Airline frequent flyer fee chart

Posted by George Hobica on Sunday, July 06, 2008

It used to be that free frequent flyer tickets were really free. But not anymore. Not only are airlines increasing the number of miles required, but they're constantly adding new fees for issuing tickets, changing them, not using them, requesting them on short notice, and flying confirmed same day stand by.

As usual, the airline with the fewest fees in this regard is Southwest. Continental and Northwest are better than most, and, as the chart below shows, Delta among the worst.

In addition to the fees listed here, you can expect to pay taxes, passenger facility charges, and the September 11 security fee, along with other government imposed surcharges. And if you're flying internationally with a child age 2 or under, even if it's sitting in your lap, you may be hit with a charge of 10% of your fare plus even fuel surcharges, and that's even if you're traveling on a "free" ticket (on a business class ticket to Australia, that might make you think twice about flying "free").

Fees listed were accurate at time of posting but can change at any moment, and probably will. Please comment if you believe that you've found a change or inaccuracy (or just to vent) and we'll check it out.

Keep in mind, too, that depending on your frequent flyer membership level, some of these fees may not apply to you, or they may be lower than shown. Updated Dec. 10 2008.

Airline Program	Standard Processing fee	Phone or in person fee	"Close in" Processing fee	Redeposit/ Change fee	Confirmed same day standby	Mileage reactivation
AirTran A+ Rewards (888-898-4782)	$0	$10 otherwise	$0	$60	N/A	N/A
Alaska Mileage Plan (800-252-7522)	$0 ($25 on partner airlines effective Nov 1)	$15 for phone reservations plus mileage required may be 5000 to 10000 higher	$0	$0 if cancelled within 3 days of booking; otherwise $100 fee applies for redeposit or change	Standby travel is not permitted on one-way award ticket itineraries. Standby travel on earlier flights is permitted on the return portion of a round-trip award ticket	$75 for one year
American AAdvantage (800-882-8880)	$5 (eff. Mar 1, up to $150 to upgrade awards on most discounted domestic fares, up to $600 for foreign routes)	$20 by phone, $30 in person	20 to 7 days prior: $50; 6 days to 2 hours: $100	Redeposit: $150 for first ticket, $25 each for additional tickets on same account; Change: $150 (MileSAAver tickets only; no fee if only date or time is changed)	$35	$50 per 5000 miles plus $30 fee
Continental OnePass (800.621.7467)	$0 (up to $300 RT for non elites to upgrade to domestic first; up to $1000 to upgrade to international businessElite)	$25 by phone (airport booking not allowed)	20 days or fewer prior: $75 (less for Platinum)	$50 $150 ($0 for Platinum)	Not allowed on OnePass tickets	N/A
Delta SkyMiles (800-323-2323)	$0 additional $25 for partner airline award	~~$25~~ $20	8-20 days prior: $75; 4-7 days: $100; 3 or fewer days: $150 (waived for Platinum members and some holders of Delta Amex Cards)	Changes: $150 if 3 or fewer days before dep; $100 4-7 days; $75 8-20 days; $0 21 days or more prior to dep; Redeposit: $100; most fees waived for Platinum members	$50 (waived for Gold/Platinum)	N/A
Frontier Early Returns (866-263-2759)	$0	$0	$0	$75	Passenger pays the difference between their original ticket and the new ticket at its price that day	$50 1 - 4,999 miles $100 5,000 - 19,999 miles $200 20,000 - 49,999 miles $300 50,000 - 99,999 miles $400 100,000 or more miles
JetBlue TrueBlue (800- 538-2583)	$0	$10 by phone	N/A	Change: $100; Redeposit fee: N/A (unused awards are forfeited)	$40	N/A
Northwest WorldPerks (800-447-3757)	$0	same as Delta	same as Delta	same as Delta	$50	N/A
Southwest Rapid Rewards (800-435-9792)	N/A (reward sent automatically	N/A (reward sent automatically)	N/A	$0	$0 (if fare has increased, passenger must pay difference)	$50 (for awards that have been expired for fewer than 24 months)
Spirit Airlines Free Spirit	N/A (online only)	N/A (online only)	N/A (requests must be made at least 7 days prior to travel); Mileage discounts for tickets booked 21 or more days in advance of travel	Redeposit: $70; Change: $70 if more than 7 days from departure; not permitted within 7 days		N/A
United MileagePlus (800-421-4655)	$0 (eff. Jan 12, 2010, up to $50 from most discounted fares to upgrade on domestic routes; up to $500 RT on international routes)	$25 by phone, $30 in person	No charge as of July 30, 2009.	$150 (route change or redeposit); $75 change of flight number or travel date only within 7-20 prior to departure; $100 6 days or less prior; free otherwise	Domestic: $150; International $150-$250	.125 cents per mile plus $25 fee
US Airways Dividend Miles (800-428-4322)	$25-$40	$25 by phone, $30 in person	$50 online, $75 otherwise	$150 domestic, $250 international	$25	$50-$400
Virgin America elevate (877.359.8474)	$0			Redeposit: not allowed	$75	N/A

Categories: Airline Industry News

Airlines are generating a huge amount of animosity with the traveling public. They have the only game in town right now but so did the American auto industry in the 50's, 60's and 70's when they chose to ignore their customers with bad product/bad service. It took awhile but they suffered the consequences; lost market share/ bankruptcy etc.If I do international travel it will not be on a US airline.

by Bobo on Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Just a friendly reminder to keep the posts coming for all your airline and travel thoughts!! The political, medical and cognitive posts could be appreciated better on other blogs that carry those themes. Thanks!

by on Saturday, June 27, 2009

On the subject of FF programs and fees, wonder why NWA/Delta forced its FF members to switch to an American Express card? AmEx has higher membership fees, likely charges most merchants a higher discount fee (which is why many merchants refuse AmEx--thus the card is not as widely accepted as VISA or MC--my car repair shop refused my AmEx last week), and in the fine print in the new Delta Gold AmEx card's terms and conditions it essentially says for foreign transactions AmEx will charge its cardholders the HIGHEST exchange rate it can find (versus a low interbank exchange rate it has access to) and THEN tack on an ADDITIONAL 2.7% surcharge. What was the airline thinking in switching to AmEx? Surely more profits for Delta and AmEx but at the same time putting a stick in the eye of its frequent flyers. Wonder why NWA/Delta didn't negotiate a better deal for its frequent flyers from AmEx and/or use a more widely accepted card? What were they thinking?

by FinePrintReader on Monday, June 08, 2009

Sadly, they all do it! All airlines charge you a penny or thereabouts to "gift" your miles to someone else. (not to mention a "handling" fee, normally about $30) But this could make you feel a little better. Say your relative has an extra 5000 miles in his/her account they can't use and that's exactly the amount of miles you need to claim an award. On AA, for example, it costs about $80 to purchase the miles. A typical flight from east coast to west coast earning you about 5000 miles on a non-stop usually costs about $400..or if you frequent this site under $200......think of it as paying a mere $80 for a round trip from JFK to LAX then it's not so bad.

by on Saturday, April 25, 2009

NWA wants to charge me .01/mile I give away to another frequent flier. That's over $225 to GIVE AWAY 20,000 frequent flier miles. If I use those same miles to book an award ticket for that same person, they only charge a $5 processing fee and award the person the miles acrued on the flight they will take. Does this make any sense other than a fee generator to NWA. What a blatant attempt at a ripoff of loyal customers.

by MrSafetyToo on Friday, April 24, 2009

tried booking with AA on the earliest date possible for Feb. 2010 using Awards travel, what a surprise not avail., same as last year. any suggestions who to contact

by malduke on Sunday, April 05, 2009

I am beginning to hate US Air. One can get a round trip ticket from BOS to AVL for $205. Try tto use you miles and it costs more.

by Skykpilot on Friday, December 12, 2008

I just tried to book 2 Business Class tickets to Italy on BA the Freq. Flyer program. They had an incredible special that lasted about 5 days where you could get 2 tix for the mileage points of one. Fantastic! I booked them after a lot of time shifting dates and times. Terrific. Then they wanted to charge my credit card over $1000 for the "fees and surcharges" for the 2 FREE tickets. That is absolutely outrageous! The airlines should be exposed for the myths they have created about rewarding loyal clients with so-called bonuses and incentives. Of course, I can't go on my trip to Italy.

by on Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Airline frequent flyer fee chart

Airfarewatchblog

Airline frequent flyer fee chart

Posted by George Hobica on Sunday, July 06, 2008

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