Anybody Know Why YQ on Rewards is Different from YQ on Paid Tickets?

I noticed when I was drafting a post on Companion Rewards that the YQ that Virgin Atlantic charge on reward tickets is lower than the YQ charged for paid tickets. (at least according to what ITA Matrix spit out)

I actually noticed the same thing when researching for another post about Iberia Plus rewards in Business.

Does anybody know what is going on? I would love to do a blog post explaining surcharges, but I can't get my head around where the difference comes from. I thought it might be YR (refundable fare surcharge) but VS seems to charge YQ even on their flexible Y fares. Obviously any airline is free to suppress their surcharges on rewards but I would love to figure out their formulae for it.

 

I've always found the Flying Club telephone agents very friendly and helpful, maybe give them a quick ring and ask how they get their number? Might also be worth pricing up a cash ticket on the Virgin Atlantic website, getting the price/cost breakdown from that, and seeing if their number matches the companion one or if it matches the ITA Matrix

 

Thanks. Yeah, I already tried pricing up a full Y ticket on the VS website and I get the same numbers as ITA Matrix.

I might try calling, but I suspect that most agents aren't trained in the reasons for "why" their computer screens are telling them what they are telling them. (at best they are trained to be excellent bullshitters) And I imagine that the calculation of YQ is a pretty commercially sensitive piece of information. I just always thought that YQ on rewards was the same as YQ on paid tickets. (reminds me to look in the opposite direction since YQ is much higher on ex-USA rewards)

 

Can you try asking the ITA Matrix to price up all the different economy fare buckets for one route (using /f bc=y and similar), to see if Virgin have consistent YQ on their paid tickets on a route, or if they massage them?