British Airways taxes and fees

Becky · Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 52 Location: Denver

Does anyone actually know why the fees and taxes on BA flights are so high? We are exploring the possibility of using frequent flyer miles to get from Denver to Johannesburg. We have enough miles in both BA and Delta to get there. If we use Delta, it will probably be 125,000 miles + $62 per person. If we use BA, it will be 90,000 miles and $638 per person.

shmoozy1 · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 27

Hi Becky,
The main difference between airlines in most of the world and US airlines is that the US airlines do not levy fuel surcharges on frequent flyer tickets whereas most everyone else does.
On the other hand when considering your trip the 35,000 mile difference at 1c per mile equates to a $350 saving on BA vs Delta thus narrowing the gap between the two quotes. Presumably the BA itinerary involves a trip to London so the stopover en route might also be attractive.
Cheers
Shmoozy1

atlgeoff · Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Posts: 2 Location: New York

Becky,

The answer is airport taxes and fees. London Heathrow has one of the highest fees and taxes of any airport in the world. And, Gatwick is not far behind. I moved from NYC to London about 2 years ago and I try to avoid Heathrow as much as possible because of this reason. It has nothing to do with fuel surcharges for award tickets. The high fees can be seen in revenue ticket prices as well as, award ticket prices.

Good luck.

Geoff

Beer Man · Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 104 Location: Milwaukee area

I'm not sure airport taxes and fees are the explanation, or at least the whole explanation. All I can tell you is that last year I used American Airlines Aadvantage miles for a trip from Chicago to Italy. On the return we flew from Venice to London Gatwick on Brisith Airways, took a bus to Heathrow, and then flew on American from Heathrow to Chicago. We weren't charged any fees. Maybe this varies by airline, but I can't believe that American Airlines simply absorbed airport fees for us. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

Becky · Joined: 14 Aug 2004 Posts: 52 Location: Denver

We are booked to Cyprus in April using 40,000 American Airlines miles. We fly Denver to London on American and London to Larnaca on British. We used 40,000 American miles and paid $189.90 (including $20 for booking over the telephone which you have to do if you are using a partner) for these flights. The exact itinerary using BA miles would have been 65,000 miles and $376.45. The airport fees should have been the same for each carrier.

ncvet61 · Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 61 Location: North Carolina

3 Months ago a one way Award ticket ATL - DME was $13.40 on AA and $187 on BA, with the BA fuel surcharge being the main culprit.

Beer Man · Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 104 Location: Milwaukee area

Just to qualify my previous post on this topic -- I'm Platinum on American. I suspect that may be the reason I wasn't charged these fees.

shmoozy1 · Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 27

"The answer is airport taxes and fees."
Sorry I have to disagree.
In fact most or at least many taxes and fees that are levied on revenue tickets are not levied on non revenue tickets for reasons that remain a mystery to me.
I accept that LHR is a very high taxing airport and if you are using revenue seats its to be avoided like the plague and not just because of the taxes (how about the antiquated and un-airconditioned concourses?)
A classic example of the difference between airline policy on surcharges is to be seen in QF vs UA across the Pacific. A QF FF ticket on precisely the same routing (SYD/JFK via LAX) is hundreds of dollars more expensive than UA ($650 vs $125) because Qantas charges levies on FF seats as if they were revenue.
In some ways I am nostalgic for the days when you antied up the cash for airport taxes at the departure point as it made those taxes highly transparent. Nowadays its just too easy to whack on an extra tax, levy, surcharge or fee and it all gets lost in the sauce.