Why the Vast Difference in Extra Fees Between BA and AA?
 

I'm using my British Airways Executive Club miles to do a LAX-HKG-DPS-BKK-HKG-LAX on Cathay in Business. I'm doing the DPS-BKK leg on Air Asia for a modest $89 each. The total taxes, etc. for the two of us using BA is $796.68. When I construct the exact same itinerary on AA.com I get $161.00 in extras. Why is there such a huge difference in extras going through British v. AA? If I were to pay for these tickets out-of-pocket the cost would be a whopping $16,357. I know I'm still getting a great deal, but I don't understand how there could be such a radical difference in extras fees. Can someone out there in FlyerTalk land give me a logical explanation? Thank you.

BA requires fuel surcharges to be paid on each segment when using BA miles, regardless of the airline flown. AA requires a fuel surcharge to be paid when using AA miles only when flying on BA.

With those kinds of exorbitant surcharges, I'm surprised BA is able to stay in business. Do the other European carriers do the same thing? I can see how the surcharges could exceed the actual base cost of the ticket. Why do the British tolerate this practice?

I had thought fees, including fuel surcharges, were generally less on partner airlines than on BA, even when using BA miles. Is this no longer the case - any use of BA miles will incur fees such as encountered by the OP?

The text on http://thepointsguy.com/2011/03/tips...airways-miles/ (see (3)), as well as a comment by Dgent81, say that some high surcharges are shown on BA's web site, but are not charged when you call.

I don't think award tickets are keeping companies in business...

Certainly, but I'm referring to the surcharge on regularly issued revenue tickets. I've priced several international routings on BA using traditional procedure and still the surcharge is sometimes greater than the actual base price of the ticket.

The only comparison worth making on revenue tickets is how much it will actually cost you. The component pieces of the pricing are largely irrelevant, no? If you are price sensitive and AA or UA are cheaper on a TATL than VS or BA then by all means book AA/UA, however I think you'll find that generally the all-in prices are pretty similar. In other words, AA is charging you the YQ but just including it in the base price. The only time this ever becomes an issue is when redeeming award tickets and then BA - like most European airlines - separates YQ from the base (i.e. award) ticket.

This issue is raised almost daily on the BA forum and since your question deals with the use of BA miles that's where it would probably receive the best responses. For example, see these recent questions:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ight-fees.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...d-booking.html

In fact there have been so many questions there they even have their own thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...s-so-high.html

If this is true, I'm really ticked. I thought I was saving $40 by doing this online. Does anyone know for certain? I guess the only way to find out for certain is to call the BA center and requesting a price quote.

Personally, I believe airlines shouldn't be allowed to market flights as awards if they add surcharges. It constitutes a form of bait and switch.

The US is (good for you) the exception, not the Europeans. The reality is that most non US FFPs add those surcharges. On many tickets you can have negative miles value. In other words, the fees of the award tickets are higher than buying the ticket outright.

Are you sure :confused:

I just issued a BAEC award ticket for flying CX first class from YYZ to HKG round trip and BA just charged me around $ 180

I've never been assessed a surcharge on any AA ticket issued by BA. Are they (AA) the only exception?

Austinrunner is right.

Your $180 charges on CX YYZ-HKG already includes the fuel surcharges. Had you used AA miles instead, the charges would have been only a few dollars.

CX is a fairly reasonable choice, since their fuel charges is often less than $200 one-way, so not too painful to pay. Contrast that with JAL or AA flights to NRT, where YQ can be $330+ USD one-way.

AA domestic routes do not have YQ published, so you won't be charged for them, even if you use your BA miles. Also, AA has only recently started publishing YQ for their international flights. Before that, you could redeem on any AA flights using BA miles and you are not charged any YQ fees.