British Airways in court in the US over fuel surcharges on Avios tickets

An interesting court case is currently working its way through the US legal system. Four frequent flyers in the States are suing British Airways over the fairness (or not) of the fuel surcharges imposed on Avios reward tickets and corporate net fares.

The latest attempt by British Airways to have the case thrown out has just failed, and it will proceed to the next stage.

See this Reuters story here for more details.

To quote:

In a decision made public on Friday, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie in Brooklyn, New York, said the plaintiffs offered sufficient support for their claims that the surcharges were not “reasonably related to or based upon” fuel costs. He did not rule on the merits of the case …..

The plaintiffs said British Airways saw the fuel surcharges as a means to boost revenue, and charge frequent flyers hundreds of dollars on each “free” reward ticket.

In letting the case proceed, Dearie cited a statistical analysis from the flyers that suggested that British Airways’ fuel surcharges from 2007 to 2012 “bore little relationship to – and were not based upon – changes in the price of fuel.”

There are a couple of points worth mentioning here. The first is that, for reasons unknown, British Airways charges higher fuel surcharges – substantially higher, in fact – for round-trip tickets which start in the US compared with the UK.

Heathrow to New York return in Club World has total taxes of £533. New York to Heathrow return has total taxes of £732. That won’t look good in court.

Secondly, I will leave you with this bit of data courtesy of my friend Andy.

Cost of fuelling a BA A380 to Los Angeles, return: $170,000 (figure comes directly from a BA pilot)

First Class fuel charge revenue: 14 x £359 = £5,026

Club World fuel charge revenue: 97 x £359 = £34,823

World Traveller Plus fuel charge revenue: 55 x £239 = £13,145

World Traveller fuel charge revenue: 303 x £239 = £72,417

Total fuel surcharge collected on a full A380 flight to Los Angeles: £125,411 = c $200,000

‘Profit’ generated by fuel surcharge vs the cost of fuel: c $30,000

The full court filings in the case can be downloaded from Loyalty Lobby here.

It is not clear where this case will end up – the worst case scenario, for BA, is that it is made to refund fuel surcharges to anyone who has flown to or from the US in recent years on an Avios ticket or corporate net fare (to which fuel surcharges are additional).

This would not be unparalleled – similar refunds were made a few years (I got one myself) when BA settled another court case.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.