As flagged by redditors and Thrifty Traveler, Air France / KLM Flying Blue has increased award surcharges by around $60 in economy class and $100 in business class, which means that you might pay nearly $1,000 per person in taxes and fees on a round-trip business-class award to Europe. It is worth mentioning that Virgin Atlantic has not yet increased surcharges on Air France and KLM awards, so in cases where the flight you want is available to Virgin, you can probably score a much better deal.
Surcharges have increased on Flying Blue awards
Given the recent spikes in the price of oil, we’ve already seen cash airfare prices begin tto increase over the last couple of weeks. It comes as no surprise to see airline surcharges increase, but that doesn’t make it sting any less.
Until recently, the taxes and fees on a Flying Blue award flight from the United States to Europe were around $250-$260. Now, as you’ll see in the example at the bottom of this screenshot, taxes & fees on a Flying Blue-issued award ticket are around $350.
As you can see above, the first 3 itineraries are tickets for travel on Air France but are issued by Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Notice that taxes & fees on those Virgin Atlantic-issued award tickets are $296.80 – $315.90. You’ll save a bit by booking through Virgin Atlantic (even before considering a transfer bonus).
Departing Europe is even more painful. France has higher departure taxes, so a one-way award from Paris to Newark now comes with almost $600 in taxes and fees.
Keep in mind that departure taxes vary by country, so you may be able to connect to those same Paris-to-Newark flights and pay less in taxes and fees.
Nonetheless, paying ~$440 or more in taxes & fees on business class awards departing Europe represents a significant increase over the past couple of years.
While we could have predicted increases in surcharges from programs that add them, it is nevertheless disappointing to see the increases.
Programs that don’t levy surcharges gain appeal in the short-term
In a recent conversation with a newcomer to the hobby, I mentioned that miles and points will likely become even more valuable in the near-term as we see volatility in the cash cost of plane tickets. There’s no doubt that programs that do not add carrier-imposed surcharges to award tickets are starting to look more attractive than ever.
To that end, don’t forget that some Air France award tickets can be booked via Capital One and Bilt Rewards transfer partner Japan Airlines, which doesn’t collect surcharges on Air France awards. In fact, flying from New York to Paris in business class can be quite a deal through JAL.
Not only will you pay only $5.60 in taxes & fees departing New York, but you’ll also pay many fewer miles.
That said, JAL doesn’t always have access to the same flights you’ll find via Virgin Atlantic. Nevertheless, it might be worth checking.
Other popular programs that do not levy big carrier-imposed surcharges include American Airlines AAdvantage, United Mileage Plus, Air Canada Aeroplan, and Avianca Lifemiles.
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I have flown KLM 60K to/from Italy several times. Most recently in November and then last month. You do have to be flexible, and I often find it within a week of flying. This increase is very disappointing, I thought they were already high.
A side-note: I find their new business class seats really uncomfortable!
Not impressed, given that the saver level business class seats (60k transatlantic) are more or less impossible to find unless you have Platinum status with FlyingBlue.
I know they aren’t necessarily available all the time, but the screen shot in the post was literally the first ~4-day block I tried and during summer travel dates (first few days of August) and shows 7+ seats available on that non-stop to Paris and 7 and 4 seats in the other direction. I’m not suggesting that it’s available all the time, but I’ve found it relatively easy to find space on Air France so long as I’m flexible enough to check a few airports on either end of the trip.
That said, I certainly don’t like these surcharges!
I flew two people JFK to CDG a couple of weeks ago on 60k Air France redemptions, booking a few weeks out.