Thread: ZED'ing in Europe

A quick note on YQ/YR :
This is not a tax, it's a surcharge and currently it is not interlineable.
To verify : In your own airlines' system, make a dummy revenue reservation for another carrier : For example, if I price LON BA NYC BA LON, the fare returned should be the base fare plus all GOVERNMENT taxes, no YQ. If I price the same itinerary on UA, whom I work for, the YQ tax is shown.
I know for example, that LH do not charge their own employees the RA tax through Germany, which is quite high, however, our Head Office has confirmed that we need to collect the tax. Under the individual tax filing, the exemption for RA tax only applies to crew positioning, so I guess LH absorbs this tax.
Each tax has an exemption clause, the question is whether a ticket agent has the time to check which taxes are exempt and which are not ....

You should have no problem with ZEDs on european airlines as long as the ticket is valid:

a) The fare basis is exactly or over your level of agreement with the operating carrier (i.e. you have a ZM agreement with LX and your basis is YIDZM7R2 or YIDZH7R2). If it is lower (YIDZL7R2) you have nothing to do.

b) The miles level is exactly the same or over the miles level of the flight (it's ok to use a YIDZM7R2 for a ZM6 flight).

c) The taxes total amount is the same or over the taxes total amount for the new route. For example, LAXFRA has more expensive taxes than LAXZRH, so it will be ok to use a LAXFRA tkt on a LAXZRH flight, but not the reverse.

This last point is the least often checked. Indeed i'm talking about a perfect world. If you are sure your tkt is valid for a certain route but the check-in agent refuses to accept it, ask him or her to call the sales office, just to be sure. Normally (at least in Europe) it's easier to get on a flight you shouldn't really be getting on to than the reverse.

BTW, I can confirm YR/YQ surcharges are NEVER charged on interline tickets.

My airline doesn't charge it on any ID tickets at all, not even ID00s.

To Estradin's comment "BTW, I can confirm YR/YQ surcharges are NEVER charged on interline tickets." that is not true. YR/YQ can be be collected on an interline ticket, and billed by the lifting carrier, if agreed to by both parties (i.e., the validating and the lifting carrier).

To Z's comment "Unfortunately the YQ is applicable for ID90/75 but as mentioned not on ZED tickets", that is also not completely correct. For ID90 and ID75 intended for interline travel, the YQ and YR are not collected unless there is bilateral agreement to do so (as noted above). The problem is that if it is not collected at ticketing, there is generally nothing stopping the lifting airline from collecting it at checking.

The ZED agreement (which is multilateral) states that a carrier cannot bill or attempt to collect from the traveler a tax/fee/charge that is not remiited to a government or airport authority (e.g., YQ, YR, Q). The ID agreements (e.g., ID90/ID75), however, do not routinely include this.

Sorry, I was talking about my experience. We don't have too many ID90 agreements (we have a lot of ZED agreements, though), so I don't get to issue as many Interline ID90s as you'd think. I had been told that YQ/YR were never charged on Interline tickets, but probably that was according to our agreements.