British Airways was an option going through London, but I ruled them out because I didn't want to
pay high fuel surcharges.
Where United is more expensive with mileage requirements, it often makes up for it by not forcing you to
pay high fuel surcharges.
If you are going to use the points on a British Airways flight, know that you will be
paying high fuel surcharges: $ 650 - $ 1250 for economy and $ 1250 for business class.
Not exact matches
Flying back on British Airways means
paying this
high exit tax plus
fuel surcharges, so you could be looking at an award redemption cost well above $ 400.
Unfortunately, for most destinations not listed above, flying Singapore partners means
paying massive
fuel surcharges in addition to
high mileage costs.
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 should also be aware that
fuel surcharges and airport levies, which can be as
high as $ 200 for a flight, also eat into your CPM; when planning a flight
paid with reward miles you need to factor this in as well.
Even with the
high fuel surcharge, it's easy to
pay more just for coach with other airlines.
Virgin Atlantic's companion ticket costs half the normal redemption miles, plus you'll still have to
pay Virgin's
high fuel surcharges.
Its important to
pay attention to this because Air Canada passes on
fuel surcharges for most of its partners, and they can be
high.
The drawback is that you will
pay high taxes and
fuel surcharges (~ 500 $) if you fly on Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian.
Not only will you
pay fuel surcharges (albeit smaller than what you would when crossing the Atlantic), but you will also get hit with the very
high Heathrow Airport taxes.
You'll
pay some
fuel surcharges, but they're not as
high as other airlines like British Airways and the product / service is top - in - class.
While Aeroplan has
higher fuel surcharges, United charges a whopping 110,000 miles for the same flight, so I'd rather
pay a couple hundred more in fees and spend nearly half the amount of miles.