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British Airways Avios ‘taxes and charges’ creeping up and miscalculated

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Whilst the oil price has been relatively steady since Autumn 2015, oscillating around the $50 mark for Brent Crude, that hasn’t stopped British Airways quietly sneaking up its ‘taxes and charges’.

On Wednesday we ran an article showing you the peak and off-peak Avios redemption dates for 2018.

As part of that article we did an example of a British Airways Club World redemption to New York, with a ‘taxes and charges’ figure of £529.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

In April 2017, we ran a very similar article with the peak / off-peak calendar for 2017.  Last April, the taxes for the identical flight were £480.  

This represents an increase of £49, so £98 for a couple using a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher.

If we look at Iberia, the taxes and charges for Madrid to JFK went up by just £14, from £145 to £159 return in Business Class.  This means that the difference cannot be down to increased US airport and security fees.  

Part of the difference will be increased Heathrow passenger service charges, and £4 is down to increased Air Passenger Duty, but in general it does give the impression of BA arbitrarily increasing its ‘surcharges’ for no good reason.

ba.com is still incorrectly showing taxes and charges

To make matters worse, on some routes ba.com has trouble accurately calculating the taxes and charges due.  It always corrects itself by the time you get to the payment page but you should never treat the figure shown on the flight selection page as correct.

Here is a Club World redemption from London to Tokyo.  The flight selection page shows taxes of £637:

Tokyo taxes 3

….. but the payment page shows – correctly, if you compare with the charges on a cash ticket – that the total should be £539:

Tokyo taxes 1

If you search for Edinburgh to Tokyo via London the error is even more stark.  The flight selection page shows taxes of £740 per person:

Tokyo taxes 2

…. instead of £539.

No-one is being overcharged here, but British Airways isn’t doing itself any favours by giving the impression that taxes and charges are (even) higher than they actually are.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (61)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Jason Hindle says:
    9 Jun9 June 06:33

    I’ve recently done an off peak redemption, MAN to HKG (CX). 180000 Avios and £250 in charges. Are the charges airline dependent?

    • Julie Kalama says:
      9 Jun9 June 06:38

      If it’s a return is it not because it’s not legal to charge taxes going out of HKG? BA doing itself few favours at the moment..

      • Dave says:
        9 Jun9 June 15:32

        is this correct as I just just redeemed a flight to Tokyo and then separate back from Hong Kong and been charged the same tax for both, about £280

        • Alan says:
          9 Jun9 June 15:34

          Any separate flights back from HKG shouldn’t be charged YQ AFAIK…

    • TGLoyalty says:
      9 Jun9 June 07:22

      There’s still charges to pay from Manchester. Just not if starting in HKG on a single segment believe they can charge charges on returns booked on a single ticket

    • Alan says:
      9 Jun9 June 09:18

      Absolutely!! Airport and government taxes are obviously the same, but carrier surcharges totally vary by carrier (as the name implies) – indeed when booking reward flights some airlines don’t charge them at all.

    • AndyR says:
      9 Jun9 June 10:19

      How did you manage an off peak redemption on CX? Aren’t partners priced at peak?

      • Prince Polo says:
        9 Jun9 June 11:12

        Yeah, all are peak. However, with CX, you pay significantly less in taxes, so it’s kind of offset – not to mention their amazing new J product on the A350 which is light years ahead of BA, and nicer than QR.

        • Leo says:
          9 Jun9 June 11:20

          Hmmm I thought the CX a350 cabin/seat okay (ropey seat there and back – on a new plane) but I much preferred the QR cabin. CX service better though – less in your face.

  • Alphaduck99 says:
    9 Jun9 June 06:44

    I love these posters from the B.O.A.C days.
    I also remember a Private Eye take on it where “Takes Good Care of You” was replaced with “Takes More Fare off You”!

  • Lev441 says:
    9 Jun9 June 08:00

    Would tax price increases have something to do with airport taxes abroad and the slide in the value of GBP?

    • Rob says:
      9 Jun9 June 08:18

      Yes, that would also be part of it – but charges out of the US are minimal. Airberlin charges £4 on a one-way Avios ticket from the US to Europe.

    • John says:
      9 Jun9 June 10:51

      Today’s slide won’t be reflected in airline prices (when charged in GBP) until Wednesday

  • cmcbugg says:
    9 Jun9 June 08:12

    BA do overcharge on LAN Avios fights because they charge local VAT on £0 fare tickets (even though other airline redemptions do not)!

  • Lap1 says:
    9 Jun9 June 09:45

    Completely off topic…..I am trying to find availability from any west coast US airport to Hawaii, any island. I can find Mile Saver rewards availability on the AA website but these are not showing on BAEC? I was under impression I could still book these through the call centre but they have told me this is not possible? Is this correct? Any help would be appreciated!

    • Alan says:
      9 Jun9 June 09:59

      You definitely should be able to book if saver rates are available. Have you tried calling back to speak to a different agent?

      • Kipto says:
        9 Jun9 June 14:08

        +1. I booked flights to Hawaii last year. Some show on ba’s site, others on AA milesaver. Ring ba up again. They can book it for you. You have to pay for baggage with AA and Alaska Airlines.

    • xcalx says:
      9 Jun9 June 12:09

      I have noticed this lately. Checking MIA-SXM over the last few week AA are showing Mile saver flights available where as BA are not showing the same availability online.

  • AVM says:
    9 Jun9 June 09:57

    Slightly OT, but charges related: if I book online an avios flight with BA and then with their partner S7 as one ticket i am charged £60 on top of 14500 avios. If I book 2 flights separately then I am charged 10000 + 4500 avios and £17.50+ £5.60, £37 less. I suspect that’s because RFS does not apply to a flight with a partner. But maybe someone knows if there is a way to get one ticket with a lesser charge (I’d prefer it as a one ticket as connection is rather tight…)?
    Thx!
    PS Interestingly, on a way back a single ticket charge is the same as for 2 separate ones.

    • Anna says:
      9 Jun9 June 10:09

      You don’t say where you’re travelling to/from but I think you’re right that when using partner airlines for short-haul redemptions, the charges are so high that it’s often not worth it.

    • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:
      9 Jun9 June 10:56

      As you’re talking about S7 I’d assume London – Moscow – somewhere. Because APD is hight leaving the UK you’ll save some money going from London on RFS, on the way back RFS higher than the taxes so it’s actually cheaper to book two one-ways if you booked just a London – Moscow return. Personally I’d pay the £37 for the protection…

      • AVM says:
        9 Jun9 June 11:11

        Yes, it’s LHR-DME-GOJ. From one hand, 4 of us will be travelling meaning £148 extra charge, from the other hand connection is only 2 hrs and we will need to go through passport control, pick up and drop off bags, and it will be in December (24th most likely), therefore possibly bad weather. All that means that 40 minutes delay in LHR and we probably won’t make a connection.

        • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:
          9 Jun9 June 16:07

          Won’t they interline the bags if it’s on one ticket?

          • John says:
            9 Jun9 June 19:56

            The second flight is a domestic Russian flight so no. On the way back yes.

  • AndyR says:
    9 Jun9 June 10:17

    The surcharges are even higher to the US when you go further West. For example Dallas and San Francisco are £574!

    I am sure in the past all US destinations were the same??

  • Tim Millea says:
    9 Jun9 June 10:32

    On most destinations, a direct flight from Manchester is cheaper than BA’s Avios redemption ‘fees and charges’, short, medium or long-haul.

    Years of accumulating Airmiles then Avios was near-futile.

    Maybe I will take my mother on a direct flight on BA Cityflyer to Mykonos next year business class to use up our points but it is hardly attractive.

    Unless you live within the Gatwick or Heathrow catchment areas, this website appears to be heading towards obsolescence.

    • Anna says:
      9 Jun9 June 14:36

      It depends when you want to travel. For May 26th 2018, Jet2 are charging £290 one way, Manchester to Nice. On BA it’s 7,500 avios plus £17.50 tax, including 23 kg of hold baggage.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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