Avoiding Fuel Surcharges

When you think of redeeming miles, you usually think of “free” flights. In life, as we know, there is nothing free – not even travel. Yes, the miles may be “free”, but you will always pay taxes and fees in addition to the required miles.

Every passenger is required to pay taxes and fees on award tickets. These include fees such as airport departure tax, country arrival tax, government tax, etc. However, there is also another part of the mileage redemption aspect that you may have to pay – and you never will want to: fuel surcharges (YQ). YQ are an absolute scam on award tickets. They can be insanely high. For example, a mileage ticket on British Airways or Lufthansa in First or Business Class from North America to Europe can cost as high as $800+ USD per person. 95% of this fee is the pesky YQ.

It is important to know and understand how to avoid paying YQ whenever possible. This will save you a TON of money when booking award travel. Note that it may not always be possible to avoid fuel surcharges, but there are also ways you can lower them to where they are insignificant.

Redeem With a Frequent Flyer Program That Doesn’t Charge Fuel Surcharges

This is the best way to avoid YQ on award tickets – redeem your miles through a frequent flyer program that does not charge YQ on award tickets. Remember you should always be collecting your miles and points with AMEX, Chase, Citi, or SPG – where you then can transfer those points to many frequent flyer programs.

• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
  • high fuel surcharges on British Airways
  • low-medium fuel surcharges on Icelandair
  • no-low fuel surcharges on other airlines
• American Airlines AAdvantage
  • high fuel surcharges on British Airways
  • no-low fuel surcharges on other airlines
• Air Canada Aeroplan
  • high fuel surcharges on Air Canada, Austrian, and Lufthansa
  • no-low fuel surcharges on most other Star Alliance airlines
• British Airways Executive Club
  • fuel surcharges are imposed on most airlines
  • low-no fuel surcharges on American and Alaska
• Delta Air Lines SkyMiles
  • depends on where you originate your journey
    • if leaving the U.S. on Delta – no fuel surcharges
    • most trips within North America do not involve fuel surcharges
• Lufthansa Miles & More
  • fuel surcharges imposed on all carriers except United Airlines
  • low fuel surcharges on LOT and select Asian airlines
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • fuel surcharges imposed on all carriers except Singapore Airlines and United Airlines
• United Airlines MileagePlus
  • no fuel surcharges, ever

As you can see, the best Star Alliance program for not paying YQ is United’s MileagePlus, followed by Aeroplan. For oneworld, the best way to redeem miles without high YQ is through American or Alaska. You always want to avoid British Airways – they will always charge a fuel surcharge, no matter which program you are redeeming with.

Travel To/From a Country with Restrictions on Fuel Surcharges

Japan, Hong Kong, and Brazil are famous for charging low to no YQ… even on airlines that would normally charge them. You will pay little to no YQ when flying to or from some of these destinations. For example, when departing from Rio de Janeiro to Frankfurt on Lufthansa, you’d pay $0 in fuel surcharges (even if redeeming on Aeroplan).

Country-specific requirements always trump frequent flyer program rules. If a country says no YQ, a frequent flyer program has to listen – there’s no way around that. So Aeroplan can’t charge you fuel surcharges when departing from Brazil or Hong Kong and they can charge YQ when departing from Japan.. but it will be very minor.

Sadly Hong Kong’s fuel surcharge ban will be changing soon, so expect taxes and fees to now include some fuel surcharges when departing from HKG.

Change Your Ticket After Departure

This may work with other frequent flyer programs, but I know only for sure that it works with Aeroplan. Say you want to fly Seattle – San Francisco – Frankfurt on United and Lufthansa in First Class. A normal redemption in First Class on Lufthansa would charge you over $600 in fuel surcharges.

The trick is to book all segments on United in First Class and then once you get to San Francisco, change your ticket to fly on Lufthansa in First Class – YQ should not be recalculated once you begin and fly a portion of the trip. This may not always work, but I use this trick often when booking Aeroplan tickets from North America to Europe. You will have to pay a small change fee, which is well worth it to avoid YQ.

Transfer Points Between Frequent Flyer Programs

While British Airways and Iberia both collect Avios points, both programs are not created equally. Did you know that if you redeem British Airways Avios on Iberia, you will end up paying YQ? However, did you also know that if you redeem Iberia Avios on Iberia, you won’t have to pay YQ?

You can freely move Avios between both BA and IB without a problem – this method alone can save you hundreds in fuel surcharges… and also miles! Iberia has an interesting award chart whereby they classify some destinations lower than BA and therefore it is actually less miles to book through Iberia in a few cases (and less fuel surcharges).

In Conclusion

You should never, ever pay fuel surcharges. You worked hard to earn those miles and therefore you should maximise them in the best way possible – which means flying the furthest on an award ticket while paying the least amount of points possible. Hopefully the tricks above will help you save hundreds in YQ. As always, if you have any questions, please ask!

Happy Booking!