Q Surcharge on partner awards through multi-city engine

[sudoer]

Noticed over the weekend that a Q Surcharge appears on some partner award itineraries constructed through multi-city search, but not on the exact same itinerary through the usual one-way/return search found on the QF homepage.

I thought this was worthy of sharing as it seems the multi-city engine is preferred by many on AFF for a variety of reasons, for example it allows dates further into the future, provides easier access to the award calendar, doesn't try to push you into Points Plus Pay, etc. So I guess the best strategy is to use multi-city to find your seats, and if it's showing a Q Surcharge try to use the regular booking engine to construct the same itinerary or call up and see whether phone bookings include the same surcharge.

Here's an example JAL SYD-HND award where the total taxes are almost double due to the additional Q Surcharge.

 

[levelnine]

Another anomaly I found on the weekend is that the multi-city search engine provides classic reward options that the standard one-way/return search does not.

It seems to arise with flights where one leg is in J and the other is in Y. Multi-city allows you to book J+Y while one-way/return search allows Y only.

 

[eminere]

It seems to arise with flights where one leg is in J and the other is in Y. Multi-city allows you to book J+Y while one-way/return search allows Y only.

So the Q Surcharge in this instance is sort of like a convenience fee. How infuriating.

 

[Oubline]

Another example of the confusing and non-sensical way that these various charges are applied!

 

[TheInsider]

So the Q Surcharge in this instance is sort of like a convenience fee. How infuriating.

It's an airline imposed fee. So JAL are imposing it (generally).
Likely it's not getting charged in one screen due to a coding error on some part.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It's an airline imposed fee. So JAL are imposing it (generally).
Likely it's not getting charged in one screen due to a coding error on some part.

I dunno if it is an airline imposed fee? (As opposed to a fee set by the airline.)

Looking at JL awards through Alaska Airlines the fee is not imposed. Through QF it is.

Same with AA... no fuel surcharges on award travel on AA booked through AA or AS, but QF levies the fuel surcharge of AUD200+ for the same flight. Which I think goes straight to QF.

So the airline sets the fee (fuel surcharge) but doesn't necessarily impose it.