Although British Airways does not
pass on fuel surcharges for American Airlines flights within North America, they unfortunately do add charges for award tickets between the US and Europe on American Airlines and most other partner flights.
In general I advise you to get United miles (or Chase points because they transfer 1:1 to United) and AA miles because they don't
pass on fuel surcharges.
But it's the same trouble with a number of programs that
pass on fuel surcharges at all.
Still, if you want to use those miles make sure you redeem on an airline that doesn't
pass on fuel surcharges.
Well, I just wanted to note that AA doesn't
pass on fuel surcharges with any of their partners except British Airways.
My main problem with Air France was that
they pass on fuel surcharges, but as you'll see in a minute, that's not always true.
It is actually a good price, although the disadvantage of using FB instead of AA or USA is that they do still
pass on fuel surcharges with most airlines.
If you are collecting miles with United, Avianca, TACA, or US Airways (soon to be part of One World Alliance), you don't need to worry about it because they don't
pass on fuel surcharges to award tickets.
Mostly earning miles over hotel points, and earning miles on airlines that don't
pass on fuel surcharges when redeeming miles (United and AA).
But if you are collecting miles with Air Canada and Lufthansa, mileage programs that DO
pass on fuel surcharges, you will want to book tickets on these low - to - no fuel surcharge partner airlines:
United Airlines for instance does not
pass on fuel surcharges to their award tickets.
SAS will also
pass on fuel surcharges on many partners.
Though United has majorly devalued its award chart, the fact that it doesn't charge or
pass on fuel surcharges makes MileagePlus miles one of the best ways to book many highly desirable airlines and premium cabins that would otherwise require at least $ 500 in fees.
ANA also doesn't
pass on fuel surcharges for United.
They don't
pass on fuel surcharges to award tickets, and you can use United miles to book award flights with their Star Alliance partners (the largest airline alliance in the... read more
LifeMiles also doesn't
pass on fuel surcharges, which can result in large savings depending on your routing.
Keep in mind that Asiana also partners with Etihad and they don't
pass on fuel surcharges on those flights.
My preferred method of getting to New Zealand would be to book a roundtrip with ANA miles on United Airlines since they don't
pass on fuel surcharges and your total fees would be minimal.
It's recommended to stick with short haul flights as
they pass on fuel surcharges for award travel, greatly increasing the cost of long flights.
For one,
they pass on fuel surcharges on their partner award flights and I'm not sure how much those fees can be.
Hot Tip: Singapore Airlines does
pass on fuel surcharges when booking award tickets.
This is not the cheapest mileage cost to get to Europe, or even to fly Lufthansa first class, but United does not
pass on fuel surcharges to you.
For ClassicFlight awards, Air Canada's award chart is usually better than many of its partners, including United, but the airline often
passes on fuel surcharges levied by partners.
ANA Mileage Club often
passes on fuel surcharges when you book award flights, but these surcharges are not required when booking with their Star Alliance partner United Airlines.
Its important to pay attention to this because Air Canada
passes on fuel surcharges for most of its partners, and they can be high.
Sadly, Asia Miles
passes on fuel surcharges.
Lastly, my understanding that KE
passes on fuel surcharges while the other airlines do no.
I was a little down on Flying Blue early on because of
their passing on fuel surcharges.
United never
passes on fuel surcharges, which is awesome.
If you're interested in more info, specifically on which partners ANA
passes on fuel surcharges with, check out my new ANA Miles post.
Not exact matches
Some, including Air Canada, add
fuel surcharges for points flights that are
passed on by Aeroplan in addition to other applicable taxes and airport fees.
Aeroplan says it recognizes that
fuel surcharges are an irritant for its customers, but it notes that they are imposed by the airlines and
passed on directly to customers.
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.
The most important of those advantages is that US airlines don't typically charge
fuel surcharges on award tickets booked
on their own flights, and often don't
pass along their partners»
fuel surcharges.
Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Turkish Airlines, and United Airlines do not
pass on exorbitant
fuel surcharges to award tickets, so I recommend booking flights operated by those airlines if possible.
American will still collect some taxes and fees, but they will be reduced since it does not
pass on the cost of any
fuel surcharges for award travel
on Etihad.
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.
As stated, ANA will
pass on heavy
fuel surcharges with many of its partners but United is an exception.
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.»
For example, use United Airlines miles to book an award with no
fuel surcharges, or book an airline that doesn't
pass through London so you can avoid the high passenger duty
on business and first class travel.
ANA will
pass on heavy
fuel surcharges with many of its partners but United is an exception.
On the flip side, Asiana passes along fuel surcharges on most partner award flights, while United generally doesn'
On the flip side, Asiana
passes along
fuel surcharges on most partner award flights, while United generally doesn'
on most partner award flights, while United generally doesn't.
However, since AeroMexico Premier Club
passes along
fuel surcharges on award tickets, the value you'll ultimately get from the program depends
on the airlines and routes you fly.
And if you're flying an airline that only
passes on its partners
fuel surcharges, in some cases you can simply fly a different partner.
... then you have to do some research as to which partners in the alliance of that mileage program do not have significant
fuel surcharges to
pass on in the first place.
PLUS, Malaysia has little to no
fuel surcharges to
pass on.
Hawaiian also doesn't have
fuel surcharges to
pass on.
With that gone, if you're looking to fly Upper Class
on Virgin Atlantic, I thought I'd
pass along a friendly reminder that if you redeem Continental Onepass miles for flights
on Virgin Atlantic, they do not assess the
fuel surcharge.
Since American Airlines updated its award chart and announced several other program changes after it mergered with US Airways and British Airways levies high
fuel surcharges on transoceanic flights, LATAM
Pass's distance - based oneworld awards can be one of the most economical ways to travel within the alliance.
Considering the fact that United does not
pass on carrier imposed
fuel surcharges for award tickets even
on partners, some people prefer to book partners such as Lufthansa with United miles to avoid these charges, even though 70,000 miles is higher than other programs would charge for that flight in business class.