Comments on: Stealth Mileage Deflation: Airlines That Charge Fuel Surcharges On Award Tickets…

By: Andrej Dogan

Andrej Dogan — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:42:56 +0000

Just for ilustration. I was looking for a award return ticket on Lufthansa from Zagreb, Croatia to New York via Frankfurt. The Lufthansa said that I have to pay like 380 Euros for my “FREE” ticket. I checked on line and realised that I can buy the same ticket on the same flight for 500 Euros. So, who is crazy here?? There is no way it is legal, at least not in the form it is advertised today. I understand about airport taxes, state taxes, security taxes etc. But fuel surcharge, which in my case was rnd. 280 Euros, is a direct cost of the flight and should be a part of the fare. Airlines say that they don’t want to raise the quantity of miles needed for an award flight, but doing as they do now i blunt cheating of the travelers. Raising the quantity of miles needed, would be ok, because we are all aware what is going on with the fuel prices. Or, they can, as some do (Lufthansa for example)leave the option to a traveler to choose whether he or she wants to use aditional miles to cover taxes and surcharges or pay in cash.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:01:46 +0000

@Anonymous:

Check out: http://spg.com/moremiles

By: yona

yona — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 01:09:46 +0000

i had war with singapore airlines about this.
spoke to the Pupik manager too, and they said they will get back to me about the “fuel” charge.
next thing you know they will charge you for using the bathroom for a miles ticket.
they wanted $800 sgd for a star alliance flight jfk tlv.

By: zey a mench

zey a mench — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:27:04 +0000

as you said AIR FRANCE they have the BIGGEST “CHUTSPA”

By: me

me — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:17:03 +0000

On this subject…

I recently was looking to get a flight from Montreal to Orlando and I had points on Air Canada and united.

Air Canada had a straight flight for 25k + $120 in taxes.
I called united and they put me on the SAME FLIGHT for 25k +$40 in taxes…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:04:12 +0000

b’h
Dan, you said…”El Al (…Starwood transfer via direct deposit”)
what&how do you “direct-deposit” starwood-points to elal…?
please advise…as starwood has told me i cant transfer points to elal…!

By: Moishe

Moishe — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:09:51 +0000

I was waiting for the day you published an article on this topic Dan! I recently looked into tickets from LAX/JFK – LHR and from LAX/JFK – TLV. American Airlines only want $159 in taxes and fees from LAX – LHR and like $140 from JFK – LHR. British Airways on the other hand want a whopping $444 from LAX – LHR and $380 from JFK – LHR!!(Just to give u an idea, just a little over a year ago I traveled JFK – LHR off peak for that price on a PAID ticket!) When eventually finding a seat on British Airways from LAX – TLV the total Taxes and fees were over $500! for a “free” ticket!!!

What’s sad is that I only transfered my Starwood points to BA because you only need 65,000 miles to go to TLV and I did it at the time of 30% bonus for transferring but now I am realizing that it was probably a big mistake because of the fees they charge! On the bright side, BA’s partner in the US is American Airlines and BA only charge $5 to redeem a ticket on American anywhere in the US so now I will be “forced” to “waste” my BA miles on domestic flights (it’s not usually worth it to spend your miles on domestic flights as Dan will tell you unless u manage to use your miles at a peak time when it really pays…).

By: e

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:43:17 +0000

well LAN doesn’t charge a fee and from what I gather its also the cheapest so.. LAN !?

By: yudi

yudi — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:09:50 +0000

hi i just booked a flight to israel today using citi thank you points 80000 points for aug 3 through aug 29 and they charged me 75 dollars in taxes my friend booked with elal he said about $400 in taxes

By: Israel

Israel — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:16:39 +0000

so what is the best way to get to israel with starpoints now while avoiding fuel surcharges?

By: Dan/Ctownbochur

Dan/Ctownbochur — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:09:15 +0000

@Not Sure: That's normal international taxes and landing fees.@Mort W.: That means 20,000 Starpoints can transfer into 50,000 LAN.

By: Mort W.

Mort W. — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:00:16 +0000

Need to travel JFK/TLV/JFK end of Aug/beginning SEP. What does the notation “20,000/50,000″ on LAN indicate??

Thanks again.
MW

By: Mort W.

Mort W. — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:51:27 +0000

Thank you, so much, for this and all of the extremely valuable information you bring to light/life. I noticed a few years back that on mileage tickets JFK/TLV/JFK, British Airways was asking for $300+ compared to AA at $75+ for the exact same flights. Always thought it was a British Government thing. Understandably, all of my, somewhat extensive, charging activity that was once going on my Chase BA Card, has since gone on my Citi AAdvantage card and more recently (since I started reading this page) AMEX Starwood Card.

Thanks again.
MW

By: just my opinion

just my opinion — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:46:42 +0000

wow Dan great article & research, thank you

By: Not Sure

Not Sure — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:17:14 +0000

I just booked a flight with delta to the Bahamas and they hit me with a $54 tax. Is that standard or a fuel tax?

By: Levi

Levi — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:47:11 +0000

Any of you lawyers out there? Someone’s gotta take this on! Businessmen have no time for this, and probably won’t even notice!