Bypass Fake “Free” Awards & Guarantee Your Hard-Earned Free Award Ticket
You may remember a speech delivered by actor Peter Finch in the 1976 film Network:
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
Fast forward 44 years and I’m still hearing that sentiment from travelers when they discover the award taxes they have to pay with some airlines.
They just won’t get an Oscar for expressing their frustration like Finch did…
Mad As HeCK
You may have experienced this frustration. You go to use your hard earned miles or points for a trip across the pond for what is ostensibly a free award trip. OK, you bought stuff to get those miles and/or flew a lot, but now the miles are yours to use.
And then a maddening thing happens: The airline hits you with an award “tax.” Sure, their marketing departments have come up with creative names, like “fuel surcharge.” “levy,” “carrier-imposed surcharge,” and so on. But at the end of the day, it’s really just a big fat tax that’s robbing you of all the awesome savings you thought you just got.
Consider SWISS or Lufthansa: Those two airlines can charge as much as $1,400 or more in taxes for a Business Class flight to Europe. They call them “fuel surcharges.” So much for a “free” award seat. While U.S. airlines typically don’t hit you with taxes that high, (generally, they’re around $100 to $300) they charge more miles AND they don’t have as much award space.
So you end up stuck between a wheel and a tarmac. You can either pay more taxes and fewer miles, OR, pay more miles and fewer taxes.
Don’t Take It Anymore
So what’s the play here to get around this highway robbery and beat these fake “free” airline rewards?
It’s time to get strategic.
Today we’re going to concentrate on Star Alliance airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS, and show you ways to avoid these taxes by using little-known partner loopholes and tax discrepancies.
The idea is to use Amex points to fly Lufthansa or SWISS, but avoid having to pay 1) high mileage award taxes and/or 2) high mileage amounts. Start by using FCF’s Sweet Redeem alerts that show what routes have award space.
So, the trick is to find an airline mileage program:
- For which you can easily transfer points to miles from Amex, and
- That charges low taxes for partner flights, and
- That charges about the same number of miles as partners, and
- That actually has mileage award space to Europe on partner flights
Let’s take a closer look.
Let Your Free Flag Fly–Ways to Avoid SWISS and Lufthansa’s High Taxes
Use Air Canada miles for SWISS flights
One play is to transfer your Amex points to Air Canada. The miles are about the same (110,000 using Air Canada miles vs. 112,000 using SWISS miles) but the taxes are lower. Air Canada charges ~$58 vs. SWISS’s ~$1,400. Air Canada also does not charge high taxes for other partner airlines like Brussels Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines.
Use LifeMiles/Avianca for Lufthansa flights
Another play is to transfer your Amex points to LifeMiles. You can circumvent Lufthansa’s high taxes with Colombian airline Avianca (go figure) and their program LifeMiles. It will cost you a few more miles than Lufthansa charges (126,000 vs. 112,000), but the taxes are way lower: ~$115 vs. ~$1,400. LifeMiles/Avianca doesn’t charge high taxes for any partner airline to Europe including SWISS, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines, and Scandinavian Airlines.
How to Book
Aeroplan (Air Canada)
Aeroplan has a fast tool to search award availability but requires logging in. Head to “Use your Miles” and “Travel” to access the award search tool. Although some airlines allow you to hold bookings, Air Canada will not hold award reservations online. But if you call (800-361-5373), the representative will stay on the line while you transfer points (either online or by phone) to your account from Amex. For more details go here.
LifeMiles (Avianca)
This also requires logging in before searching for award space. You then click on “Fly.” Then you can search by all airlines “Smart Search,” or by “Star Alliance,” or by a certain airline, for example, “Lufthansa.” Put in your data and hit enter.
Admittedly, high award taxes are a complicated beast if you want to travel to Europe, but they can be avoided if you book with the right airline.