Oh boy… here we go again.
Today, Lucky at One Mile at a Time discovered new fuel surcharges that are being priced into Emirates award tickets.
For some background, the best way to book Emirates used to be partners like Alaska. Then the partner award rates for premium cabins became astronomical, but Emirates removed most of their own fuel surcharges, making it actually easy to say that the best way to book Emirates premium cabins was Emirates own miles, which are easy to transfer from major points currencies.
Today, that changes again, with new fuel surcharges on routes to/from/via DBX incurring hundreds in new fuel surcharges. On a route like JFK-DXB-MLW one way, expect to pay $561 in fees one way, up from less than $200. 
On a round trip, you’ll pay over a grand in fees now…
Luckily the fifth freedom routes (EWR-ATH and JFK-MXP) are spared for now…
Notably, should you fly FROM the Maldives (or other airports) to the US (i.e. you start your journey there), the fees drop way down to just $599 RT. Of course, that probably doesn’t help most of us much.
What isn’t making a ton of sense to me, though, is that two one ways come out to $924 in fees, whereas it’s giving me $1,249 for a round trip (and the same miles!)
Booking as a round trip adds almost $300 in fees.
It may be that if you found the saver fare class for a RT this would work in your favor but fair warning that you should check two one ways vs one RT if booking.
Bottom Line
This pretty much stinks. I hope it’s an actual response to real rising fuel costs (which are near $100 a barrel now) and will come down later. But for now, it’s something you need to be aware of.
If you are considering the 5th Freedom Routes to Milan or Athens, book now as I have a feeling those will rise shortly.
HT: OMAAT
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