Korean Air Surchages
 

I was shocked to be quoted a 500 dollar surcharge from korean Air for a open air ticket from Singapore -> San Fran and returning from Phtuket -> Seattle.

The same trip using points from Alaska only costed 140 in fees.

Is there anyway to dodge these steep korean air surcharge fees?

KE collects fuel surcharges on their award tickets. Because of the way they publish the fuel surcharge (it's embedded as a Q surcharge in most fares rather than broken out as YQ/YR), most partners do not collect it. The only way I know of to avoid it is to use another program's miles.

Does anyone know what the surcharge is for a Domestic Award Ticket from either Incheon or Gimpo to Jeju?

Thanks!

O/W: 11,400 Won this month. I think it drops by 1,000 Won next month.

I booked a DL award this week: LAX-BNE-PQQ on VA [OPEN JAW] DPS-ICN on KE [stopover] ICN-LAX on KE. All in bizclass. Total fees $126.40. Sounds like a ripoff with your routing using KE miles.

It depends on the perspective.
I usually redeem KE miles on last minute F tickets because the F availabilities are very good due to one of the factors being the YQ charge.
So I don't mind paying $400 YQ on roundtrip F tickets because of good availability.

Delta doesn't charge the high fees to book with SkyMiles like KE does with their own Skypass miles.

Different pricing structure, from what I've gathered.

I agree the fuel surcharges are a complete ripoff. In fact if it was up to me I'd like to see the charging of these fees be made into a criminal offence. To me it's nothing short of fraud. But anyways, that's a different topic. Given the fact that a majority of the airlines outside of the USA do charge these ridiculous surcharges, some of us have to live with it. In putting up with paying these charges, there are some advantages that can outweigh the disadvantages. First and foremost, not having to fly a USA-based carrier, if using a non-USA based FFP that normally has the surcharges. Second, not having to be a member of a USA-based FFP, that might let me fly for example KE without paying the high surcharges, but which would disadvantage me in other ways. Third, as was already mentioned, availability. Fourth, being I have an extreme dislike for flying USA-based carriers more than necessary, being able to choose the FFP of the carrier that I do fly with frequently, and getting all the perks that it gives when flying that carrier that wouldn't be available otherwise.

When looking at the whole picture, the fuel surcharges are a bit annoyance, but the alternative is much less pleasant in my mind.

Really? I called the LA office and they told me $200 to redeem from GMP to CJU... I was shocked and thought that they made an error..

If you redeem DL miles, it only costs 6k miles for business class and around $10 for tax but extra $25 for phone fee since it can't be done online.

Unfortunately I have KE miles (about 12000). I was wondering why it cost so much to redeem...I am hoping there was an error and that the taxes/fuel surcharges for GMP-CJU was about 10-20USD

I just bought a domestic ticket on KE a few days before I posted that so I know it's current. Absolutely no way should the taxes be anywhere close to $200, even for a R/T. Call back and ask again. Be sure they understand what route you're flying. Buying a ticket outright should only cost about $100 O/W ($200 R/T). So perhaps they didn't realize you wanted an award ticket, or forgot and hit the wrong button and were quoting the price for a purchased ticket.

I got quoted 300 bucks for a one way from thailand to japan. i thought that was ridiculous. i haven't paid it yet.

can someone provide a tip to get this fee lowered, it seems as ridiculous as British Airways.

There's no tip to lower the fee using KE miles.
Consider using UA, AA, or DL miles to fly the respective partner aircrafts if you don't want to pay the YQ.

^ on this. I'd only redeem my KE miles for F tickets, and you can actually get KE F tickets when you want them.