AA flights only:

That still leaves the question of what happens when AA has issued the ticket and you check in for Qantas flight. Unless that busy fare calc line has suddenly been expanded to include fuel surcharge details - airline/segment/charge - the Qantas agent has no idea whether or not you've paid his airline's surcharge for the segment, and may well demand that you pay the full amount on the spot (as AA is fond of doing when they can't identify that you've paid taxes/fees for a segment, at least at their CA stations). And how do the OW bean counters deal with it? After you fly an AA segment, does AA simply demand their fuel surcharge from the total ticket revenue, whether or not it was ever collected by them or any other airline? It's crazy, I say.

If you reissue a ticket with QF, they will reassess the fuel fines for the remaining segments and charge accordingly between the fuel fines paid and the current fuel fines that they charge.

In regards to the question of check in; if you have an AA issued ticket and check in for a Qantas flight , there is no problem at all. Remember fuel fines are not part of the fare.

If AA charges you $75 fine for a QF flight, they do not pass this on to QF, they do keep it themself. If QF charges AUD185 for a BA flight, they get to keep that $185 for themself

The best approach is just to get any tickets issued or reissued by airlines with low fines

Dave

My RTW plan includes flights such as BA LON-PEK ($65 fuel per BA), CX HKG-KHI-HKG-AKL ($185.10 per CX), and QF AKL-ADL ($43+ per QF). So if I have AA ticket it, I won't have to pay any of these as none are "transatlantic" nor "transpacific"?

Correct. AA charges for transpacific and transatlantic sectors only; you won't be getting fines for the other sectors

Dave

I repeat: that's a totally insane way to run an airline alliance (given the implication that Qantas will in fact not charge a passenger their unpaid fuel surcharge when they check in for a QF flight.)

Agreed about the insane part, but there are many other aspects of the alliance (and the airilne industry in general) which is equally improbable.

As for there being no additional fuel surchage collection upon check-in, I can confirm that this is indeed the case. Having an e-ticket issued by AA is now a big plus, as it is also easy to change via the AA RTW desk.

There is nothing insane

If you have a validly issued ticket, then you are entitled to check in for the flight and travel.

If you have a ticket that needs to be reissued by Qantas, then Qantas will assess the fuel surcharges based on their formulae. They may also charge a service fee for doing it ( In Australia the cost is AUD75 ). Each airline in the alliance has its own calculation for fuel surcharges. AA has a surcharge for transpacific and transatlantic sectors and adds it to the base fare and charges nothing else; that is its perogative

Note: the fuel surcharges levied are not passed to the operating carrier but kept by the issuing carrier.

These are 2 completely separate issues and I fail to see how it is insane. The issue can be avoided by carefully choosing which carrier you get to reissue a ticket
Dave

My AONE5 ex-MRU with 20 segments has come back with the following fuel surcharges:

YR - MRU4987
YQ - MRU23310

So in total, around US$870! From reading this thread, I guess this sounds about right? The remainder of the taxes/fees come out to a normal amount - about US$400.

Incidentally, does anyone know the difference between YR and YQ?

Not a direct answer to your Q; but YQ shows under AIRLINE/BRITISH AIRWAYS on this; YQ & YR appear under Cathay - I guess it depends on what airlines are in your itin.

No idea, but the link in post #6 will probably help a little. Personally, I just think we are all being taken for a ride with this fuel surcharges scam.

On a pricing last week of a DONE4 ex-CMB, I received a list of extra charges which in addition to YQ (LKR31200) and YR (LKR24100) has "YRQ" of LKR12600. I didn't see YRQ in the airline tax list-- do you think maybe they have figured out how to charge taxes on taxes!

At last some good news - maybe.
 

KLM and Air Europa have announced they are lowering their fuel surcharges, due to the recent drop in oil prices.

I propose we keep an eye out in case some OW airlines follow the trend, and report any news here, in case someone is close to ticketing.

Maybe not a huge saving, if any, but hey, better in my pocket than theirs.