOT with a copy of that email and highlighting tha the airline is claiming that there is additional tax due - the airline is in breach of DOT rules in claiming surcharges as being taxes
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 1:53 pm
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
If this is a US trip, I would write to the DOT with a copy of that email and highlighting tha the airline is claiming that there is additional tax due - the airline is in breach of DOT rules in claiming surcharges as being taxes
Not only a violation of DOT rules, but creates civil liability for the next lawsuit against a European carrier for marketing its tickets with carrier surcharges denominated as taxes.

Get yourself the receipt first so you can see first-hand what BA has done and then proceed.
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Old Jan 6, 2019, 2:00 pm
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
If this is a US trip, I would write to the DOT with a copy of that email and highlighting tha the airline is claiming that there is additional tax due - the airline is in breach of DOT rules in claiming surcharges as being taxes
Originally Posted by Often1
Not only a violation of DOT rules, but creates civil liability for the next lawsuit against a European carrier for marketing its tickets with carrier surcharges denominated as taxes.

Get yourself the receipt first so you can see first-hand what BA has done and then proceed.
Indeed. I'll also share more information here once I have the updated ticket and receipt. So far all I have is the credit card transaction for the $200.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 9:39 am
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I realize I am shouting into the void, but I do find the YQ prices frustrating with UUA situations too. Yesterday I upgraded a 3-segment itinerary from WT+ to CW and it cost $750/person extra in addition to the Avios portion. As part of the same trip, I upgraded EY AUH-LHR from [cheap] Economy to Business with GuestMiles and no cash surcharge was needed.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 2:28 pm
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Here's an eticket receipt taxes and fees breakdown for CW->F UUA round trip JFK-LHR...comparing to the pre-UUA receipt, the only difference is the additional $400 carrier imposed surcharge.

$1510.50 in British Airways fees. $335.66 in actual taxes/airport charges.


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Old Jan 15, 2019, 2:37 pm
  #84  
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Originally Posted by skippythelizard
Here's an eticket receipt taxes and fees breakdown for CW->F UUA round trip JFK-LHR...comparing to the pre-UUA receipt, the only difference is the additional $400 carrier imposed surcharge.

$1510.50 in British Airways fees. $335.66 in actual taxes/airport charges.


$1846 tax/surcharge

Why are there 2 sets of Carrier Imposed Charges?
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 3:14 pm
  #85  
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Originally Posted by skippythelizard
Here's an eticket receipt taxes and fees breakdown for CW->F UUA round trip JFK-LHR...comparing to the pre-UUA receipt, the only difference is the additional $400 carrier imposed surcharge.

$1510.50 in British Airways fees. $335.66 in actual taxes/airport charges.
Thanks that's very useful. I'm still waiting for my updated e-ticket showing the breakdown so I've used your confirmation and gone back to BA with an update to my case asking them to explain why they say the new charges are government imposed ones. I'll update here if/when I receive a response. For me, this represents a significant devaluation of BAEC/GGL.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 3:15 pm
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Originally Posted by DYKWIA
Why are there 2 sets of Carrier Imposed Charges?
Because they recently invented a second one which is $200 each way per person when upgrading from CW to F.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 3:35 pm
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This is really getting silly. Didn't they just lose a class action about surcharges in the USA - and now they are levying more? It seems disingenuous to say the least.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 4:33 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by _nate
This is really getting silly. Didn't they just lose a class action about surcharges in the USA - and now they are levying more? It seems disingenuous to say the least.
It does seem very odd in light of the recent settlement. A good way to pay for the settlement?
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 5:52 pm
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Originally Posted by DYKWIA
$1846 tax/surcharge

Why are there 2 sets of Carrier Imposed Charges?
This started as a paid CW booking. The original receipt included everything except the second carrier charge of $400.

i applied a UUA to F, and this new receipt was the result, showing the additional charge.

Interetingly, my total out of pocket was $2640 per passenger, which I thought was a reasonable deal.

If booked as an F award, it would have cost me $1846.
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Old Jan 15, 2019, 8:17 pm
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What possible justification is there for additional 'fees' for a higher class redemption if they are not imposed on BA by some external agency? The extra miles are supposed to cover the difference in classes.
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