EK changes surcharges on some routes
May 21, 2020, 2:20 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: AMS
Posts: 579
EK changes surcharges on some routes
Hi all,
Sorry if that is known news, i wasn't able to find this info by quick scan in this forum.
Looks like EK recently changed YQ surcharge, at least on routes from Europe to Asia (maybe other routes as well). They used to be around 700-800 EUR for premium cabins, now I see they are around 300 for round trip. At the same time fares themselves jumped around 15-20%. I guess for majority of public net result is more or less the same, but it might be good news for award redemption.
Edit: I actually was thinking what triggered such a change and the only three things I could come up with are:
1. There is some tax advantage depending on what part of revenue it is
2. Emirates feels the urge to improve Skywards, whether because they see it as possible competitive advantage to get out of crisis faster or because competitors are doing it (think QR - not that it is great anyhow but I did notice they started to put more thinking into how to make it remotely attractive).
3. They decided to clear some liabilities while earning at least something on capacity that otherwise wouldn't earn anything. Convincing people to do outright redemption with such a level of extra fees was a tough job. And on upgrades you don't earn anything extra. So lowering surcharges is not such a bad way to stimulate extra buck while improving the loads.
Second point, especially if I consider the competitive advantage reason, doesn't sound to crazy to me - although my logic my be flowed of course. I think first few months after flying resumes will be overwhelmingly driven by leisure travel vs business travel, and in uncertain times people are even more likely to decide based on price, so you need to give them some more reason to pick you. But maybe it some kind of combination of 2 and 3.
Sorry if that is known news, i wasn't able to find this info by quick scan in this forum.
Looks like EK recently changed YQ surcharge, at least on routes from Europe to Asia (maybe other routes as well). They used to be around 700-800 EUR for premium cabins, now I see they are around 300 for round trip. At the same time fares themselves jumped around 15-20%. I guess for majority of public net result is more or less the same, but it might be good news for award redemption.
Edit: I actually was thinking what triggered such a change and the only three things I could come up with are:
1. There is some tax advantage depending on what part of revenue it is
2. Emirates feels the urge to improve Skywards, whether because they see it as possible competitive advantage to get out of crisis faster or because competitors are doing it (think QR - not that it is great anyhow but I did notice they started to put more thinking into how to make it remotely attractive).
3. They decided to clear some liabilities while earning at least something on capacity that otherwise wouldn't earn anything. Convincing people to do outright redemption with such a level of extra fees was a tough job. And on upgrades you don't earn anything extra. So lowering surcharges is not such a bad way to stimulate extra buck while improving the loads.
Second point, especially if I consider the competitive advantage reason, doesn't sound to crazy to me - although my logic my be flowed of course. I think first few months after flying resumes will be overwhelmingly driven by leisure travel vs business travel, and in uncertain times people are even more likely to decide based on price, so you need to give them some more reason to pick you. But maybe it some kind of combination of 2 and 3.
Last edited by maxvor; May 22, 2020 at 2:12 pm
May 21, 2020, 6:31 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: DUB/ORD/SIN/PVG
Programs: EI AerClub Concierge, EK Gold, BA Gold, BD Gold (Retired), HHonors Diamond, Bonvoy Lifetime Gold
Posts: 2,923
Great news for redemptions!
Looks like DUB-DXB is less that €200 cash component on a Biz/First round trip award.
Looks like DUB-DXB is less that €200 cash component on a Biz/First round trip award.
May 22, 2020, 3:12 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: DUB / DXB
Programs: EK Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 2,471
Just had a quick look at this, €179 is really low for the DUB-DXB-DUB charges, as i have previously seen them closer to 700-800 which always put me off spending miles for a straight redemption
May 22, 2020, 2:35 pm
#4
Ambassador: Emirates Airlines
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 18,611
Very few saver awards available from what I can see. AMS-DXB used to be really good for savers, but nothing much going.
May 22, 2020, 2:41 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: AMS
Posts: 579
Not sure if I'm unlucky but most of my usual routes had also all cheapest fare bucket totally wiped out recently, and I can imagine there is some sort of algorithm that takes it into account when deciding what award space to open.
May 22, 2020, 3:28 pm
#6
Ambassador: Emirates Airlines
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Manchester, UK
Posts: 18,611
I looked at a few places, and theres hardly any savers. I guess this is because EK know they'll be cancelling a lot of the currently bookable flights.
May 22, 2020, 9:13 pm
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: EK1 ML5A ;-)
Programs: EK iO
Posts: 699
May 26, 2020, 5:17 pm
#9
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 844