I had a feeling it was too good to be true…
Earlier this week I wrote about Flying Blue no longer collecting fuel surcharges on Air Europa flights. Well, the fuel surcharges are back. Suddenly, taxes/fees that were $100 round-trip are now pushing $1,000.
We’ve gone from this–
To this–
That stings. It also confirms that the lack of fuel surcharges earlier in the week was almost certainly a glitch. This was not apparent at the time, especially because we’ve seen other airlines like Singapore Airlines recently eliminate fuel surcharges on many award tickets.
Air Europa offers a nice soft product and comfortable business class seat on the 787 and select A330s. It appears most of the A330s operating on the New York JFK to Madrid route still feature the old “angled lie-flat” seats.
New Flying Blue Award Pricing
Just a teaser post for Monday, but new pricing is now in effect at Flying Blue and it is not horrible. Prices are up in almost all cases, but not necessarily by very much. As you can see above, the Air Europa space has only ticked up slightly. Prices vary by date, but 63K-64K one-way for peak summer travel in business class between North America and Europe is not very different than the old price of 62.5K each way.
CONCLUSION
I hope some of you were able to get award space booked prior to this price change.
Could you recap the current status of surcharges being imposed by AF for their own flights and when using their miles for each FB partner?
Thanks very much,
Well there’s one good fact about the recent Flying Blue changes that I’ve personally noticed… In that Delta operated flights (Ex-USA) have had their taxes and fees bill halved since the new program kicked in.
Last time I looked Iberia had fuel surcharge of $5.90 for this sector. I’m not a fan of Iberia but certainly won’t to contemplating Air Europa.
I have to disagree with your suggestion that things re FB Promo Awards aren’t too bad; from my perspective they’re pretty awful ( and the numbers don’t make any sense, eg, Premium Economy being more expENsive than Business).
Many FB members tolerated the shortcomings/eccentricities of the program because Promos were often pretty good value….maybe it’s too soon to suggest gloom and doom on the basis of just 1 month, but the signs are bad ; also, the dynamic pricing of regular awards is confusing and expensive. They are not going to maintain much loyalty if these signs become permanent.
2 other comments to add:
1. Flying Blue has made business class redemptions on KLM much more available at lower prices.
2. There is a big issue transferring Chase UR to Flying Blue and I don’t know when it will be fixed. I’ve read on Flyertalk of delays of at least 10 days and counting. I transferred a small amount (16,000) on Friday at noon and I’ve got nothing showing in my account still.
A bit late, but I note that Air Europa has gone back to $30 surcharges through Flying Blue on an award I am looking at for JFK – Madrid. Great timing, but I dont know whether it is the angled or flat bed seat. Any way to find out?
Thanks for the valuable datapoint!