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Redeeming airline miles for that award you've been saving for is an amazing experience. Taking off to a new destination, hopefully in a forward cabin, for “free” is certainly a goal of mine. What's often a rude awakening, though, are the taxes and fees associated with your award flight.
Why is there still an out-of-pocket cost on “free” flights? Taxes and fees are, sadly, a reality for award redemptions. And even worse, some of these fees are composed of fuel surcharges, which can ratchet the burden on your wallet even higher.
In this post, we'll go over what a fuel surcharge is, and how you can avoid (or mitigate) them on your next award redemption.
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What Is a Fuel Surcharge?
Fuel surcharges are extra fees charged to the passengers by the airlines themselves. These differ from the actual fare and are separate from government taxes incurred when booking an airline ticket. Fuel surcharges are imposed on both paid and award tickets. That means you're paying fuel surcharges when paying cash for flights, but they are less noticeable since they're rolled into the advertised price.
On award tickets, fuel surcharges can be problematic. Frequent flyer miles typically only cover the fare, not taxes, fees, and surcharges. And fuel surcharges can add up quickly — especially on long-haul flights in the pointy end of the plane.
When you book a flight with miles, you'll sometimes end up paying a large fraction of the cash price with airlines that pass on fuel surcharges. In turn, this reduces the value of your miles substantially. And, in some cases, turns a great redemption into a poor one value-wise.
You can avoid fuel surcharges by redeeming miles for flights on airlines that don't levy them (or pass along minimal surcharges). You can even receive a statement credit for fees from a credit card, like with the British Airways Visa Signature® Card. The British Airways Visa Card allows cardmembers to receive up to $600 in flight statement credits, when you book a reward flight on British Airways and pay taxes, fees and carrier charges with your card.
Finally, you can avoid fuel surcharges by flying from countries with laws on the books that limit fuel surcharges. Which countries have these kinds of restrictions? Let's take a look.
Countries That Limit Fuel Surcharges on Flights
Several countries either ban or limit fuel surcharges to a very minimal level. These include:
- Argentina
- Australia
- Brazil
- Hong Kong
- Mexico
- Maldives
- New Zealand
- Philippines
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Turkey
- Vietnam
In other words, the country of origin on your ticket matters. According to my research through ITA Matrix, British Airways award flights departing from Brazil are not subject to fuel surcharges. That's a big deal considering how notorious British Airways is for its fuel surcharges.
That said, you might still run into some discrepancies when you go to book. Here's a couple of occasions when you will.
Be aware of fuel surcharge discrepancies when you book
If you're booking a round trip to Brazil, both legs will likely have carrier-imposed fuel surcharges — even if one of the legs technically isn't supposed to have them at all. In an example round-trip itinerary between London (LHR) and São Paulo (GRU), British Airways tacks on GBP 270 of “carrier-imposed surcharges (YQ)”:
Whereas if you book a one-way from LHR to GRU, you'll pay half the carrier-imposed surcharges (GBP 135).
To save you from a sea of numbers, we'll just tell it to you straight; you'll save money by booking two one-ways. The carrier-imposed surcharges on one-way tickets break down like this:
- London (LHR) to São Paulo (GRU): GBP 135
- São Paulo (GRU) to London: GBP 0
You'll save GBP 135 by booking two one-ways instead of a round-trip ticket.
Additionally, you also might experience issues trying to find flights to Australia without paying hefty surcharges. In some research, flights from Perth (PER) to London (LHR) show a minimal fuel surcharge of $11.80 when departing Australia but a surcharge of ~$266 when heading the opposite direction.
Emirates also shows what I believe to be incorrect pricing as well. Pricing a one-way ticket from Sydney (SYD) to Dubai (DXB) on Emirates' website includes ~$241 in taxes and fees for an economy ticket. This is puzzling because the carrier-imposed surcharge is still AUD 14.90 ($9.97) — at least according to ITA Matrix.
For comparison, the reverse trip (Dubai to Sydney) includes ~$394.78 in carrier-imposed surcharges on top of other taxes and fees. To me, this seems like an incorrect charge on the part of Emirates.
The Philippines appears to limit fuel surcharges to under $100. Hong Kong used to limit fuel surcharges even more than it currently does. Currently, you'll find fuel surcharges in the neighborhood of $90 departing HKG. Vietnam's fees are similar — in the $90 range for long-haul flights. Research on Turkish Airlines and other carriers shows that fuel surcharges on long-haul flights departing Turkey are around $200.
Related: Which Credit Card Should You Use to Pay Award Taxes and Fees?
Your Ticket’s Origin Is the Key to Saving Money
Although some carriers don't apply local regulations correctly, you can still use tickets departing countries that limit fuel surcharges to your advantage. Consider traveling to and from Brazil on Air France. If you fly to Brazil in Air France business class, you will pay $318.40 in taxes, fees, and surcharges.
However, these fees are eliminated if you fly in the opposite direction, departing Brazil. All you're paying is the taxes. (And, in this case, several thousand more miles.)
You'll see similar results when departing Vietnam, although the surcharges are not entirely eliminated. From Paris to Hanoi, you'll pay $330.40 out of pocket in addition to 73,000 miles.
However, that out-of-pocket cost is reduced by $120 when departing Vietnam for Paris, France. In this example, the carrier-imposed charges are capped instead of being eliminated entirely.
It may require creative routing to avoid these charges, but doing so can save you a bundle. Consider using the countries that limit fuel surcharges to both save money and potentially plan a stopover on your next trip.
Quick Tips to Avoid Fuel Surcharges on Award Tickets
My biggest tip to avoid fuel surcharges is to avoid airlines that pass them on to prospective travelers. You also can avoid fuel surcharges by booking flights through a frequent flyer program that doesn't assess these charges — even on airlines that levy them. The most notable programs that don't pass on fuel surcharges are:
Beyond that, you're usually stuck paying these fees. Here are some of the airlines with the most egregious fuel surcharges:
- Austrian Airlines
- British Airways
- Emirates
- Lufthansa
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
- SWISS
Most of the airlines above are bookable through a program that doesn't pass along the carrier-imposed surcharges or — at the very least — limits them. The one exception is British Airways, where massive fuel surcharges — especially for premium cabin flights — are virtually unavoidable.
Related: How To Avoid Paying High Fuel Surcharges When Booking Flights with Avios
Final Thoughts
We hope this guide helps you think a bit more about those pesky surcharges on your next award booking. There might be an easy way to avoid them for your trip or at least mitigate some of the charges. Let us know in the comments if you were able to avoid a fuel surcharge because of this guide!
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