YQ surcharges on upgrades

[aidan2306]

Urgh… How to accurately calculate the fuel surcharges when upgrading PE cash booking to Club with Avios?

LHR-ATL, the ITA Matrix shows the YQ at £120 for PE and £450 for Club on a cash o/w ticket.
But when booking the same as a straight reward ticket, BAEC shows £165 for PE and £225 for Club (plus Avios).

Does booking a reward ticket include discounted surcharges compared with a cash ticket? Therefore making avios upgrades to cash tickets much worse value compared with reward tickets?

Trying to decide between VS and BA, but both seem to have the outrageous £330 surcharge (yes, I know how to avoid these but I’m not going to go to Madrid!).

[JDB]

@aidan2306 – the £165/£225 surcharges you quote are RFS ones, so they now incorporate some of the taxes/fees/charges with the rest being covered in a higher Avios cost than previously. This is why on a rewards booking the TFC sometimes shown are different than the ones paid.

By way of example, for PE or Club outbound only LHR-ATL, the cost of APD and LHR passenger service charge alone is £246. On a cash fare this is all built in and itemised.