This part of our "pay package", as I'm sure you know, are subsistence allowances. It is for food and drink whist downroute, and is based on the prices in the hotel we stay at. Obviously the menu is cheaper in LAS than ORD. This is non negotiable, and has to be approved by the Inland Revenue in the UK. That said, the IR are currently looking again at how these allowances are paid to every airline in the UK!!
With regards to our allowances - the Inland Revenue do not specify that our allowances have to be paid in this way. We can be paid hourly rates or nightly rates, the tax taken from these will be different although this is a lower rate than the normal earnings. 33% of your allowance is taxed and the remaining 67% remains untaxed. Virgin chooses to pay our allowance in this manner and the IR does not tax them as they are considered for use downroute only. The fact is most of us are so poor we have to bring them home and fraudulently spend them here. It is potentially more economically viable for us to be paid like other airlines who receive hourly/nightly rates.