European hub stopover fares
As many are aware, UK APD is structured so that the tax depends on one's final destination on the ticket, with any scheduled transfer taking less than 24 hours being deemed just a temporary connection. Spend more than 24 hours en route and the tax depends only on distance from the UK to the capital of that transfer country.
I realise that nonstop flights almost always attract a higher fare than indirect (barring things like tag-ons) and EU laws mean tickets sold in the EU must be available in all EU states without country restrictions.
Therefore, why do the likes of Air France or Lufthansa not sell UK originating long haul tickets to India, East Asia, Southern Africa and Latin America (ie APD Band C, over 4001 miles from London) specifically with a 24+ hr stopover in Paris or Frankfurt ? I doubt they give a damn about offending HMRC. Ticketing restrictions could stipulate no changes to first 2 sectors and coupons must be used in prescribed order, to minimise revenue loss and gain clear market segmentation. I realise this will tend to attract the price sensitive, time insensitive brigade but the upside is to increase long haul sales out of the UK, particularly in offpeak seasons. No need to give all the tax saving to the passengers - either give passengers half the monetary saving or provide a night's accommodation in a suburban 2 star hotel as part of the fare.
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 10th Nov 2012 at 16:17.