Carrier-imposed surcharges this year exceeded $2,000 for business class roundtrips to London Heathrow originating at New York JFK, according to American Express Global Business Travel.

Labeled as YQ or YR, these international ticket surcharges are not subject to negotiated corporate discounts. Travel management companies cannot earn commissions on those dollars. Often described as covering the cost of fuel, carrier-imposed surcharges also include distribution-related surcharges, credit card fees and environmental cost surcharges.

Aviation fuel surcharges emerged a few decades ago. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation required that for airlines adding a fee described as a “fuel surcharge” to a ticket price, “that amount must actually reflect a reasonable estimate” of per-passenger fuel costs.

In many cases, airlines renamed the surcharge rather than tying it to actual jet fuel costs or removing it. “Carrier-imposed” surcharges became amorphous. In economy class, the fare itself can be a pittance compared with the carrier-added fees, which may be nonrefundable on nonrefundable tickets. 

During the past two years, business class passengers originating at New York JFK and flying to London Heathrow on roundtrip tickets paid carrier-imposed surcharges that averaged about 40 percent higher than those added to roundtrip tickets on the same route originating at Heathrow, according to GBT.

Since 2019, JFK-Heathrow carrier-imposed surcharges increased by 80 percent on tickets booked through GBT, according to GBT’s business class data, while jet fuel prices bounced around.