FREQUENT FLYER GLOSSARY
What is a fuel surcharge?
A fuel surcharge (also called a carrier-imposed surcharge, often ticketed as YQ/YR) is a carrier fee charged on top of the base fare. Whether award tickets still carry it, who pays, and what the programme calls it must follow each programme's own official terms; this page only quotes sourced sentences and never shows amounts.
Reviewed by: Content review · Last updated:
Key takeaways
- Whether award tickets still carry fuel or carrier-imposed surcharges differs by programme — never assume one rule fits all.
- This page covers 19 programmes from archived originals; 21 field entries are sourced, the rest are marked as lacking an official statement.
- Amounts are never shown: we do not copy specific figures from the originals onto this page.
- A missing statement in our archive does not prove a programme never charges a surcharge — only that we have no citable sentence yet.
How it differs from taxes and airport fees
Government or airport taxes and fees (departure tax, passenger facility charges, security fees, and so on) usually sit under “taxes and fees”. A fuel or carrier-imposed surcharge is set by the airline and is often ticketed under codes such as YQ or YR. Some programmes fold them into one “member pays taxes and surcharges” sentence; others name fuel surcharge explicitly.
Flyerfolio does not yet promote fuel-surcharge facts into verified redemption-rule fields. The table below quotes archived official pages (from the D5 candidate ledger): only sourced sentences appear; fields without a cite are marked as lacking an official statement.
What each programme's official text says
Per programme: whether award tickets mention surcharges, the wording used, who pays, carrier scope, and whether points can pay it. The amount column is intentionally omitted.
| Frequent flyer programme | Official text by field |
|---|---|
| ANA Mileage Club | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges:You are responsible for all taxes, fees, charges (including but not limited to departure and security charges), surcharges and levies imposed by, or with, the authority of any government or governmental authority, airport, airport authority, aviation authority, air carrier or airline (including but not limited to those in respect to any rewards or benefit) and any service fees imposed by Aeroplan. Official source Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: You are responsible for all taxes, fees, charges (including but not limited to departure and security charges), surcharges and levies imposed by, or with, the authority of any government or governmental authority, airport, airport authority, aviation authority, air carrier or airline (including but not limited to those in respect to any rewards or benefit) and any service fees imposed by Aeroplan. Official source Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Cathay / Asia Miles | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| SKYPASS | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| GOL Smiles | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges (Qatar Airways partner award tickets):Award availability may be limited, and subject to government taxes and/or carrier-imposed fees. Official source Term used in the official text (Qatar Airways partner award tickets): see the quote above. Who pays (Qatar Airways partner award tickets): see the quote above. Carrier scope (Qatar Airways partner award tickets): see the quote above. Paying the surcharge in points (Qatar Airways partner award tickets): no official statement found. |
| FlySmiLes | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| KrisFlyer / PPS Club | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges:Award tickets are subject to, and the passenger is responsible for, applicable departure taxes; other airport or government handling fees; and any fuel or other surcharges imposed by Singapore Airlines or any other partner airlines. Official source Term used in the official text: see the quote above. Who pays: see the quote above. Carrier scope: see the quote above. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| JAL Mileage Bank | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges:国際線特典航空券やアップグレード特典のご利用に際して発生する出入国税、空港使用料、燃油特別付加運賃、航空保険料などの税金・料金などや各種手数料は、会員ご本人様または特典利用者のご負担となります。 Official source Term used in the official text: see the quote above. Who pays: see the quote above. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Miles & More | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Royal Orchid Plus | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Aer Lingus AerClub | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| Finnair Plus | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| The British Airways Club | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| TAP Miles&Go | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges:Todas as taxas (de aeroporto, de sobretaxa transportadora, de segurança ou outras), bem como quaisquer taxas relativas ao cartão de crédito, serão da responsabilidade exclusiva do Cliente TAP Miles&Go. Official sourceTerm used in the official text: see the quote above. Who pays: see the quote above. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
| WestJet Rewards | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges (WestJet member-exclusive fares):The base fare and surcharges (other Air Transportation Charges) for all guests must be paid in full with WestJet points. Official source Term used in the official text (WestJet member-exclusive fares): see the quote above. Who pays (WestJet member-exclusive fares): see the quote above. Carrier scope (WestJet member-exclusive fares): see the quote above. Paying the surcharge in points (WestJet member-exclusive fares): The base fare and surcharges (other Air Transportation Charges) for all guests must be paid in full with WestJet points. Official source |
| Infinity MileageLands | Official text by fieldWhether award tickets carry surcharges: no official statement found. Term used in the official text: no official statement found. Who pays: no official statement found. Carrier scope: no official statement found. Paying the surcharge in points: no official statement found. |
A field without an official statement means our archive has no citable sentence, not that the programme never charges a surcharge.
Sources and review
Quotes on this page are verbatim from each programme's official documents (archived in our knowledge base with capture dates) and checked by content review; no amounts are shown; fields the documents do not address are marked as lacking an official statement.
Reviewed by: Content review.