Unfortunately they charge a fuel
surcharge on award bookings.
Unlike Miles & More, United does not pass on the carrier - imposed
surcharges on award bookings.
Singapore Airlines no longer imposes fuel
surcharges on awards booked on its own flights the total taxes and fees won't be steep.
Singapore Airlines has announced some significant changes to the cost of its awards and, in an attempt to soften the blow of the award chart devaluation, it has also announced that it will no longer levy fuel
surcharges on award bookings.
Importantly, airberlin doesn't charge ridiculous
surcharges on award bookings made with AAdvantage Miles or Avios and this makes the airline a great option for travelers looking to fly between Europe and the US.
Not exact matches
Just make sure you
book award flights
on American Airlines and not British Airways so you don't get hit with high
surcharges.
When looking for ways to
book award flights to London, you will want to keep an eye
on carrier - imposed
surcharges as well as the miles required by the frequent flyer program you are using.
ANA Mileage Club does pass
on carrier - imposed
surcharges when
booking award tickets with many partners, but not
on flights with United Airlines, so you won't have to worry about that when flying to London.
This is especially frustrating for business class and first class
award tickets, and even worse if you
book on an airline that hits you with steep carrier - imposed
surcharges (such as British Airways).
The
surcharges are particularly bad
on these 2 Star Alliance partners when you
book premium cabin
awards.
Unlike using Korean Air SkyPass to
book award tickets
on Delta to London, you won't get hit with high fuel
surcharges.
Expect to pay ~ $ 400 in fuel
surcharges and taxes per long - haul segment
on award bookings, but that's still cheaper than paying for a business or first class ticket.
Hot Tip: Singapore Airlines does pass
on fuel
surcharges when
booking award tickets.
Unfortunately,
booking awards with partners mean you will be
on the hook for carrier - imposed
surcharges.
When looking at a lot of foreign carriers, you have to be careful about whether or not carrier - imposed
surcharges are going to be passed
on when
booking an
award ticket.
Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, British Airways, and ANA almost always impose fuel
surcharges on award tickets
booked with their miles.
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.
Many Aeroplan
award bookings include steep carrier - imposed
surcharges and this includes
booking awards on Lufthansa.
American partner Qatar Airways offers service to Johannesburg from its hub in Doha, and so long as you fly
on Qatar to Doha as your transatlantic hop, it's possible to
book an
award at this same mileage amount while avoiding almost all fuel
surcharges and fees.
If you
book awards on partners such as Brussels Airlines, Swiss Air, or United Airlines, these
surcharges won't be a problem.
ANA Mileage Club will pass
on carrier - imposed
surcharges when you
book awards, but EVA Air does not impose these fees... so you won't have to worry about that for this particular
booking.
Be aware that Aeroplan passes
on carrier - imposed
surcharges for many partner
award bookings, which can be steep.
Air Canada Aeroplan can be a great way to
book Star Alliance
awards, but make sure you keep an eye
on carrier - imposed
surcharges.
You will be required to pay the carrier - imposed
surcharges on award tickets when
booking with Miles & More.
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.
These
award redemption rates aren't terrible at the moment but keep in mind, KrisFlyer does add fuel
surcharges for
award bookings on certain airlines.
Aeroplan passes
on carrier - imposed
surcharges for many partner
award bookings.
Bottom Line: While this mileage «devaluation» has increased the amount of Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles needed to redeem an
award ticket, you will save cash if you choose to wait and
book your
award ticket
on or after March 23 due to the elimination of carrier - imposed
surcharges.
Fuel
Surcharges are not charged
on any partners and the ability to
book nearly anything online allows you to save the phone
booking fee others will charge you for partner
awards.
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.
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.
Although American AAdvantage generally does not add carrier
surcharges to
award travel, be aware that they will apply to any travel
booked on British Airways or Iberia.
Awards booked through American Airlines using AAdvantage Miles don't come with
surcharges... but that's not the case if you plan to use the miles for travel
on a number of American's airline partners — make sure you factor in these
surcharges when working out just how good a deal an
award booking is.
British Airways is one of the worst offenders in the airline industry for charging high fuel
surcharges (also called carrier charges)
on award bookings.
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.
It's not very well known to a lot of travelers but it offers some of the best redemptions to South America
on Star Alliance partners and you can
book those
awards with no fuel
surcharges.
As with the cuts in January, the biggest drop in fuel
surcharges (25 %) will occur
on economy
awards booked to / from the US resulting in an expected decrease in the
surcharges of up to $ 140.
The biggest benefit I can see from this route will come to those looking to
book transatlantic
awards without paying ridiculous
surcharges (like you'll find
on British Airways).
Avios points generally incur a full
surcharge when you
book international
award tickets, but domestic
awards within the U.S. remain
surcharge - free and are surprisingly affordable
on non-stop routes thanks to the Avios distance - based
award chart.
There is an added element to all of this that really causes confusion — it's what happens when you try to
book an
award with an airline that doesn't charge «
surcharges» and you then select flights
on that airline's partner that does.
We've seen how, outside of government taxes, American Airlines doesn't charge
surcharges on it's
awards and we've seen the opposite with British Airways — but what happens when you go to
book an
award on British Airways via the American Airlines website?
If you're happy to pay exorbitant
surcharges on awards you can use your AAdvantage miles to
book British Airways Business Class and First Class
awards... but then you're simply overpaying for products that are considerably worse than what we have come to expect
on premium airlines.
Unless you can find an
award seat
on Delta or Korean Air, it's best to avoid
booking through SkyTeam since Delta adds fuel
surcharges to most of its other partners.
Of their Star Alliance partners that fly to Europe from the U.S., Air Canada does not add fuel
surcharges to
awards booked on the following airlines:
Buying miles is often cheaper than
booking a long - haul business class
award, especially since United does not collect fuel
surcharges on any of its
awards.
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 Mileage Club does pass
on carrier - imposed
surcharges when
booking award tickets with many partners, but not
on flights with United Airlines, so you won't have to worry about that when flying to London.
Just make sure you
book award flights
on American Airlines and not British Airways so you don't get hit with high
surcharges.
However, if you
book an
award ticket
on British Airways with your American AAdvantage miles, you will incur significant carrier - imposed
surcharges.
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