HKG-LON Redemption Fees for Real?
 

I'm used to seeing almost physically painful fees for redemption bookings in UC (USD1000 or more isn't uncommon). However, on a one-way HKG-LON I'm finding fees of HKD170 (or about USD22). I shudder to ask, but is this for real? The other way around the fees are GBP332.15 (which translates into...oh, something like USD450) so I suspect it sort-of balances out, but I've never seen a VS award booking have a fee of less than several hundred dollars in UC.

Edit: To be clear, I get USD140 quoted if I look at booking "externally" (e.g. via Virgin America).

HKG just recently removed YQ for departures out of that airport. :)

Looks like it's time to play ball, then...

(I've got a trip in the works which can only be described as "messy"...and that doesn't even begin to describe it...but let's just say that an affordable HKG-LON leg goes a long way towards making it work.)

HKG has long had a government-regulated cap on YQ. I guess it has now been completely removed - entirely sensible with $30 oil...

However, this is also why it can be harder to find ex-HKG award availability than say PVG or other airports in the region (not VS of course)

This reminds me to check whether HKG-LHR / stopover / onwards later to North America prices the whole itinerary without YQ.

I checked, they don't. You get a fee of about HKD2100 HKG-NYC, which feels like roughly the NYC-LON fees added to the nominal HKG-LON fee.

Actually, HKD2100 equals about GBP185. So that looks like roughly the nominal HKG-LON fee plus UK APD departure tax. (unless of course you checked a HKG-LHR-JFK with no stopover, which would have no APD charged, but in which case I would have thought HKG caps apply...)

I was checking "straight through" (there are some dates in December which list a workable through-reservation).

As nice as only paying the HK price would be, I'm probably going to "split" the trip (since praying for a HKG-LON UC redemption to hold for long enough for the LON-NYC leg to open up? Seems like a fools' errand, even if there's plenty of HKG-LON-NYC availability) and buy the VS points I need to make it happen (because it's a $12,000 ticket from what I can tell; getting that for about $2000 [$1500 in bought points plus at most $500 in fees and APD] strikes me as a good use of points, and it preserves my Hyatt points for the SQ legs of this trip).

YEAH! Booked HKG-LHR-IAD. 100,000 miles and about $320 in fees (I took the fees in HKD since if I went with USD the fees roughly doubled) in UC!

(Granted I had to spend about $1400 on the miles to get everything into place...but still, that's $1700 paid for a $13,000 ticket. I'll take that with a broad, broad smile...)

Now to futz around and get the SYD-SIN-HKG ticket worked out (I may have said that I've compared this trip to an Indiana Jones itinerary)...which will probably take a few weeks at this point. However...the tricky part is done and as long as the sale stays in place I have NO problem forking over $50 (availability permitting) if I need to slide things by a few days. I'm just glad to have something in hand for this.