[Bug Fixed] LifeMiles Now Charging $1,000+ In Fuel Surcharges on Some Routes

Update: LifeMiles representatives responded to AwardWallet to share they “just confirmed that this has been fixed and everything should be back to normal again.”

Sure enough, taxes and fees on all affected routes have returned to normal.

Credit: LifeMiles

The original story, as published earlier today, is found below.

LifeMiles is one of our favorite mileage currencies due to excellent award rates, plentiful ways to earn LifeMiles, and no fuel surcharges… at least historically. As caught by Award Travel 201 member Tim Schiller, LifeMiles just started charging exceptionally high taxes and fees on some routes. You'll have to pay over $1,000 in taxes/fees on some routes — even in United economy!

Here's what we know so far about this development and what routes are affected.

Typical LifeMiles Award Pricing

LifeMiles offers some appealing sweet spots, particularly on routes between the U.S. and Europe. Economy awards start at just 20,000 miles each way while business class starts at 60,000 miles one-way. You can even book Lufthansa First Class for just 87,000 LifeMiles each way.

And that's the published award pricing. Some unpublished sweet spots exist that let you book business class awards to Europe for as few as 35,000 LifeMiles one-way!

Pair this excellent award pricing with frequent LifeMiles transfer bonuses and you can often stretch your transferrable points to fly to Europe for a reasonable amount of points and out-of-pocket cost.

LifeMiles hasn't historically passed along fuel surcharges — even on airlines like Lufthansa, which can charge massive fees. The route from Boston to Frankfurt still reflects what you typically can pay for Lufthansa awards booked through LifeMiles:

• Economy: 30,000 LifeMiles plus $27.80 taxes/fees
• Business class: 63,000 LifeMiles plus $27.80 taxes/fees
• First Class: 87,000 LifeMiles plus $27.80 taxes/fees

Credit: LifeMiles

While the Boston to Frankfurt route is pricing as normal (at least so far), other routes aren't as lucky.

Which LifeMiles Routes Have Fuel Surcharges

Avianca is currently charging much higher than normal fees on certain routes. We don't know if this is intentional or a bug in LifeMiles award pricing system.

For example, awards from Washington DC (IAD) to Frankfurt (FRA) currently include $197.80 of taxes and fees each way. That's exactly $170 more than we'd expect on this route.

Credit: LifeMiles

We are finding similar pricing on the route from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Munich (MUC). Whether you fly Lufthansa or United, you'll need to pay $197.80 in taxes and fees on the award.

Credit: LifeMiles

But the worst we've found — at least so far — is the route from Newark (EWR) to Frankfurt (FRA). LifeMiles is currently charging $1,046.80 in taxes and fees on this route — including in economy.

Credit: LifeMiles

As chronicled by Frequent Miler, LifeMiles periodically shows erroneous taxes and fees in search results just for those taxes and fees to be adjusted at checkout. However, that's not the case here. Even on the payment entry screen, LifeMiles is charging over $1,000 in taxes and fees — although the total is further increased by LifeMiles' $25 partner booking fee.

Credit: LifeMiles

While Lufthansa can charge hefty fuel surcharges on its awards, United does not charge fuel surcharges on its awards. So it's particularly concerning that LifeMiles is charging this high of taxes and fees even for United economy awards.

I've emailed our LifeMiles contact to ask if this higher out-of-pocket pricing is a bug or an intentional change to the program. Hopefully, this is just a bug, and this pricing will go back to normal soon!

This is a developing story and we will update this post as we learn more.

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