{"id":241880,"date":"2026-05-22T19:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/british-airways-is-hiking-award-flight-fees-starting-may-27-the-points-guy\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:30:20","slug":"british-airways-is-hiking-award-flight-fees-starting-may-27-the-points-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/british-airways-is-hiking-award-flight-fees-starting-may-27-the-points-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"British Airways is hiking award flight fees starting May 27 &#8211; The Points Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It&#8217;s never good news when an airline sends out a major announcement at the end of the day on a Friday, but that&#8217;s exactly what <span><a href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/loyalty-programs\/ultimate-ba-avios-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">British Airways<\/a><\/span> has just done, emailing customers that it will be raising fees on award tickets as of next Wednesday, May 27.<\/p>\n<p>The airline is already notorious for levying some of the highest surcharges on award tickets, where flights to and from its London Heathrow Airport (LHR) hub can incur hundreds, or even thousands of dollars in fees. And that&#8217;s on top of the <span><a href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/loyalty-programs\/best-uses-of-british-airways-avios\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Avios<\/a><\/span> flyers redeem for tickets.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s about to get worse, though.<\/p>\n<p>British Airways emailed members of its Executive Club the following message.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"jsx-3874346954 tpg-figure\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:0\" class=\"jsx-2453190082 full-width-auto-height-image\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"jsx-3874346954 figcaption\">British Airways emailed customers about changes to award ticket fees. BRITISH AIRWAYS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Though the email did not contain details of the price changes, it did direct readers to <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishairways.com\/content\/the-british-airways-club\/avios\/spending-avios\/reward-flights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this page on the airline&#8217;s website<\/a><\/span>. There, the exact amounts of the new surcharges were laid out as follows (amounts noted in U.S. dollars were added by TPG):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A round trip in Club World from London Heathrow to New York JFK will require 176,000 Avios + 499 British pounds ($671).<\/li>\n<li>A round trip in World Traveller from London Heathrow to Cape Town will require 66,000 Avios + 190 British pounds ($255).<\/li>\n<li>A one-way trip in Club Europe from London Heathrow to Rome will require 22,000 Avios + 20 British pounds ($27).<\/li>\n<li>A one-way trip in Euro Traveller from London Heathrow to Amsterdam will require 10,000 Avios + 2.50 British pounds ($3.40).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The airline noted that those Avios prices reflected off-peak dates.<\/p>\n<p>So just how bad is this? Of course, a $3.40 surcharge on a short flight from London to Amsterdam doesn&#8217;t sound like much. But it does represent a rise from just a single pound each way.<\/p>\n<p>That round-trip flight from London to New York incurring nearly $700 in charges is pretty bad. It constitutes a $134 increase, or 25%, from the base level of taxes and fees we currently see.<\/p>\n<div class=\"EmailSignUp_container__YVxAW tw-border tw-border-gray-2\"><picture class=\"tw-flex tw-items-center tw-justify-center tw-opacity-0\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" srcset=\"\/images\/EmailSignUp\/daily-mob.svg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/images\/EmailSignUp\/daily-dt.svg\"\/><\/picture>\n<div class=\"EmailSignUp_form__xvcP4\">\n<p>Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG\u2019s experts<\/p>\n<form class=\"jsx-881693933 newsletter-form\">\n<div class=\"jsx-881693933 EmailCapture_confirmation__AJ4nI EmailCapture_noCheckbox__2BHzb   &#10;          \">\n<p class=\"tw-text-xs-regular !tw-text-gray-5 hover:!tw-text-gray-5 tw-max-w-lg\">By signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our<!-- --> <a class=\"!tw-text-gray-5 hover:!tw-text-gray-5\" href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/terms-of-use\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Terms of Use<\/a> <!-- -->and acknowledge the data practices in our<!-- --> <a class=\"!tw-text-gray-5 hover:!tw-text-gray-5\" href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/privacy-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>. You may unsubscribe at any time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>That said, taxes and surcharges on these flights can already ring up much higher. Take, for instance, this round-trip off-peak business-class award from London to New York. It costs 176,000 Avios and a whopping $759.90 including taxes and fees.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"jsx-3874346954 tpg-figure\">\n<div style=\"padding-top:0\" class=\"jsx-2453190082 full-width-auto-height-image\"><img alt=\"British Airways business class award ticket taxes and fees. \" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1059\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;height:auto;width:100%\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 756px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=640 640w, https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=750 750w, https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=828 828w, https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=1080 1080w, https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=1920 1920w, https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=2048 2048w, https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=3840 3840w\" src=\"https:\/\/runway-media-production.global.ssl.fastly.net\/us\/originals\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-22-at-10.26.08%E2%80%AFAM.png?width=3840\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"jsx-3874346954 figcaption\">Taxes and fees on British Airways award tickets are already much higher. BRITISH AIRWAYS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So in reality, passengers are already paying much higher taxes and fees on British Airways award tickets in some cases.<\/p>\n<p>Also keep in mind that this comes after British Airways <span><a href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/news\/british-airways-2025-avios-devaluation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">already raised the cost<\/a><\/span> in Avios and surcharges of reward flights in December.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"jsx-2362441780\">Higher fees may be here to stay<\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately, British Airways is far from alone in hiking fees on award tickets, a <span><a href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/news\/fuel-surcharges-higher-fares-what-to-do\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trend that has only accelerated<\/a><\/span> with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Among the other carriers that have been pinching passengers, Air France\/KLM raised its fuel surcharges to 50 euros (about $57) for round-trip flights, including both paid and award tickets.<\/p>\n<p>Another SkyTeam carrier, Scandinavian Airlines, has also said it has increased fuel-related surcharges, and in March, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific raised add-on fees to $200 from $149.<\/p>\n<p>Both Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, are also now charging extra on flights between the continental U.S. and Japan; just shy of $170.<\/p>\n<p>In short, passengers are going to be squeezed more and more as fuel prices continue to rise.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"jsx-2362441780\">Bottom line<\/h2>\n<p>British Airways is raising its already high surcharges on award tickets. That&#8217;s bad news, but considering how much the airline already levies on these tickets, some passengers might not notice it much. If you have an upcoming award ticket you need to book, though, do so before these changes go into effect on May 27.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, you might want to check paid fares against the cost of award tickets using Avios since those taxes and fees might mean paying cash is the better option for you. After all, if a round-trip coach ticket is $600 but the fees on an award ticket are $400, you might be better off saving your Avios for other redemptions and just eating the extra $200 in taxes and fees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/thepointsguy.com\/news\/british-airways-award-ticket-fee-hike\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s never good news when an airline sends out a major announcement at the end of the day on a Friday, but that&#8217;s exactly what British Airways has just done, emailing customers that it will be raising fees on award tickets as of next Wednesday, May 27. The airline is already notorious for levying some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":241881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-241880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-travel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}