AA / BA Mileage Redemption Vent

[maddiepaddy]

I just looked up mileage tickets for a Europe trip this summer. All the flight options are variations of routes on British Airways and are a reasonable 60k AA miles each round trip. Great. 

Until I get to checkout and see the $1400+ in 'carrier imposed fees.' WTF. 

What is the point of earning all these miles if I have to pay that much to use them. BA is the worst!

[frlcb]

It's less BA and more the British airport authority. They impose huge taxes on flights going into the UK on, so BA passes on these fuel surcharges to their customers who use award tickets.

(Adding that BA does charge the highest though, for some reason. I believe there is a lawsuit to change this)

[babsbunny]

You'll need to find a route that is not on BA metal. The AA flights to Heathrow won't have the same taxes that BA flights have. AA taxes are about $110 each while BA taxes are about $500 each.

[frlcb]

Dec 7, 2014 11:37:28 GMT -5 @sfgal530 said:

Dec 6, 2014 18:24:43 GMT -5 frlcb said:

It's less BA and more the British airport authority. They impose huge taxes on flights going into the UK on, so BA passes on these fuel surcharges to their customers who use award tickets.

(Adding that BA does charge the highest though, for some reason. I believe there is a lawsuit to change this)

I could be wrong because it has been a few years, but when oil prices spiked real drastically I think that's when BA imposed their crazy fuel surcharges (on top of the already huge taxes).  Then when oil dropped, every other airline seemed to roll the fuel surcharge back but BA kept them.  

I do wonder if they charge that fee to their own mileage plan members or just to partners who redeem from other airlines like AA or Alaska.  If they charged it to all of their members, there would be (IMO) very little reason to have any allegiance to BA, apart from the fact that you probably live in the UK and that's the most convenient airline.  

They do charge it to their own members, I am one and we stopped using them once we moved from the UK. The UK airports also do charge very high taxes to flights going in and out of the UK, so that and the fuel charges make BA ridiculous.

[emilyinchile]

Dec 7, 2014 11:37:28 GMT -5 @sfgal530 said:

I could be wrong because it has been a few years, but when oil prices spiked real drastically I think that's when BA imposed their crazy fuel surcharges (on top of the already huge taxes).  Then when oil dropped, every other airline seemed to roll the fuel surcharge back but BA kept them.  

I do wonder if they charge that fee to their own mileage plan members or just to partners who redeem from other airlines like AA or Alaska.  If they charged it to all of their members, there would be (IMO) very little reason to have any allegiance to BA, apart from the fact that you probably live in the UK and that's the most convenient airline.  

Yes. I got a CC a few years ago primarily because it offered 50k BA miles and no foreign transaction fee. I've yet to cash in my miles because the couple of times I looked, it was going to be really expensive. I need to roll them over to Iberia, which I understand is a better deal, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

[scout8]

We tried to use AA points to fly to South Africa earlier this year. All the reward options went through London and the fees were all over $1000. We didn't end up going there, but I found flights on other airlines that were cheaper than the fees on the reward flights.

[frlcb]

I just read this in a blog I follow -

thepointsguy.com/2014/12/why-are-british-airways-fuel-surcharges-still-so-high/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thepointsguy+%28The+Points+Guy%29

[maddiepaddy]

Dec 7, 2014 21:40:18 GMT -5 frlcb said:

I just read this in a blog I follow -

thepointsguy.com/2014/12/why-are-british-airways-fuel-surcharges-still-so-high/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thepointsguy+%28The+Points+Guy%29

I saw this the other day, too. They clearly have a business model that is working. I'm sure there are tons of people to have no choice but to pay these fees. There must be enough transatlantic business travelers to keep BA in business on these routes. 

The 'free' tickets I am looking at each have $516 in 'carrier imposed fees' which I assume is purely the fuel fee. There is an additional $85 for UK passenger service fee, and a handful ($105) of other fees (US and Denmark assessed). This is definitely not just attributed to UK/Heathrow taxes and fees - it's BA price gouging. 

I'm hoping that miles seats open up either on an AA plane or perhaps Air Berlin (routing through Germany rather than UK). Cross your fingers for me!