Canadian Travel Hacking

Tag: fuel surcharges

  • Complete list of Aeroplan carriers with small or no fuel surcharges

    One of the main complaints I hear about redeeming miles in Canada is that many airlines charge enormous fuel surcharges that don’t make it worth it to redeem miles. Here is a list of carriers that do and do not collect fuel surcharge with Aeroplan.

     

    Aeroplan fuel surcharges (YQ) collected on the following airlines:

    Air Canada (AC)
    Lufthansa (LH)
    All Nippon Airways (NH)
    Asiana (OZ)
    Thai (TG)
    Austrian Airlines (OS)
    LOT Polish Airlines (LO)
    TAP Portugal (TP)
    Adria Airways (JP)

    Aeroplan fuel surcharges (YQ) NOT charged on these airlines:

    Aegean Airlines (A3)
    Air China (CA)
    Air India (AI)
    Air New Zealand (NZ)
    Avianca/TACA (AV)
    Brussels (SN)
    Copa (CM)
    Croatia (OU)
    Egypt Air (MS)
    Ethiopian (ET)
    Eva Air (BR)
    SAS (SK)
    Shenzhen (ZH)
    Singapore (SQ)
    South African Airways (SA)
    Swiss (LX)
    Turkish (TK)
    United (UA)

    All fuel surcharge amounts are applied by Aeroplan on behalf of the ticketing carrier and are passed through directly to the ticketing carrier. Fuel surcharge amounts are determined by each airline and may change from time to time. Aeroplan has applied fuel surcharges for flight rewards on Air Canada since 2004. The fuel surcharge amounts to be applied by Aeroplan for flights on Star Alliance airlines will be the same as those applied by the individual airlines within their own frequent flyer programs.

    Fuel surcharges applied to flight rewards on the following Star Alliance airlines became effective on January 25th, 2012: Adria Airways and TAP Portugal.

    These are in addition to fuel surcharges applied to flight rewards on Lufthansa that became effective on November 9th, 2011 as well as: ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines and THAI that came into effect on November 30th, 2011.

    Members making voluntary changes after the applicable effective date to existing bookings with these airlines will also be subject to the fuel surcharges.

  • Booking Aeroplan Awards to Europe Without Fuel Surcharges

    Europe is the ultimate destination for many Canadians with their Aeroplan miles.

    When you first try to put in a flight using Aeroplan, you may get a scare like this on a flight to London England to Heathrow!

    It comes back with a fee of a whopping $670 dollars for a return flight – plus the Aeroplan miles!

    Aeroplan - Toronto to London
    Aeroplan – Toronto to London

    This is madness – who would book a ticket when you can just go to Priceline or Air Canada and get the same price without using the miles?

    The problem is that certain Star Alliance carriers like Air Canada charge brutal fuel surcharges (the $414 in the image above).

    I have some hacks and solutions to get you to Europe for cheap and save some money!

    Here are three reasons why Aeroplan is one of the best programs to use to fly to Europe:

    • One way awards book at half the price of a roundtrip ticket. So you can fly using another carrier if you don’t have enough miles.
    • You are allowed two stopovers or one stopover and one open jaw on roundtrip awards.
    • American Express Membership Rewards transfer instantly to Aeroplan (currently a bonus of 25,000 for signup).

    Here are some examples of Aeroplan partners that fly to Europe with no fuel surcharges:

    Lot.

    They fly to Warsaw direct from Toronto, and here is a great way to get to Europe for cheap.

    You can also look for the United flight from LOT to Warsaw from Chicago.

    toronto-warsaw-lot
    Toronto to Warsaw

    As you can see the fee is only $250!

    Swiss Air / Turkish Airlines / United:

    Here is an example of another cheap ticket – all these airlines do not charge fuel surcharges. Just $138 return for a business class ticket!

    Swiss Air / Turkish / United
    Swiss Air / Turkish / United

    Here are some destinations with Swiss Air (you can only fly Montreal to Zurich directly), Boston, Chicago, LA, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco to Zurich.

    You will have to find an Air Canada or United flight to these cities to get a great deal to get to Zurich.

    Turkish Airlines flies from Chicago, Houston, LA, Montreal, Toronto, New York and Washington to Istanbul.

    United flies so many places in Europe (none from Canada), here are just a few examples from Newark: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lisbon, Manchester, Rome, Stockholm, and Zurich (lots to choose from)

    Scandanavian Airlines:

    This works out well for you going to Oslo or Stockholm or Copenhagan. Just $152 return!

    scandanivia
    Here are some airports that this airline flies into (none in Canada – have to go through the US):

    • Chicago to Copenhagen or Stockholm
    • Newark New York to Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm
    • San Francisco to Copenhagen
    • Washington DC to Copenhagen

    Remember we are all in this together, feel free to post any other good city pairings to search for.

    I tried to give some concrete examples where Aeroplan was still a great deal to get to Europe.

    Enjoy!