HKG fuel surcharges are back (Bye bye cheap redemptions)

[rock86]

As of 1 November, all airlines will have full control of the fuel surcharges they set ex-HKG.

Bye bye to the cheap redemptions ex-HKG (and just before I can book my 2019 end of year trip ).

Hong Kong airfares tipped to rise as airlines regain control over fuel surcharges

 

[Gold Member]

Boooooooooooooo!

Now how much does everyone think Qantas will screw us with award redemptions carrier fees? I’m betting over $300 AUD each way, just because they can. Here’s hoping Virgin don’t get their heavy clubs out too.

 

[kamchatsky]

Boooooooooooooo!

Now how much does everyone think Qantas will screw us with award redemptions carrier fees? I’m betting over $300 AUD each way, just because they can. Here’s hoping Virgin don’t get their heavy clubs out too.

Virgin hasn't done it on their USA routes so I don't think they would charge surcharges on HKG route either. This is just Qantas rip-off.

 

[JohnK]

Fuel surcharges have been a nice little money spinner for Qantas. Not enough fuss in the media.

 

[rock86]

Fuel surcharges have been a nice little money spinner for Qantas. Not enough fuss in the media.

HKG was the reason I kept getting QFF credit cards, you could get the awards at reasonable surcharges. Now that is gone, I'm going to reassess whether the high surcharges are still worth the very easy ability to accrue QFF points.

 

[JohnK]

Another 25% off economy award sale for 5 days. Not as good as the 50% off earlier this year but still a decent discount.

 

[Mattg]

I've been reading that the Philippines has also removed its ban on fuel surcharges. I wonder what this means for award tickets ex MNL?

Cost of flights to rise as fuel surcharges reintroduced in the Philippines

 

[SOPOOR]

Oh no.
Was considering my first Emirates flight out of hk to reduce costs.

I'm. Devatsted

These constant negative changes for point redemptions whether it be taxes, surcharges, devaluing or more for less is very bad for the heart

 

[RoMambai]

This is a major blow. Flying EK via HKG had saved me a small fortune over the last couple of years. Very sad indeed.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I was pricing CX award flights (using QF points) one way in J ex the USA to HKG recently and taxes were around USD88.00 per person. We ended up doing LAX AA x/HKG QF BNE for 128K points and AUD76.00 in taxes.

I don't consider these prices excessive as far as co-payments go for awards and as these tickets were not even issued in HKG they were not relying on nil YQ fuel surcharges to keep the co-payment low.

It's always good to have points in more than one frequent program, or the abiltity to, with credit cards such as the Amex Plat charge card so you can warehouse the points then transfer as required to their 10 airline partners.

You then have more options should one of the programs get 'enhanced.'

 

[rock86]

I was pricing CX award flights (using QF points) one way in J ex the USA to HKG recently and taxes were around USD88.00 per person. We ended up doing LAX AA x/HKG QF BNE for 128K points and AUD76.00 in taxes.

I don't consider these prices excessive as far as co-payments go for awards and as these tickets were not even issued in HKG they were not relying on nil YQ fuel surcharges to keep the co-payment low.

It's always good to have points in more than one frequent program, or the abiltity to, with credit cards such as the Amex Plat charge card so you can warehouse the points then transfer as required to their 10 airline partners.

You then have more options should one of the programs get 'enhanced.'

Madrooster could confirm this, but I would have thought the QF sector of your flight still would have been issued with Nil YQ as it originates from HKG. Also AA do not charge YQ, so that co-payment would have still been reduced by the HKG YQ regulations I would have thought.

Also, the Civil Aviation Department still regulated YQ for travel to HKG, per this CX page Fuel surcharge updates

 

[eastwest101]

Its really a question of whether the market in HKG is really competitive enough to inhibit the effects of high fuel surcharges.

Anyone can roll out airfares with the base fare of -$1 and a YQ fuel surcharge of +$1500 but it might start to look pretty stupid, and have some unintended effects on how prices appear in 3rd part web booking sites wouldn't it?

For Australian based airlines, does this mean that they have to display the fuel surcharge just on the .HK web site or all iterations of their web sites?

CX's position on this seems relatively neutral:

Cathay Pacific said it would study the CAD’s decision. “Letting passengers know exactly what they are paying for is always good for the consumer,” it said.

I would have thought they would have a stronger opinion about the change to the laws than that.


Could explain the renewed "loving relationship" and codeshare partnership love between the two formerly strained OneWorld partners of QF and CX!

 

[madrooster]

Madrooster could confirm this, but I would have thought the QF sector of your flight still would have been issued with Nil YQ as it originates from HKG. Also AA do not charge YQ, so that co-payment would have still been reduced by the HKG YQ regulations I would have thought.

AA do charge YQ on awards actually but only on certain routes (eg. US to HKG) and only when ticketed by a carrier other than AA.

HKG-AU has no fuel fines however.

 

[JohnK]

Madrooster could confirm this, but I would have thought the QF sector of your flight still would have been issued with Nil YQ as it originates from HKG. Also AA do not charge YQ, so that co-payment would have still been reduced by the HKG YQ regulations I would have thought.

From memory we had this discussion recently but I'm sure Qantas was still charging high surcharges for QF award flights ex-HKG back to Australia. I need to check award I booked back in May.

 

[Limewood]

We recently used QFF points HKG/JFK/KHG in J fees were $192 for two!, not sure next year.

Due to the outrageous award fees by Qantas we normally book plentiful award seats with low fees to USA / Europe ex HKG.

And as said, its a wonder the media have said so little about this fee impost to date.

 

[Hillbilly64]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread - but I obviously missed this as i was planning to use HKG to avoid extra costs.

Is there any way to work out how much QF is going to slug me ??? Was planning on BNE - SIN, SIN - HKG then sepearte flight HKG to SFO ...

 

[Scr77]

If you have the points for 1 seat, just do a dummy booking on the Qantas site.

 

[Hillbilly64]

Thanks muchly

 

[Hillbilly64]

If you have the points for 1 seat, just do a dummy booking on the Qantas site.

So I got this BNE - SIN (so no fuel tax on it???)
TOTAL
$3,056.00AUD
Flight amount breakdown

Adult
Air transportation charges
Base fare$2,935.00

Taxes, fees and charges
Safety and Security Charge
$3.20
Passenger Services Charge - Intl
$27.20
Passenger Movement Charge (PMC)
$60.00

Totals
x1 adult$3,025.40
Total

 

[Scr77]

Are you searching using points and what airline to Singapore? Brisbane to Singapore in J with Emirates comes up as 60,000 points and $333.48 in fees.