BA scraps fuel surcharges on short-haul flights – change your Avios redemption strategy

Just after Christmas, British Airways scrapped fuel surcharges on its short-haul flights.  They didn’t tell anyone and no-one noticed.  Even on Flyertalk, just about no-one noticed.  Including me.  I will explain why in a minute and also explain why this IS actually a big deal.

The first thing to note is that cash tickets are unchanged.  The fuel surcharge – technically known as YQ – has been reduced to £0 on short-haul but the base fare has been increased by the same amount.  Nothing changes if you are buying cash tickets.

Let’s move on to Avios redemptions.  The Reward Flight Saver fee is unchanged.  This remains at £35 return (£17.50 one-way) in Eurotraveller and £50 return (£25 one-way) in Club Europe.

However, if the new taxes and charges are less than the RFS fee, BA will now charge you the lower amount instead.

This is why no-one noticed that the fuel surcharge had gone.  If you book a one-way or a return flight from the UK, your taxes and charges bill will ALWAYS be higher than the Reward Flight Saver fee.  Air Passenger Duty and the shockingly high £30 Heathrow passenger charge sees to that.

There is a clever way to save some money, however.

Going forward, you should consider splitting a European redemption into two separate bookings (unless you are using a BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher).

The outbound flight will be charged at the Reward Flight Saver one-way rate which is £17.50 in Eurotraveller or £25 in Club Europe.  This is substantially lower than the Air Passenger Duty and £30 Heathrow passenger charge, even with no fuel surcharge.

Coming home, your taxes will often be cheaper if you book a one-way.  Here are some examples:

Luxembourg to London – £2 tax in Eurotraveller, £2 tax in Club Europe (saves £15.50 / £23)

Jersey to London (Gatwick) – £7 tax in Eurotraveller, £7 tax in Club Europe (saves £10.50 / £18)

Paris to London – £17.50 tax in Eurotraveller, £25 tax in Club Europe (no change due to high local tax)

Dublin to London – £8 tax in Eurotraveller, £8 tax in Club Europe (saves £9.50 / £17)

Amsterdam to London – £17.50 tax in Eurotraveller, £23 tax in Club Europe (saves £0 / £2)

Madrid to London – £17.50 tax in Eurotraveller, £25 tax in Club Europe (no saving)

Prague to London – £16 tax in Eurotraveller, £16 tax in Club Europe (saves £1.50 / £9)

Budapest to London – £17.50 tax in Eurotraveller, £21 tax in Club Europe (saves £4)

Hamburg to London – £16 tax in Eurotraveller, £16 tax in Club Europe (saves £1.50 / £9)

Taking London to Dublin in Club Europe as an example, your pre-Christmas taxes and charges figure would have been £50.  Even today, if you book a return from London, it will be £50.  However, book a one-way to Dublin and a one-way back to London and your total taxes number is £33.   This saves you £17 per person.

One warning – ‘cancellation risk’ in Club Europe

If your plans are tentative, you might lose out with this strategy.  Remember that BA charges the lower of £35 or the taxes paid if you cancel a flight.

Take the Hamburg example above.  Yes, you save £9 by booking a Club Europe trip as two one-way flights.  If you cancelled, however, you would lose £25 on the outbound booking and £16 on the return, making a total cancellation fee of £41.  Had you booked a Club Europe return flight, the cancellation fee would have been £35 as you are just cancelling one ticket.

There is no ‘cancellation risk’ in Eurotraveller because the most you can lose is £17.50 each way (ie the RFS fee) which is the same as paying £35 to cancel a return ticket.

In general, though, this is good news for British Airways Executive Club members.

It is even better news for anyone who books British Airways short-haul flights using On Business points or miles from another oneworld frequent flyer programme.  These people previously had to pay the full tax and charges amount (no RFS cap) and so they will see the full benefit on the removal of the short-haul fuel surcharge.

Nothing has changed at avios.com

For some reason these changes have not (yet?) filtered through to avios.com.  You will need to move your Avios points from avios.com to British Airways Executive Club via ‘Combine My Avios’ to take advantage of these lower taxes.

And before anyone asks …. 

…. there is no sign yet of any movement on the YQ figure attached to long-haul flights.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)