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Last month, the Hong Kong government ended its regulation of fuel and airline-imposed surcharges. This made it once again possible for airlines to add on their own surcharges to the cost of flights, including award tickets.
A month later, some Qantas partner airlines have indeed increased their carrier charges on award bookings departing from Hong Kong. But it’s not all bad news. As of the time of writing, Qantas has not increased its carrier charges on its own flights out of Hong Kong. Meanwhile British Airways and Finnair continue not to impose any fuel surcharges on award bookings ex Hong Kong.
But other airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Royal Jordanian, have added new carrier charges since November. Cathay Pacific now adds HKD652 (~$116) to the cost of all long-haul award flights out of Hong Kong.
Emirates has matched Cathay Pacific’s surcharge of $116 on award flights from Dubai to Hong Kong. With government taxes added on, the co-payment for a Business class reward on this route is now $180. Thankfully, it’s still much lower than the astronomical $642.50 charged for a one-way award in the opposite direction from Dubai to Hong Kong!
Meanwhile, Virgin Australia never imposed carrier charges on any of its reward flights from Hong Kong to Australia before these changes. But Virgin has announced it will begin adding carrier charges of between $35 and $50 on flights to and from Hong Kong from 1 January 2019.
We compared the carrier charges on a selection of Qantas partner routes and airlines before and after the Hong Kong rule change. Here is how much you’ll pay in carrier charges on awards departing from Hong Kong (prices are quoted in Hong Kong Dollars):
| Airline | Destination | Class of Travel | Before (HKD) | After (HKD) |
| Qantas | Brisbane | Business | $187 | $187 |
| Qantas | Brisbane | Economy | $187 | $187 |
| Cathay Pacific | Sydney | Premium Economy | $0 | $652 |
| Cathay Pacific | Brisbane | Business | $0 | $652 |
| Cathay Pacific | London | Economy | $0 | $652 |
| Cathay Pacific | London | First | $0 | $652 |
| Emirates | Dubai | Business | $0 | $652 |
| Finnair | Helsinki | Economy | $0 | $0 |
| Royal Jordanian | Amman | Business | $45 | $205 |
| British Airways | London | Economy | $0 | $0 |
Read more: Hong Kong Fuel Surcharge Ban Lifted
