If you’ve tried to book an international flight using your rewards miles recently, you might have noticed something strange.
Two round-trip flights on the same route that require the same amount of miles can turn out to have starkly different price tags at checkout, with the gap amounting to hundreds of dollars.
That can be confusing, if not utterly disappointing, for people who have finally racked up enough miles to book a round-trip flight to Europe or Asia.
The difference is due to a fee that many travelers may not understand: the fuel surcharge that some airlines include on international flights, sometimes referring to it as a carrier fee.
Take a search on the American Airlines website for a round-trip flight from New York City to London taking off Oct. 5 and returning a week later. One flight turning up in the search had a total cost of 60,000 miles plus $171 in taxes and fees. But a similar flight that is chartered by American’s partner airline British Airways would cost more than three times as much for the same dates and the same amount of miles: $729.
After clicking through to get a detailed breakdown of the taxes and fees being charged, travelers can see that the difference is due to a carrier fee. The flight chartered by British Airways included $211 in taxes and $518 in “carrier-imposed fees.” The flight through American Airlines charged $171 in taxes and zero carrier-imposed fees.
