Massive Avios tax hike or gremlins with BA IT?
 

As someone who has routinely flown with BA usually on avios redemption in first and CW from EDI to BOS over the last couple of years (mixture of one-ways or returns that either begin in UK or US) due to my wife currently based in Boston on a work assignment, the tax element of these bookings would normally come in around £600 for a return.

Now due to a family wedding in Scotland this April, I have tried to book a CW return trip for my wife (Outbound 8th April from Bos to EDI via LHR returning Monday 13th April) and when I priced this on BA site the tax came in at just under £1,300 on top of the 120,000 avios.

I called BA to ask ... and was reassured when I was told that there were current problems with their system resulting in higher than usual tax charges being displayed and was told not to worry as she sent the fare off to their booking department for the tax to be manually calculated holding onto the booking in the meantime.

Yesterday, I received a call from BA to say that they have now heard back from this department but delivered the exact same figure as I got online. She has now sent this off again for further investigation.

Has BA increased tax on long haul redemptions by > 100% in the last few months or am I indeed fighting with IT gremlins. Was surprised that the team who manually calculated the tax reached the same figure.

Ex USA are far more expensive than ex UK. There are a few threads on it. It's eye watering reading unfortunately.

Here is one relevant i think https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1934390-ex-us-fuel-surcharges-f-up-50-a.html

ok thanks, I will have a look. I'm pretty sure though I did a return Q3 last year departing US after travelling 1 way from UK due to lack of return availability but even then travelling in F the charge was way less.

If you look at the fare break down you will see this is due to BAs surcharges and not proper government taxes.

BA charges significantly higher surcharges ex US

I would try booking this as to single trips and see if that reduces the BA surcharge element on the basis that ex UK surcharges are lower than ex US/

Thanks, two 1-way's in CW come in at around £550 each so this is cheaper than the £1,300 return and maybe it's the best option available.
So perhaps this is the best option I'm going to get but seems way higher than what I paid for similar journey ex USA last year.

Thanks again for your help

OP, welcome to my world!!

Please see this thread for some discussion:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...f-up-50-a.html

If you have a British Airways Chase Signature Visa card you can get a $200 rebate three times a year. See this thread:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...tion-fees.html

Thanks, don't think I can apply for Chase as BA account still in UK and as my wife and I are family members on Avios programme unable to change her account to US.

However, taking the advice from earlier, was really interested that when pricing 2x1 way in PE tax is about £230 ex USA but £350 ex UK which now has completely blown my mind based on earlier comments that prices are more expensive ex USA.

Is there any method to this madness :-)

It is possible to get from BOS to EDI with Avios without flying BA. Have you considered BOS-DUB-EDI on EI? Probably a little more Avios, but a lot less cash -- if there is award-seat availability.

Edited to change "JFK" to "BOS."

ex U.K. flights attract Air Passenger Duty of ~ £170 in any cabin other than economy.. this is a proper government tax and is the same for a cash booking as it is for avios ones.

Your issue is the high BA carrier surcharges on avios bookings which is why it is important to look at the detailed fare breakdown.

Thanks for this - clearly I have still much to learn.

There are definitely gremlins though- just booked 2 Avios seats SIN-LHR in club and initially it wanted £4,121 in charges! When I clicked through though went down to a more manageable £412, so clearly issues with decimal points!

These are not Taxes!

They are not taxes. They are pretty much what each airline is charging for the 'free flight'. Unfortunately the big groups IAG,LH and possibly AF/KLM are overcharging for redemptions. Ex US is one of the poorest way to use your avios. I will give you an example for a random day i picked up.
09/03/2020. SFO-LON. BA is asking £500+ plus the avios.
LH is asking around 600+ euros plus the miles.
One the other hand if i book with TAP via Lisbon i will only pay 26 euros or with United via Frankfurt 82 euros.
The above prices are for C.

Any option to look at EI via Dublin or AA BOS to EDI or GLA, perhaps via PHL?

That is true. But every time I've tried booking things like this, the dynamic milage calculator is maxed up and it quotes me 150000 miles instead of the 50000 or so it should be one way. So while the fee component is low, I'd have to have flown an extra couple of LH return in J to get enough miles. Perhaps I haven't looked hard enough, but I've never found much use for my skyteam or star miles. I guess there is always sweet spots. Ba's is UuA.

My Aeroméxico miles went on hotels as to upgrade with points you needed to buy flex economy which was only 100 dollars cheaper than paid J. Any business class redemption was quoted at 300k points, thanks to dynamic pricing.