Why the Vast Difference in Extra Fees Between BA and AA?
Sep 13, 2011 | 3:23 am
#1
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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.
Sep 13, 2011 | 7:25 am
#3
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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?
Sep 13, 2011 | 8:11 am
#4
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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.
Last edited by richarddd; Sep 13, 2011 at 8:18 am
Sep 13, 2011 | 8:40 am
#5
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I don't think award tickets are keeping companies in business...
Sep 13, 2011 | 9:20 am
#6
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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.
Sep 13, 2011 | 9:40 am
#7
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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.
Sep 13, 2011 | 11:04 am
#8
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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
Sep 13, 2011 | 2:25 pm
#9
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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.
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.
Sep 14, 2011 | 6:56 am
#11
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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.
Sep 18, 2011 | 2:36 pm
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Sep 18, 2011 | 4:35 pm
#13
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I've never been assessed a surcharge on any AA ticket issued by BA. Are they (AA) the only exception?
Sep 18, 2011 | 7:01 pm
#14
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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.