Qantas $120 'other carrier charge' for international economy redemption to Johannesburg (on Qantas metal) - Is this new?

I am currently saving QF point in the hope of redeeming for 4 x return tickets to Sth Africa mid next year for the family.

When doing some research last night I found that fees and taxes on a return trip will be in excess of $700 per ticket, with $120 each way attributed to ‘other carrier charge’ despite all the required flights being on Qantas metal.

Is this charge new? I get that we need to pay the required taxes, but $700 per ticket seems excessive.

Wondering now if I should switch to earning Velocity points, and transfer to KrisFlyer to fly SQ. (Velocity SQ redemptions seem to be hard to come by availability wise)

Appreciate any tips from this great community

Hi ktorst,

Apologies there wasn’t any response to your question.

It does seem funny that the surcharge was named as “other carrier charge” when it is on QF metal. However, I unfortunately do no know whether this is a new thing.

Velocity international premium award availability is quite bad last I checked so personally, I also transfer to Krisflyer for better availability.