Last Updated 25 June 2016
From time to time I’m going to refer to fees called “fuel surcharges” or “carrier imposed surcharges” when I’m discussing award travel in a blog, so I thought it would be useful to have a brief and super-simple explanation of what they are.
Fuel Surcharges
Fuel surcharges are the bane of frequent fliers the world over. If there’s one thing we all have in common (apart from the fact that we all spend a disproportionate amount of time in the air) it is that we hate, abhor and detest fuel surcharges.
For anyone new to the hobby and wondering what I’m going on about this is a short-ish explanation:
Fuel surcharges are fees levied by some airlines to, supposedly, help them manage any increases in fuel costs – except that that’s total nonsense. They have absolutely nothing to do with fuel costs. If there was any correlation to the price of fuel we would have seen wholesale and significant decreases in these charges over the past 18 months and that simply hasn’t happened (although a few airlines, like Qantas, have made some reductions).
Normally these fees are hidden within the total fare you pay to fly from point A to point B and, unless you look at the breakdown of the cost of your ticket, you’ll never even know there’re there. To be honest, when it comes to travel that you pay for with cash/debit/credit the fees make little difference – presumably, you’ve booked the flight based on total cost so how the airline arrives at that total cost is irrelevant.
Where these fees come out into the open and cause miles collectors to get remarkably annoyed is when it comes to award travel – a lot of airlines add fuel surcharges to award tickets. What was, at one time, a free flight, is now a flight that costs miles and cash.
To illustrate this point let’s take a look at a bastion of fuel surcharges – British Airways.
If you want to travel from New York to London (one-way) using Avios on British Airways during off-peak season, these are the costs you’ll incur:
- Economy: 25,000 Avios + $256
- Premium Economy: 40,000 Avios + $256
- Business Class (Club World): 60,000 Avios + $441
- First Class: 80,000 Avios + $441
Those dollar amounts are almost entirely fuel surcharges (now sometimes disguised as “carrier imposed surcharges”).
As a comparison, if you were to use AAdvantage miles on American Airlines (an airline that does not impose fuel surcharges) these would be the costs (Using Saver Awards):
Economy: 30,000 Miles + $5.60
Business Class: 57,500 Miles + $5.60
First Class: 85,000 Miles + $5.60
That’s quite a difference isn’t it?
That’s the basics of Fuel surcharges but there are some nuances that are worth bearing in mind. To get a better understanding of those nuances I recommend reading Travel Is Free’s post on fuel surcharges – that should help you avoid paying these fees if at all possible.
