I’ve (finally) updated my chart of which airlines charge fuel surcharges on award redemptions, and I thought it was worth noting 3 changes:
- Aeroplan now charges surcharges on most redemption partners.
- ANA previously did not charge fuel surcharges on US Airways flights. However, they are now charging fuel surcharges when US Airways bundles it into the fare (for you geeks out there, US Airways does not add a YQ fuel surcharge, but they do bundle it into the fare on TransAtlantic flights). So ANA is now charging surcharges on US Airways on Europe and Israel flights. To add to the confusion, if you book on the ANA website, the surcharges they show for US Airways flights are wrong — you’ll have to call the airline to get the correct amount (which, as of right now, is about $305 for Europe flights on US Airways).
- JAL charges a fuel surcharge if the partner does, but not if the partner airline does not. That means you can redeem using their mileage-based chart on AA, LAN and Emirates without fuel surcharges. As Lucky points out here, there are a few good deals out there if you have enough miles in Starwood to transfer to JAL, especially on Emirates from New York and Toronto to Dubai.
- Delta now charges a fuel surcharge on Skyteam partner airlines.
If you want to see whether an airline charges a fuel surcharge, search for a flight on ITA Software, then click on the fare. You’ll see something like this:
YQ is the fuel surcharge. YR is also sometimes used to denote a fuel surcharge.
If you have any corrections to the chart below, let me know.
| AIRLINE | ALLIANCE | WHERE THEY DO ADD A FUEL SURCHARGE ON AWARD TICKETS | WHERE THEY DO NOT ADD A FUEL SURCHARGE ON AWARD TICKETS |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIR CANADA | STAR | Adria, Air Canada, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, bmi, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, TAP, and THAI | ALL OTHER STAR ALLIANCE PARTNERS |
| ALASKA AIRLINES | NONE | BRITISH AIRWAYS | ALL ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHTS AND OTHER PARTNERS |
| AMERICAN AIRLINES | ONEWORLD | BRITISH AIRWAYS, IBERIA | ALL OTHER AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHTS AND OTHER ONEWORLD PARTNERS |
| DELTA AIR LINES | SKYTEAM | DELTA FLIGHTS NOT ORIGINATING FROM THE US OR ASIA; ALL PARTNER FLIGHTS | ALL DELTA FLIGHTS ORIGINATING IN THE US OR ASIA |
| SOUTHWEST AIRLINES | NONE | NONE | SOUTHWEST/AIRTRAN |
| UNITED AIRLINES | STAR | NONE | ALL FLIGHTS ON UNITED AND WITH PARTNERS |
| US AIRWAYS | STAR | NONE | ALL FLIGHTS ON US AIRWAYS AND WITH PARTNERS |
| ALL OTHER INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES ADD FUEL SURCHARGES TO AWARD TICKETS EXCEPT: | |||
| ANA | STAR | ALL ANA FLIGHTS AND PARTNERS (THEY NOW CHARGE A SURCHARGE ON US AIRWAYS WHEN US AIRWAYS ADDS A SURCHARGE INTO THE FARE AS A "Q" SURCHARGE - PRIMARILY ON TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTS) | US AIRWAYS WHERE US AIRWAYS DOES NOT CHARGE A FUEL SURCHARGE (PRIMARILY NON-EUROPE FLIGHTS) |
| BRITISH AIRWAYS | ONEWORLD | ALL BA FLIGHTS AND ONEWORLD PARTNERS, EXCEPT LAN AND AMERICAN | LAN, AA, AER LINGUS, and ALASKA |
| EUROBONUS (SAS) | STAR | ALL PARTNERS EXCEPT SAS, BLUE1 and WIDEROE | SAS, BLUE1 and WIDEROE FLIGHTS |
| FLYINGBLUE | SKYTEAM | ALL EXCEPT DELTA FLIGHTS ORIGINATING IN THE US | DELTA FLIGHTS ORIGINATING IN THE US |
| JAL | ONEWORLD | ALL AIRLINES THAT INCLUDE A FUEL SURCHARGE | AA AND LAN |
| LAN | ONEWORLD | NONE | ALL LAN AND PARTNER FLIGHTS |
| SOUTH AFRICAN | STAR | NONE | ALL SOUTH AFRICAN AND PARTNER FLIGHTS |
Err… Not sure if this counts as a correction, but I don’t think Continental exists anymore (or, at least it’s not called Continental!)
Oops! Fixed. I can’t seem to let Continental go :(
I don’t think British has fuel surcharges for Alaskan Air.
Yep – good call. I’ve updated. Thanks!
Thanks – great info for us ‘newbies’ to have. Helps me understand one reason why fares are so different among the airlines.
I am searching on ITA for flights from PHI to KIX. I am getting large fuel surcharges on Delta flights, which seems inconsistent with your post. Ideas?
I am also getting large fuel surcharges on PHI to KIX from US Airways, which is also inconsistent with your chart…
United is also charging a large fuel surcharge. What gives? So far I am 0/3 with the chart.
Hi. This chart is for who charges fuel surcharges on award redemptions, not for when you pay for the flight.
Thanks for the quick reply!
In your post, you say “If you want to see whether an airline charges a fuel surcharge, search for a flight on ITA Software, then click on the fare. You’ll see something like this:”
I am now confused why you tell people to do that if that does not tell you whether or not they will charge full surcharges for redemptions.
For airlines where they charge a fuel surcharge on partners, you can see the fuel surcharge amount in ITA.
Ah, I understand now. Thanks!
Jared – how did you find this info? I was unable to find any stated policy on the official websites for a few airlines. I am particularly interested in United, American and Delta.
I’m seeing large charges on AY tickets bought with AA miles
For Aeroplan you need to update your YQ scam charges chart: Flights on US,UA,TK,CA, don’t have any YQ on rewards. MS,OS,LX,SN,SQ,LO may or may not have YQ or minimal YQ. Everybody else has them.
SQ Singapore airlines charges fuel surchages on all award tickets….very expensive.