British Airways starts to cut long-haul fuel surcharges on Avios redemptions

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Yes, it’s true. But only by a bit. It’s a start, though.

I reported two weeks ago about how British Airways has scrapped ALL fuel surcharges on short-haul redemptions. This means that some European redemptions are now cheaper booked as 2 x one-way flights rather a return, due to the way that Reward Flight Saver taxes are calculated. (See this article for a fuller explanation.)

British Airways BA A380 flying

British Airways has now made a modest move on long-haul fuel surcharges, or ‘carrier imposed surcharges’ as they now like to call them following a lawsuit in the US.

On Monday night, the fuel surcharge on a long-haul economy flight was cut from £229 to £209. It had already been reduced by £10 in December but no-one noticed! It was £239 before Christmas.

The fuel surcharge on a long-haul premium class flight was reduced from £359 to £329.

Whilst these savings bear no relation to the 50% fall in the oil price in recent weeks, they still represent a £120 saving for a family of four.

I took a look at a one-way First Class redemption I have booked to Toronto in August. The taxes and charges overall are £17.90 lower than when I booked.

Both Emirates and Qatar Airways have also made announcement recently about cutting their surcharges although no hard numbers have appeared yet. A cut by Qatar Airways would be significant as it would directly impact the charges payable on Avios redemptions – if they drop far enough, it may become more cost effective to fly Qatar rather than BA, even if you had a 2-4-1 voucher. I will be keeping an eye on this.

PS. BA has been adding fuel surcharges since 2004, unbelievably. I know that income tax was originally introduced as a ‘temporary’ tax back in 1842 but still …..

PPS. The fuel surcharges on a full BA A380 were £132,011 return using the old numbers

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Anon says:

28 Jan28 January 07:13

ClassAction lawsuit.

Raffles & the HFP massive vs IAG.
- Worzel says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 08:03
  
  You pay your money and take YOUR chance.
Flight Risk says:

28 Jan28 January 07:16

On the subject of Avios redemptions, does anybody know when our clubcard statement will arrive and any new boost offers will be available! Hopefully Avios or Virgin boost!
- mark2 says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 07:31
  
  My ClubCard points have already been auto transferred to BAEC at the normal rate. Another account is in transit to Avios
mark2 says:

28 Jan28 January 07:35

Surely the time to claim a refund is after travel as the amount may go up and down between now and then?
Mr Bridge says:

28 Jan28 January 08:16

Your missing the point , high fuel surcharges = 1 Irish airline at $2.55 per share
pauldb says:

28 Jan28 January 08:36

Big news! A LOT of Club World availability has sprung open overnight.

I’ve just booked SEA in August, there’s even SYD available, MLE, CPT… I’ve seen odd locations have the occasional flush but never like this.
- bookish says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 09:17
  
  Hrm, not seeing anything fro Seattle now, nothing in the summer.
  - pauldb says:
    
    28 Jan28 January 09:57
    
    I can still see about a dozen dates each way. You are using the standard search right? – not the dodgy map.
    
    As noted below, this is down to more fundamental changes on the way.
    - bookish says:
      
      28 Jan28 January 11:22
      
      I was using the dodgy map, but then used the standard search. Oddly when I was looking using the standard search, there was availability to book and upgrade, but half way through looking it ALL disappeared. Not one or two dates in the span of 30 seconds, but everything in May/June/July disappeared.
- david flacks says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 10:42
  
  Just seen the email from Avios on changes from May. 500,000 more avios seats per year including a minimum of 2 on every flight in WT and Club.
  
  Also, peak/off peak pricing as well with clear calendar showing which is which.
Rich says:

28 Jan28 January 08:40

Be aware that Shorthaul flights booked on the Avios website are still not reflecting the removal of YQ.
Rich says:

28 Jan28 January 08:47

A BA flight return to New York booked with Avios on the Avios website is quoting up at
40,000 Avios + £338.06 in Economy for November travel… Is this correct?
- Brendan says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 09:02
  
  Sounds about right.
Marty Mcfly says:

28 Jan28 January 09:14

For the poster above mentioning a lot availability – the reason is detailed here – BIG CHANGES to BAEC – devaluation on premium cabins!!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1650090-executive-club-changes.html
- nick says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 10:04
  
  At first glance, this actually looks like it will be good news for me. I rarely pay for cash fares so any reduction in earnings on BA flights doesn’t really affect me, and nor do the changes to BA status as I’m a lowly Blue. I use Avios for economy flights to Germany and First/biz flights long-haul, normally with 241 vouchers. I find it quite easy to generate avios (a modest amount compared to you lot, but enough for 2 long-haul redemptions a year). Yes, there is an increase in the avios needed, but I’d rather have to collect an extra 20k avios to get a flight I can actually book, rather than the cheaper rate for a flight that is not actually available. OK, australia in business/first at peak times is a big hike, but they could have priced it at 1 avios per leg before and it wouldn’t have mattered as there was never any availability.
  
  TL:DR: as someone who doesn’t spend money with BA, this change looks like it benefits me. Thank god I didn’t invest in trying to obtain silver status.
  - nick says:
    
    28 Jan28 January 10:20
    
    EDIT: the fact that partner airlines are on the peak pricecard is bad news.
- Marty Mcfly says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 09:15
  
  also no more free domestic add-on – which was a big perk personally!! 🙁
  - mark2 says:
    
    28 Jan28 January 11:44
    
    you still get free domestic flight for long haul, but not for Europe.
- Brendan says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 09:41
  
  Oh that’s a real killer. No domestic add on is a complete deal breaker for us in Northern Ireland.
- Andrew S says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 09:46
  
  Not the news i was expecting this morning… Hopefully Raffles will be writing an article on this shortly. At least there is a decent amount of notice.
- stuart says:
  
  28 Jan28 January 09:47
  
  since the BAEC changes are in the future, the answer to the OP is it always happens after the end of a sale, last one finished last night.