Award Fuel Surcharges
 

Did KE raise its fuel surcharges on awards? Looking at J or F award BKK-SFO, and it's $220 US. I paid $66 last year for F SFO-BKK.

Depends on direction of travel. SFO-BKK is currently US$111 for taxes and carrier-imposed surcharges right now. BKK-SFO is US$220 as you say. A round trip is US$251 when originating in the US. A round trip is US$411 when originating at BKK. (This is based off of revenue fares. KE pretty reliably charges on awards exactly what would be charged on a paid ticket.)

Thanks for the detailed response. So looks like they've gone up 68% since last spring on SFO-BKK (and I assume BKK-SFO has also risen, but have no comparison point).

On SFO-BKK, $71.80 is an actual KE-imposed surcharge. The rest are taxes and airport fees.

Compared to BA (and other European carriers), this is all quite reasonable. KE's award chart is still pretty reasonable and F availability is stellar, so I don't mind paying a little cash co-pay, in effect, for that to keep working.

I'm only mildly complaining, especially in light of what seems to be a return to excellent availability after a period of darkness.

Most of my redemptions are UA, which doesn't assess any fuel surcharges at all.

Is there a chart where it shows which partner charges YQ and which does not? I can only manage to find one for Delta Skypeso. 80k RT to Europe seems like a very good deal.

For KE, I think the best we've been able to ascertain is that if the operating carrier charges YQ or YR on a revenue ticket on the route, KE will charge it on an award redemption. Use ITA Matrix to check what's charged on a revenue booking and go from there.

Seems like KE has started charging YQ on its own metal to/from ICN. E.g. ATL-ICN in both directions. I don't think they used to for to/from ICN?? I know they used to if you started from China, or were going to China. HKG-ICN-North America had super low YQ (of $1 or so) but I know they passed that on in the past.

Anyone know what fuel surcharges currently would be on an AF/DL r/t J award Europe-US-Europe? I know KE charges 80K r/t for the J award.