Actually, I do know how BA is positioned as compared to the other airlines. I agree they consider themselves as a premium airline (and for the most part, deliver service that matches their positioning and pricing. That is not what I'm contesting here.
My point is this:
If a passenger searches for a ticket (through $ not miles/points) to fly from point A to point B, across multiple airlines, the quotes show the final out-of-pocket flight costs. So as a consumer, you can easily compare across airlines and based on your preferences (costs vs. brand/service), you pick the airline that best meets your need.
However, in the case of award redemption, the scenario is a little different.
- BA and other airlines, in their redemption charts would show X miles or Y points required to fly from A to B. They may be footnoting that there are additional fees the passenger needs to pay, on top of the miles, taxes, etc. So, for the novice consumer, he/she would assume that if BA charges 25,000 miles and if another airline charges 20,000 miles (just for illustrative purposes), he may choose to go with BA (given his preference for better brand and service with a marginally higher redemption charge). However, when he goes through checkout, he realizes the cost is now 25,000 miles PLUS $500 (fuel surcharge) PLUS taxes/miscellaneous. If we hold taxes/miscellanoeous amounts reasonably similiar across airlines (this is most often the case), there is still an additional $500 charge.
To an experienced flyer, all of this is intuitive. However, to the novice consumer, this is misleading (not illegal - the airline is perfectly justified in doing this).
It's like you go to a store to buy an item. If most stores sell that item for $10, add taxes ($1, mostly consistent across stores), yet there is one store that has a great brand name/service (say for example, you know it is air conditioned, and so offers a better experience) and sells the same item for $11 Plus taxes ($1) Plus Fuel Surcharge ($4 - to account for the A/C usage). All stores advertise the base cost of the item ($10 at most stores, and $11 at the branded store), it would be misleading to then charge $15 at the branded store.
The other piece that is important is the magnitude of the fuel surcharge. At times, you can buy a ticket on BA for $1200 (no miles) vs. if you redeem you pay X miles/points And $300-400 for fuel surcharge. This is again misleading the consumer
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