Lufthansa surcharges rise again: travellers pay the final price
Travel-Dealz documents higher surcharges on selected routes. Swiss travellers should compare the total price, the cash co-payment on award tickets and the refund conditions separately.
According to a report by Travel-Dealz dated 26 October 2026, the Lufthansa Group is once again raising international surcharges. The travel portal documents changes on selected routes compared with 5 October. The most important question for travellers from Switzerland, however, is not what name a price item carries, but how much the specific trip costs in total.
The published table covers Lufthansa direct flights from Frankfurt, various cabins and destinations. It is a sample, not a complete tariff sheet for departures from Zurich, Geneva or Basel. The sources evaluated here do not include an independently confirmed, comprehensive new surcharge list for all Swiss routes.
What changes in the sample
For a return flight Frankfurt–New York in economy, Travel-Dealz now states surcharges of EUR 295 instead of EUR 245. In business class on Frankfurt–Cape Town, the stated amount rises from EUR 645 to EUR 745. Other routes checked remain unchanged. A uniform surcharge across all trips cannot be derived from this.
The portal describes the increases as surcharges that affect both paid and award tickets. With an award offer, a higher cash co-payment stands out in particular. With a regular ticket, the base fare and other price components can vary at the same time. A surcharge increase of a given amount is therefore not proof that every comparable total ticket becomes more expensive by exactly that amount.
A surcharge is not automatically a tax
Miles & More itself distinguishes the ticket price from national or international airline surcharges. In its explanations on mileage calculation, the programme refers to the booking receipt, where the surcharge is shown as YQ. This item should therefore not be confused with a government levy.
The label «fuel surcharge» also does not prove that every change follows one-to-one from the current kerosene price. That would require information on price setting and cost hedging. A booking sample alone can be used to calculate neither the actual fuel bill nor the group's profit margin.
For Swiss offers, the Price Indication Ordinance sets the decisive standard. According to SECO, unavoidable taxes, fees and surcharges that are foreseeable at the time of publication must be included in the price actually payable. An additional breakdown is compatible with this. But it must not lead to a necessary surcharge only appearing surprisingly at the end.
How price comparisons become meaningful
Anyone booking from Zurich, Geneva or Basel should compare the same travel period, the same cabin and the same scope of services. A cheaper entry-level price may include less baggage or stricter change conditions. The final price of a return flight must also not be compared with the surcharge of a single direction.
With an award ticket, the miles required and the cash co-payment belong side by side. Anyone who would have to buy additional miles or use a paid card for a bonus incurs further costs. A high number of miles alone therefore does not prove poor value – just as a low mileage amount with a high co-payment does not automatically make the flight cheap.
Starting abroad must also be calculated as a whole trip: feeder flights, an overnight stay and the time required can eat up a fare advantage. With separate bookings, it is also necessary to check who is liable if a connection is missed. A nominally smaller surcharge is not a sufficient reason for such a detour.
Who cancels makes a legal difference
If the airline cancels a flight covered by the Air Passenger Rights Regulation, passengers fundamentally have the choice between reimbursement and re-routing. In the case of a completely unused ticket eligible for a refund, the issue is the ticket price paid, not merely taxes. An unavoidable airline surcharge is not an additionally provided flight.
A possible compensation payment must be kept separate from this. Extraordinary circumstances can rule it out, but do not automatically remove the choice between reimbursement and re-routing. For changed or cancelled flights, SWISS refers to its refund and rebooking channels.
If the passenger cancels themselves, according to FOCA the European air passenger rights regulation does not govern this cancellation. In that case, fare and contract conditions apply, as do any civil law claims. FOCA does not enforce an individual monetary claim in place of a court.
For Swiss customers this gives a simple order of steps: secure the full price before purchase, keep the breakdown, and document the reason precisely if a cancellation occurs. Transparent final prices and clear refund rules matter more than whether an airline calls a price item a fuel, environmental or international surcharge.
Sources
- SECO: Price indication for flights and final prices
- FOCA: Air passenger rights and enforcement
- FOCA: Cancellation by the passenger and extraordinary circumstances
- SWISS: Help with flight changes, cancellations and refunds
- Miles & More: Price components and international surcharge YQ
- European Union: Options in the event of a flight cancellation
- Travel-Dealz: Surcharge sample from 26 October 2026
- Title image: Milad A380 (MX8) / Wikimedia Commons
- Title image licence: CC BY 3.0
- Article image: Storyfabrik / Wikimedia Commons
- Article image licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
