Smart Routing: A Guide to Lowering Taxes & Fees on Award Flights ✈️

When you book a flight with miles, the final cash price is made up of taxes, fees, and surcharges. These costs can vary dramatically, turning a “free” flight into a surprisingly expensive one.

This guide will teach you the core strategies for minimizing these costs, focusing on two key areas: where you fly from and which loyalty program you use.

Understanding the Extra Costs

First, let’s break down what you’re actually paying for. The extra charges on an award ticket fall into two main categories:

1. Government & Airport Fees

These are mandatory taxes and fees levied by governments and airport authorities. They are unavoidable, but vary by country.

• Departure Taxes: Many countries charge a tax for departing from their airports. Germany has the Luftverkehrsteuer, while the UK has a notoriously high version called Air Passenger Duty (APD).
• Airport Fees: Airports charge their own fees for security and infrastructure. For example, Delhi’s User Development Fee (UDF) has dropped significantly, making it a much cheaper airport to fly from.

2. Carrier-Imposed Surcharges (YQ/YR)

These are the most significant and variable costs. Often called “fuel surcharges,” these fees are set by the airlines themselves. They don’t always correlate with the actual price of fuel and can be hundreds of euros, especially on long-haul flights with premium airlines like Lufthansa or British Airways.

The key to saving money on award travel is to avoid or minimize these YQ/YR surcharges.

Strategy 1: Smart Routing via Low-Tax Airports

The core idea of smart routing is to ensure the long-haul portion of your flight departs from an airport in a country with low departure taxes. Often, this doesn’t require booking a separate ticket, but simply choosing a flight itinerary with a layover in a cheaper country.

A Real-World Example:

Imagine you want to fly from Berlin to Tokyo. When searching for award flights, you might see several options:

• Route 1 (via Frankfurt): The long-haul flight (Frankfurt to Tokyo) departs from Germany, so you’ll pay the high German departure tax of ~€71.
• Route 2 (via Helsinki): The long-haul flight (Helsinki to Tokyo) departs from Finland. Because Finland’s departure taxes are much lower (around €18), the total taxes and fees for this itinerary will be significantly cheaper.

By simply choosing the flight that transits through Helsinki, you can save over €50 per person without the hassle of booking a separate “positioning flight.”

General Rule: For long-haul flights, it’s often cheaper to fly out of airports in Scandinavia (Helsinki, Copenhagen) or Southern Europe (Spain, Italy) compared to Germany, France, or the UK.

Top Low-Tax Airports in Europe for Positioning Flights

• Tier 1 (Best): Oslo (OSL), Budapest (BUD), Lisbon (LIS), Dublin (DUB) | Typical Surcharges: €50 - €200
• Tier 2 (Average): Madrid (MAD), Stockholm (ARN), Warsaw (WAW), Vienna (VIE) | Typical Surcharges: €200 - €400
• Tier 3 (Avoid): London (LHR), Zurich (ZRH), Paris (CDG), German Airports (FRA/MUC) | Typical Surcharges: €400 - €600+

Strategy 2: Choose the Right Loyalty Program

This is the most powerful strategy for eliminating carrier-imposed surcharges (YQ/YR). Some frequent flyer programs simply do not pass these fees on to their members when booking award tickets on partner airlines. Explain that LifeMiles doesn’t pass on surcharges and miles can often be purchased for 1.1-1.2 cents each, making it cheaper to buy LifeMiles for a flight than to use M&M miles and pay the high fees.

Programs That Don’t (or Rarely) Pass on Surcharges:

• Avianca LifeMiles: Famous for not adding surcharges on most Star Alliance partners. This is an excellent program for booking Lufthansa or SWISS flights without the hefty fees.
• United MileagePlus: Another Star Alliance program that does not add surcharges for award tickets on partner airlines.
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: Generally does not add surcharges when booking on Singapore Airlines itself or on most Star Alliance partners.

Programs Known for HIGH Surcharges:

• Lufthansa Miles & More
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards

By transferring your points (e.g., from American Express) to a program like LifeMiles instead of Miles & More, you can book the exact same flight on the same airline for the same number of miles but pay a fraction of the cash price.