FF point flight redemption, huge credit card fee

[Hvr]

Have just booked a trip to PVG in June using my FF points for a Classic award. Have flights MEL-HKG-PVG in Y (day flight) and then return in J (night flight).

Fees were about $230 made up of fare $10, fees and charges $92 and then credit card fee $131.

What the heck? The CC fee is the most expensive part of the redemption. Why is it so?

 

[serfty]

AFAIK, there is no CC fee on classic award bookings as you can only pay the

by credit/charge card.

ITA shows the following

for a similar routing:

AUD  25.00: 	QF YR surcharge 	
AUD   3.00: 	Australian Safety & Security Surcharge 	
AUD  47.00: 	Australian Passenger Movement Charge 	
AUD  15.98: 	Australian Domestic Passenger Service Charge 	
AUD 110.00: 	QF YQ surcharge 	
AUD  50.00: 	Australian Int'l Passenger Service Charge 	
CNY  90: 	People's Republic of China Airport Fee

 

[NM]

Are you sure its a credit card fee? How is it identified on the e-ticket?

 

[Hvr]

The e-ticket shows the following:

Ticket Charges Charges* GST* Total*
Fare 10.00
Fees/Taxes/Charges 92.51
Credit Card Service Fee 131.20
Total Amount Payable* 233.71

All flights are on CX booked through QF Classic Awards.
MEL-HKG-PVG Y
PVG-HKG-MEL J

I did want to go on QF but they didn't have any award flights for the dates and classes I was seeking.

 

[markis10]

CX Fuel Surcharge????

Fuel surcharge
All Cathay Pacific tickets issued on / after 01 April 2010 for travel on / after this date will be subjected to new fuel surcharge:

USD48.10 / HKD375 / CAD48.80 / NZD70 (From USD50 / HKD390 / CAD52 / NZD73) for flights between Hong Kong and Southwest Pacific, North America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Indian Subcontinent.
USD10.40 / HKD81 / NZD15 (From USD10.80 / HKD84 / NZD16) for flights not mentioned above, including flights to / from Japan, itineraries originated from Korea as well as flights between New York and Vancouver.
Codeshare flights are also subjected to the respective fuel surcharge beginning 01 December, 2006.

Exceptions are codeshare trains with SNCF.

The surcharge will apply per flight sector, including children and infant fares. For tickets sold in Canada, the surcharge will be collected in Canadian dollars.

 

[Mal]

CX Fuel Surcharge????

That would be my guess too (although it would be charged at Qantas rates, not Cathay rates I believe). YQ on a Qantas MEL-SYD-PVG return is $110, so I would expect something reasonably similar for that journey.

 

[oz_mark]

That would be my guess too (although it would be charged at Qantas rates, not Cathay rates I believe). YQ on a Qantas MEL-SYD-PVG return is $110, so I would expect something reasonably similar for that journey.

...Could be, IIRC Cathay code fuel surcharge under YR

 

[NM]

Fuel surcharges for flight to/from HKG are set by Hong Kong, so should be the same no matter which airline is used (at least that used to be the case - not sure if its changed recently).

Given the $92.51 Fees/Taxes/Charges is not enough to include the YQ fuel surcharges (AU is more than half of that for a start), I expect the $131 has been incorrectly identified as a credit card fee and is in fact the YQ fuel surcharges.

 

[serfty]

Yep, note the 25.00 QF YR surcharge on my ITA post above.

Doing ITA again and selecting CX flights [Economy only] (MEL-HKG-PVG vv) rather than Qantas(MEL-SYD-PVG vv) I get:

AUD   4.68 	Australian Safety & Security Surcharge 	
AUD  47.00 	Australian Passenger Movement Charge 	
AUD  26.64 	Australian Int'l Passenger Service Charge 	
AUD 117.00	CX YR surcharge 	
CNY   90 	People's Republic of China Airport Fee

So a total of around $210 (CNY90 is ~AUD14)

 

[oz_mark]

Fuel surcharges for flight to/from HKG are set by Hong Kong, so should be the same no matter which airline is used (at least that used to be the case - not sure if its changed recently).

Given the $92.51 Fees/Taxes/Charges is not enough to include the YQ fuel surcharges (AU is more than half of that for a start), I expect the $131 has been incorrectly identified as a credit card fee and is in fact the YQ fuel surcharges.

...or in CX case, the YR surcharges

and YR is where QF bury the CCSF.

 

[markis10]

Fuel surcharges for flight to/from HKG are set by Hong Kong, so should be the same no matter which airline is used (at least that used to be the case - not sure if its changed recently).

Given the $92.51 Fees/Taxes/Charges is not enough to include the YQ fuel surcharges (AU is more than half of that for a start), I expect the $131 has been incorrectly identified as a credit card fee and is in fact the YQ fuel surcharges.

The surcharges are set by the government but also do vary by airline a tiny bit, however in this case they are the same for CX and QF

http://www.cad.gov.hk/english/pdf/Fuel_Surcharge-2033.pdf