yerffej201

well airport taxes and fees would run tens to maybe a hundred dollars, so I don't think you were incorrectly charged. you should check the breakdown of yq and airport taxes to be sure.

thebluejean

According to someone's comment on milevalue's post on redeeming EK using JAL miles, JAL starts to charge YQ about two weeks ago and LAX-DXB-JFK's YQ is $1290 plus $77 fees. Ouch.

yerffej201

yikes...

armagebedar

Yes, JL started applying the surcharge from November 11. USD1,290 strikes me as rather ridiculous, though -- even NRT-DXB is only JPY22,000 RT.

LAX-DXB: TYO-DXB:

yerffej201

Ugh, awful.

the_jaguar

I learnt this the hard way today. Stupid of me to have transferred 160K starpoints (200K miles) to JAL hoping to book 2 RT J tickets from US to India only to be told at the final step that fuel surcharge of $17xx would be charged per person!!! Now, I don't know what to do with my JAL miles - are there other partners I can book that don't have fuel surcharges?

JALPak

You can try to redeem for AA awards

stargold

CX also have very manageable YQ levels, unlike JL and (as it turns out!) EK.

Even at the height of the fuel price surge, I don't think JL's YQ reached USD645 per segment. Yikes!

the_jaguar

yeah, it's absolutely insane! AA is definitely a possibility, but I am just pissed at myself for not researching thoroughly before transferring over the points. Given that JAL has a hard deadline, I can't just park the miles here...

worldtraveller73

Not necessarily insane- just the realities of programs that pass fees fees on to reward ticket redeemers.

Many programs are doing this- it will be industry standard in a few years.

stargold

It's not the fact that JL passes on the YQ. It's the amount of the YQ.

JL/NH used to be the "gold standard" for the highest YQs I've seen in the industry - not only is EK's higher, but they're higher by about 100%.

the_jaguar

Exactly! Charging YQ of $17xx per person for a RT from US to India is ridiculous. I understand the need to charge YQ, but the amount that EK is charging is just too much.

bedelman

Jaguar, there are DOT rules as to the way airlines may set fuel surcharges. Broadly, the DOT rules track your instinct -- that $1700 is just too much, as that's not a reasonable estimate of increased fuel cost above a baseline.

http://www.benedelman.org/airfare-ad...shairways.html presents a complaint I filed about BA on this subject. In http://www.benedelman.org/airfare-advertising/ at heading "Our Complaints", subheading "British Airways", you'll find our complaints and BA's response. The DOT has not yet ruled. You seem to have a similar problem, in some respects even more sympathetic than mine.

Did JL use the term "fuel surcharge" by telephone? On a web page quotation? Something else? You'll want to be sure you can prove what is occurring and what they said.

Feel free to send me an email if you'd like to discuss how law & regulation apply, and how you might consider using these.

the_jaguar

Bedelman, thanks so much for doing what you are doing. Yes, the JAL agent clearly indicated that the taxes were in the $100 range, but the fuel surcharge was around $1700 over the phone. She even mentioned that ever since the new process was implemented from Nov 10th, lots of customers have been complaining about the fuel surcharge. There is no online/paper trail because we can't search for EK tickets on JAL's website (phone only).

To be honest, I really don't know if I have the time to follow through with a complaint and everything that comes after that. I know I should be fighting the good fight, but work commitments might get in the way..

JALPak

And if you really want to fight, you should really be fighting against the root of the "problem" which is EK who imposes the surcharge on award redemptions.