How to Avoid Paying Huge Surcharges on Flights Booked With Points
When you book a flight using points or miles, you feel like you’re traveling for free—until you have to pay additional fees on your award ticket. Sometimes these additional fees end up costing you more than a ticket purchased with cash, essentially rendering those miles worthless.
Airline fuel surcharges (also called carrier-imposed surcharges) also appear on regular tickets, but they are included in the total advertised price and therefore do not come as a shock. Additional fees vary by airline and loyalty program, so before you book an award trip, make sure you understand these fees and look for ways to avoid them so you can actually fly for free.
Find out which airlines add fuel surcharges to award tickets.
Awareness is the first step to minimizing the shock of unexpected additional fees. According to The Points Guy , there are several loyalty programs that may add or include carrier-levied fees on some award tickets, including those booked with partner airlines:
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Air France-KLM Flying Blue
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Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
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ANA Miles Club
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American Airlines
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British Airways Executive Club
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Delta SkyMiles
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Emirates Skywards
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JAL Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
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Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
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Virgin Atlantic Flight Club
Not all award travel under these programs will incur additional costs. For example, KrisFlyer tickets on Singapore Airlines are tax-exempt, while American Airlines only adds carrier surcharges to flights booked on British Airways and Iberia. (British Airways is a major fuel surcharge offender.) Flights operated by Delta will charge hefty fees when booked through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, but they will mostly be free with Delta SkyMiles and Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
If you redeem rewards on JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, United, Air Canada or Avianca, you’re in luck: These carriers don’t add fuel surcharges to tickets booked with points or miles, either on their own or airline-operated flights. partners. Obviously, if you can book an award tour with one of these airlines instead, you can save some money.
Be flexible when choosing your route
If you’re willing to change the date, time, or even route of your travel, you can minimize or eliminate fuel surcharges from your award fare. Because some airline partners in your rewards program may not pass on fees to travelers, you may be able to find alternative options at or from nearby airports, with different connections, or at different departure and arrival times.
Please note that some airports in some countries charge taxes to departing international passengers based on flight length and fare class. The UK has a particularly high tax, known as an airline passenger levy, on long-haul flights, so when returning to the US, you may want to look for award tickets that originate from other parts of Europe (plus, many long-haul flights from London fly with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. both of which reported significant additional fees .)
Book with the ability to transfer points
If you have points or miles that aren’t part of an airline’s loyalty program, you can transfer them to a carrier that doesn’t have fuel surcharges. Examples include American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards and CitThankYou Rewards. Additionally, you can find free options for tickets booked directly through the travel portals of these programs.
Book with a travel credit card
Some travel rewards cards offer benefits that can offset additional fees if you can’t avoid them on your chosen carrier and award route. These benefits range from a $300 annual travel credit with the Chase Sapphire Reserve and up to $600 in tax and fee reimbursement with the British Airways Signature Visa to travel mileage redemption with Capital One Venture cards.