taxes

[ginbe]

Hi there, i have just registered so very new to this forum. I was in the process of booking a Qantas Frequent Flyer fare to London in July, and was horrified to find the taxes were over $1200 per person!!! Needless to say i aborted it right there and thought i better investigate options as to how to minimise these costs. i am sure i paid half that in 2011. Any suggestions as to how to avoid such high costs?

 

[Hvr]

Welcome aboard ginbe, sadly the amount of taxes is a known problem when purchasing reward fares. What class are you looking at?

 

[Mwenenzi]

Welcome to the forum

The $$ were not all taxes. They are mostly fees/surcharges QF has chosen to add to reward flights. QF are not alone in doing this.
London has a very high APD (excise ~ aka tax), especially in bus & first class, which can only be avoided by leaving from Europe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Passenger_Duty

 

[ginbe]

Only economy sadly, (sorry don't know all the lingo with respect to abbreviations etc), we are quite flexible with how we do this so happy to hear any suggestions

 

[Mwenenzi]

Sadly with QF you have no way to the avoid QF fees/surcharges on reward tickets

 

[ginbe]

What about with partner airlines such as Cathay, Malaysia and the like?

 

[Mwenenzi]

With QF points you can only book thru QF, including the partners.
QF points are only accepted by QF
Like having Aust $ (QF points): you must spend in Aust (QF).

 

[ginbe]

So best to fly to frankfurt perhaps and then make our way to London with easy jet or something like that? maybe this can be alleviated once Emirates is on board 31 March as it will enable entry to Europe at different points. Would this be a possibility do you think?

 

[moa999]

I suspect since you last booked.
1. Jetfuel prices and thus the Qantas fuel surcharge has gone up.
2. London APD has gone up

Going anywhere in Europe but the UK the 'taxes' would have been less.

 

[aikman]

Qantas charges fuel surcharges of $790 for a return economy ticket to any city in Europe. Cathay Pacific only charges $504.40.

The catch with booking Cathay is that Qantas will charge you more points. Instead of 128,000 points, you’ll need to pay 150,000 points plus 6,000 points for a telephone booking fee.

 

[aikman]

I have an idea. Fuel surcharges are lower for flights originating in London. You could do two one way bookings and you should in theory be able to save approx $130.

 

[burmans]

I have an idea. Fuel surcharges are lower for flights originating in London. You could do two one way bookings and you should in theory be able to save approx $130.

Even less if the flight back is from somewhere other than London.