They collect fuel surcharges on any award flight that
has fuel surcharges on the equivalent cash -LSB-...]
-LSB-...] British Airways collects fuel surcharges on any award flight that
has fuel surcharges on the equivalent cash flight.
As my Cash & Avios analysis showed, S7
has no fuel surcharges on domestic or international flights on Avios awards.
Even though American doesn't
have fuel surcharges on its own flights, that might not be an option for getting to Europe.
Alaska doesn't
have fuel surcharges on any of its flights, so there's nothing for British Airways to collect.
Other partners not listed may still
have fuel surcharges on regular tickets, but the program has decided you won't be responsible for them when you redeem miles.
This is already a good deal because those partners don't
have fuel surcharges on their domestic routes (and a few international ones).
Be aware that for Aeroplan flights with most airlines except United and a few others
have fuel surcharges on them that can add up.
The major drawback is that AA miles
have a fuel surcharge on them when you fly on British Airways, which makes it very difficult to use them to fly to Europe.
First, understand that whether or not you'll
have fuel surcharges on your award tickets depends on both the miles you're using and the airline you're using them to fly.
However, I think Cathay does
have fuel surcharges on intra-SE-Asia flights.
Award tickets booked with FlyingBlue but operated by Delta do not
have fuel surcharges on transatlantic flights.
Plus, many airlines that
have fuel surcharges on long - hauls don't on short regional flights.
Not exact matches
While
fuel prices increased for many months, the railroads
have been able to pass
on the increased costs to customers in the form of
fuel surcharges.
You will want to be careful who you fly with to avoid
fuel surcharges, but flights
on Air Berlin and Aer Lingus to Europe will generally
have low
surcharges.
If you
have these miles, I recommend you think about trips you can take
on routes that don't
have fuel surcharges to begin with.
If you
've been avoiding using those Avios points because of the hefty
fuel surcharges that eat into redemptions for overseas flights
on British Airways, look into using your points
on domestic fares instead.
Even if I want to fly Virgin Atlantic, I'll book it with Delta miles and avoid the
fuel surcharges, and I'll use up whatever Flying Club miles I currently
have left
on Delta tickets.
Domestic flights within the U.S. don't
have any
fuel surcharges, so you don't
have to worry about this if you use Miles & More to book a flight
on partners like United and US Airways within the United States.
This
would result in hundreds in extra
fuel surcharges when compared with flying
on American or other OneWorld carriers like AirBerlin, Aer Lingus and others, and as such is to be avoided.
Sometimes, certain airlines
have higher taxes, certain destinations
have higher taxes, or you'll be charged higher
fuel surcharges depending
on what airline rewards program you book with.
You can use United miles to redeem with any Star Alliance partner just like you
would on United itself, and without any
fuel surcharges.
It is also unlikely that you will save much
on the taxes and fees since all flights
have to be operated by US Airways and Aeroplan awards do not charge
fuel surcharges on flights operated by US Airways.
US Airways Dividend miles redemptions do not
have an associated
fuel surcharge, even
on those exact same flights.
A note
on Fuel Surcharges: The flights above on British and Ibera will have obscene fuel surcharges if we book them with Av
Fuel Surcharges: The flights above on British and Ibera will have obscene fuel surcharges if we book them w
Surcharges: The flights above
on British and Ibera will
have obscene
fuel surcharges if we book them with Av
fuel surcharges if we book them w
surcharges if we book them with Avios.
American Airlines miles aren't the easiest award miles to use to get to Europe, since you will often
have to route through London (higher fees), fly British Airways (high
fuel surcharges on longer flights), and they limit award availability
on their own metal, especially for premium cabin flights.
If you travel regularly from Winnipeg to Timmins then you
would get good value, or if you travel
on airlines that do nt charge the
fuel surcharge, then you
would get good value from your Aeroplan miles.
You don't
have to use them for domestic routes, but as someone who hates
fuel surcharges on principle, it's really the only option I entertain when planning my own trips.
The good news in this announcement is that Singapore Airlines
has decided to drop all
fuel and insurance
surcharges from their award redemptions, which should save you quite a bit of cash if you plan to redeem your miles
on or after March 23.
Fortunately, when flying to Paris you won't
have to deal with anything like the Air Passenger Duty (APD) fee that you get hit with
on your trips to London, but you will want to keep an eye
on fuel surcharges with each carrier.
Fuel surcharges are going to be significant if you want to fly British Airways in First Class, but using your miles is still a great way to access a ticket that
would otherwise cost $ 5,000 or more one - way — especially if you can pair your redemption with a Travel Together Ticket earned by spending
on British Airway's co-branded credit card.
Some things to bear in mind are that you will want to avoid flying
on British Airways operated flights as those come with very heavy
fuel surcharges (often more than a cash fare
would have cost you).
I originally started collecting them thinking I
'd suck up the
fuel surcharges flying Boston to London
on Virgin Atlantic Upper Class with good award availability.
In addition, it is eliminating the 15 % online booking discount it
has offered
on award bookings and upgrades made through its website or app, and it is raising the number of miles required for Saver Awards, although the increase is relatively modest and likely to be more than offset by the elimination of the
fuel surcharges.
Another good thing about United is that it doesn't
have a
fuel surcharge, not even
on partner airlines.
Unfortunately, I don't see Star Alliance partners like Asiana, Air China, and Thai Airways
on the no
fuel surcharge list, so if you end up booking with them, you'll probably
have to pay some fees.
Singapore is an alliance partner as well, but since you can't redeem LifeMiles for Singapore First, I
'd recommend just transferring to Singapore Airlines directly since they are also a transfer partner) Compared to United or Air Canada redemptions, a key to LifeMiles is that they don't pass
on any carrier's
fuel surcharges.
Even flights
on their own metal can
have hefty
fuel surcharges.
The only silver lining in this whole massacre is that United
has not imposed any
fuel surcharges on Star Alliance partner award flights.
Aeroplan is great because you can book one way awards, avoid
fuel surcharges on airlines like United and Singapore Airlines, they
have one of the best search engines (although it can be a bit slow), and a lot of their redemption rates for business class are pretty reasonable.
Airlines
have,
on the whole, been terrible at making an effort to continue the pretence that
fuel surcharges and the cost of...
Virgin Atlantic
has great award redemption values for flights between the U.S. (especially Eastern U.S.) and Europe in both classes, economy and business, although outrageous Heathrow Airport fees and
fuel surcharges in Upper Class make business class TY redemptions
on Virgin a less attractive option.
If you
have to pay high fees or
fuel surcharges on an economy or short - haul flight, you should be especially cautious about using points for that redemption.
You do
have to watch out for
fuel surcharges, but they don't impose any
on United flights.
With the ridiculous
fuel surcharges that accompany anything to do with British Airways I wouldn't recommend using Avios for travel
on Qatar Airways but AAdvantage miles are a different story.
However, keep in mind that Flying Blue does
have higher than average
fuel surcharges, which you'll want to watch out for especially
on those business class awards.
And yes,
on most awards British Airways still passes along «
fuel surcharges» which
have nothing to do with
fuel and are therefore better known by their technical name «Blended Use Landing Levies for Safety, Health & Information Technologies.»
Well, British Airways program
has one big flaw, it charges huge
fuel surcharges on many of its longer flights.
As a comparison, if you were to use AAdvantage miles
on American Airlines (an airline that does not impose
fuel surcharges) these
would be the costs (Using MileSAAver Awards):
Plus, Iberia usually
has good availability far in advance, and unlike it's Avios cousin British Airways, they don't tack
on enormous
fuel surcharges on their awards.