Advice on avoiding fuel surcharges on European *A partners

[paultiffen]

Hi,

I'm looking to travel from NCE in France to SPU in Croatia on Friday 13th September. There are flights available through Lufthansa/Croatian Airlines however these come in at ~650 via Frankfurt. I rang up Singapore to use some miles there for a partner award and the taxes came up to $200! Is this specific to Lufthansa or do some airlines not charge a fuel surcharge for redemption in *A?

Any advice on getting around it? Do other partners not include it for award redemptions for example (thinking US based). The ticket includes a YQ of 86 EUR which kills the value of my points when comparing to paid options of around $250 (that are less convenient).

[TABLE="class: dijitReset fareDetails, width: 450"]
[TR]
[TD]Fare 1: Carrier LH VNC04M0D NCE to FRA (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code V
Covers NCE-FRA (Economy)
[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€162.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Fare 2: Carrier LH QNC04N0D FRA to SPU (rules)
Passenger type ADT, round trip fare, booking code Q
Covers FRA-SPU (Economy)
[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€212.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]German Passenger Service Charge (RA)[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€19.88[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD](YQ)[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€86.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]French Aviation Civile Tax (FR)[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€4.31[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]French International Passenger Service Charge (QX)[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€8.21[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]French Airport Tax (FR)[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€9.14[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]French Air Passenger Solidarity Tax (IZ)[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€4.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: fareSubTotalRule"] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Subtotal per passenger[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€505.54[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Number of passengers[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]x1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD="class: fareTotalRule"] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: fareTotal"]
[TD="class: totalLabel"]TOTAL AIRFARE & TAXES[/TD]
[TD="class: farePrice, align: right"]€505.54[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

• This ticket is non-refundable.
• Changes to this ticket will incur a penalty fee.

 

[casanovawa]

The American based airlines usually don't charge fuel surcharges, so USDM (*A)and AA (OW)... Lifemiles also doesn't...

 

[paultiffen]

Ah great tip. Thanks! I was like oh yeah Lifemiles (I'd bought them to get my gf back cheap from Montreal one way).

I can't get LM engine to find all the flights that have availability so guess I will need to call them. Can you book a flight say NCE->FRA on the 13th in the afternoon and then FRA->SPU in the morning? ie Does the 24 hour stopover rule apply or is it different?

 

[casanovawa]

I imagine it could be treated as a transit, but you would probably have to call them up and ask about it if the website won't offer it...

Haven't used the program yet, so not sure how flexible they are...