What happens when in-transit at LAX?

[Kiwi Flyer]

I haven't looked up the figures but I thought that SYD, NRT and LHR are all high tax places to have stopovers.

 

[NM]

I haven't looked up the figures but I thought that SYD, NRT and LHR are all high tax places to have stopovers.

LHR will cost them GBP20 that I do not include. NRT I am not sure of. SYD is the start and end, so the only extras the OP will have over my use of MEL is the noise tax. But I am going through MEL three times on my trip, so that adds up, including my 4 x domestic fuel fines.

I have stopovers (from departure and airport tax perspectives) in MEL (x3), FRA, DFW, MIA, HKG (x2) and KUL. So I would still expect them to be similar if not more than the OP's routing. But its the Fuel Fines that should make a significant difference between our two trips. 4 sectors vs 13 sectors is a big difference. No fuel fines on my 2 AA north american sectors, but they do exist on the other 11 sectors. So I should have 7 more fuel fines, at a minimum of $30, which should make my extras at least $200 more than lautray's extras per person. That would imply to me that lautray's extras should be closer to $850 total for two people, and not $1250.

Even at QF's enormous international fuel fine of $104, four sectors is going to cost $416 per person. But that is all I have been charged for my entire 11 sectors of fuel fines. And yes, my ticket is issued by QF on 081 ticket number, and was issued after the last round of fuel fine rises.

So either mine is low (now that would be nice) or lautray's is high. It woudl be nice to see the breakdown of the $1250 to know which is the case.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

A couple of RTWs ago I asked for breakdown and got a big listing. Turns out TA missed one off and it was picked up at check in for the relevant leg Lucky I had enough cash on me.

 

[NM]

A couple of RTWs ago I asked for breakdown and got a big listing. Turns out TA missed one off and it was picked up at check in for the relevant leg Lucky I had enough cash on me.

I have verified all the non-airline fees (ie Government and Airport) and am very satisfied all have been included and paid. The ones that I am not able to directly correlate are YQ and YR airline-specific surcharges (fuel fines and insurance charges).

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Maybe I've been looking at the fuel surcharges all wrong. It's really a result of an unholy alliance between the airlines and gummint to prop up employment figures - all the extra bean counters needed to add things up, pr people to tell us it really is a tax and no fuel isnt hedged, etc.

 

[lautray]

Yep, the $1250 taxes were for two persons. The trip wasn't booked as a RTW ticket, but individual flights. Booked on Wednesday night on the Qantas FF website, received the paper tickets in the mail Friday. Very surprised with the speediness of the system.

For those interested, the exact trip is:

Sydney: QF502 to Brisbane (Change a/c; 1h55 transit)
Brisbane QF369 to Narita, Tokyo (Operated by JAL)
Narita BA8 to Heathrow (Operated by BA)
Heathrow BA283 to LAX (Operated by BA)
LAX AA169 to Narita (Operated by American Airlines; Change a/c; 4h20 transit)
Narita QF22 Sydney (Qantas metal).

Hope this helps with working out taxes.

SY-LHR return is 128,000 FF points, so to be able to go the extra for 140,000, to me is a bargain.

 

[holdenvxman]

Im going BNE to SFo via LAX , what happens at LAX in this situation?

 

[NM]

Im going BNE to SFo via LAX , what happens at LAX in this situation?

When you arrive at LAX, you will need to go through passport control/immigration and have your finger prints and photo recorded and passport stamped. Then collect you luggage and exit through customs. When you leave through the customs processing exit, look for signs for connecting passengers baggage re-check. Your bags should be tagged to SFO via LAX when you check-in oin BNE, so just leave your bags for re-screening and they will be sent to your connecting flight.

Assuming your LAX-SFO flight is with AA, you may have to go to the AA checkin desks to collect your boarding pass if you were not provided one when you checked in at BNE. You need to go to Terminal 4 for the AA flight. Depending on how the handle the QF175 inbound flight (sometimes they channel all QF passengers through the tunnel to Terminal 4 for immigration and customs, other times its done in Tom Bradly International terminal), you will either already be in terminal 4, or you need to exit TBI and turn right and walk about 250 meters to terminal 4. Then through security to the departure gate.

 

[holdenvxman]

If i dont get a boarding pass at BNE can you get them from the Club lounge in LAX

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

If you dont get the BP for AA flight in BNE then you'll need to get it landside at LAX - you wont be allowed through security without it, and yes the AC/FL is airside at LAX.

 

[lautray]

It would be nice to see the breakdown of the $1250 to know which is the case.

From ticket:
$412.18 YQ
$3.40 QK
$209.57 XT

=$625.15 x2 persons = $1250.30.

What are the YQ, QK & XT?

 

[NM]

From ticket:
$412.18 YQ
$3.40 QK
$209.57 XT

=$625.15 x2 persons = $1250.30.

What are the YQ, QK & XT?

YQ is the Qantas Fuel and Insurance surcharges

QK is the Noise Levy Tax, being $3.40 for each arrival into SYD or ADL.

XT is "Combines Taxes" and includes government and airport taxes - these are the real taxes and not the fake ones added by the airlines to try to confuse us into blaming the government for the higher fares.

The XT is often broken down further on the ticket receipt with a long line of codes and numbers.

 

[lautray]

YQ is the Qantas Fuel and Insurance surcharges

QK is the Noise Levy Tax, being $3.40 for each arrival into SYD or ADL.

XT is "Combines Taxes" and includes government and airport taxes - these are the real taxes and not the fake ones added by the airlines to try to confuse us into blaming the government for the higher fares.

The XT is often broken down further on the ticket receipt with a long line of codes and numbers.

I think you are after this:

ROE1.356494XT4.50QR31.18WY38.00AU3.09WG24.60SW50.00GB32.50UB6.60YC6.60XA9.20XY3.30AY.

Can you make heads or tails of this, NM? Which tax is what?

 

[NM]

I think you are after this:

ROE1.356494XT4.50QR31.18WY38.00AU3.09WG24.60SW50.00GB32.50UB6.60YC6.60XA9.20XY3.30AY.

Can you make heads or tails of this, NM? Which tax is what?

Thats the one:

ROE is the Rate of Exchange that is used to move betwene currencies. All airline calculations are performed in NUC (Neutral Unit of Construction) value, which is basically a US$. IATA publish ROE values used by the fare clearing house for currency conversions. So the ROE used for A$ conversion on your fare and taxes is 1.356494.

XT then starts the combined taxes component of the construction.

4.50QR is $4.50 the total for Passenger Serivces Charge - Domestic. This varies between airports used. For example, MEL is $3.39 per departure.

31.18WY is $31.18 the total for Passenger Services Charge - International. Again this varies between airports and is usually based on a round-trip amount. For MEL this is $21.64.

38.00AU is $38 for Passenger Movement Charge, otherwise known Departure Tax from Australia.

3.09WG is $3.09 for Safety and Security Charge and varies by airport used.

24.6SW is the Japan International Passenger Service Facility Charge

50.00GB is the UK Air Passneger Duty. This should be GBP20 for a departure outside the EU for a passenger in economy class. This is effectively the government departure tax for UK.

32.50UB is the UK Passenger Service Charge. This is the airports usage fee.

6.60YC is $6.60 for US Customs User Fee, converted from US$5.50. This A$6.60 is a fixed amount for A$ and not using ROE for conversion.

6.60XA is $6.60 for US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serivce Fee. Again this is a fixed A$ amount converted from US$4.95. Strange that in this case US$4.95 converts to the same amount as US$5.50 does in the case of YC!

9.20XY is $9.20 for the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service Fee. US$7.00.

3.30AY is the US Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee and is calculated as US$2.50 per sector flown with a maximim of US$10 per ticket.

The XT calculation appears complete and correct to me. I have not looked at the YQ calculation yet.

 

[lautray]

Thanks NM. So I didn't get ripped off (too much)? Will we have to pay anything else at any of the airports or is this all inclusive, regarding any other taxes/charges etc?

 

[NM]

Thanks NM. So I didn't get ripped off (too much)? Will we have to pay anything else at any of the airports or is this all inclusive, regarding any other taxes/charges etc?

Time to look at the YQ fuel surcharge and see how that was calculated:

SYD-BNE = QF Domestic = A$37.60
BNE-NRT = QF International = A$104.00
NRT-LHR = BA Long Haul = US$58 (A$78.68)
LHR-LAX = BA Long Haul = US$58 (A$78.68)
LAX-NRT = not sure on this one - can't find it published
NRT-SYD = QF International = A$104.00

So excluding the LAX-NRT, I make that A$402.95, so your YQ figure of $412.18 does not include much for the LAX-NRT sector. So it does not appear you are being overcharged.