QF FF fee's / taxes up by 125%??

[CWM]

We (2 adults + 1 infant) travelled from BNE to LAX in FEb this year. The booking was made in October 2004 & the total cost of fees was $AU370 for all of us.

I just made virtually the same booking to LA (except from ADL & through SYD) during May (for April 2006 travel) but this time the total cost of fees is $AU830! The breakdown is $311 per adult, $208 for infant.

Checked with Qantas who claim it is all correct & yes, the infant will still be an infant at the travel date. They told me the fees are calculated at the booking date, so in 7 months between bookings the fees have gone up 125%. I guess I should just be happy with the total cost compared to paying full price for tickets, but it does seem a very dramatic increase, or a dramatic devaluation of the FF points value perhaps.

Do these fees sound right? I tried the on-line calculator but can't get near that figure, must be missing something. Apologies if this has been discussed before.....

 

[CWM]

Actually 125% is not quite correct as this booking includes a domestic leg ADL to SYD; but the increase still seems quite dramatic to me. Ah well, at least it was only 80K points each, not 96K....

 

[Mal]

You'll find the biggest difference is the fuel surcharge.

It is currently $60 pp per sector internationally (with some reductions for certain flights), and $20 per sector in Aust.

So, for each person, $160 is just the fuel surcharge...

I assume your original booking was early Oct last year. The surcharge was $29/$10 as of 20 October. Before that it was $15/$6. So the difference in fuel surcharge could be as much as $130 per person for your flights.

There are other charges that apply too. The figure looks correct. I'm not going to do the full breakdown on it, but it seems about right.

 

[CWM]

Thanks Mal, it's nice to know there is not a significant error at least; seems the extra $ is going to the Middle East then.

Overall I must say I have never had any significant hassles with Qantas & the staff are much more polite than what one often encounters in the US.