NW charges more "taxes and fees" than AS
 

I just booked two international reward travel tickets. One ticket was booked using Northwest miles. The other was booked using Alaska Airlines miles. The flights are EXACTLY the same. Taxes on the Northwest ticket were $55.86. Taxes on the Alaska ticket were $45.40.

Does anyone know why there is a difference?

I recently experienced this when using CO and NW miles for tix to HKG. CO charged ~$25, NW ~$50. The reason for the difference is that NW collects the US Intl. Departure/Arrival Tax on their reward tickets, while some other carriers (e.g., CO) do not.

I even got a NW supervisor to "absorb" the fee like CO does, but alas, due to a glitch in the NW/CO systems, her approval was erased, and I was stuck paying the $50/ticket. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I had the best experiences with some KLM award tix: no charge of tax/fees at all for any ticket. The program-brochure mentions that they could collect the fee from a credit card, but the online-booking tool doesn't ask for one...

Can I collect a KL award ticket with NW miles without the big taxes?????? My experience has been that when collecting flights with KL metal, using NW miles, the big taxes have always been there.