UK Airport Tax

[Ozzy]

Booked a Club World ticket BOS-LHR roundtrip for November using my frequent flier miles. So, free ticket and the taxes were $550. WTF? On what is that amount based?

Ozzy

[James 1077]

Booked a Club World ticket BOS-LHR roundtrip for November using my frequent flier miles. So, free ticket and the taxes were $550. WTF? On what is that amount based?

This is why the fuel surcharge isn't included in the flight price - which it should be as it is a simple cost of flying. But by not including it people spending their points will have to pay it in addition to their "free" ticket.

The other big cost is UK APD which comes up to about $160.

I generally use my points to upgrade as it ends up being a better use of them and often doesn't cost all that much extra in actual money!

[WHBM]

The whole concept of a item called "Taxes, Fees and Charges" is so many (including posters here) interpret it as "Taxes ...." because they don't absorb the whole overlong, and anyway inaccurate, description. And thus these nowadays vast amounts are seen as something standardised (because taxes are presumed to be standard across all airlines).

So, fare £100 + "taxes" of £200. Well, you won't get a fare much lower than £100, and the taxes will be the same. Let's book.

I come across the same in misleading road safety statistics, which nowadays commonly refer to KSI, or "Killed and seriously injured". Written like that so if you say a road had 10 KSI last year it gets interpreted as "10 Killed ....", ie very bad. In fact, just like taxes and fees, it has been subjected to statistical creep as well, as hospitals do not analyse injuries publically as to whether they are serious or not, so everybody taken to hospital, even if sent straight away again, now gets counted to hype up the figure.

It's also like airlines arriving "on time" as far as the statisics are concerned yet they are sufficiently late for you to miss your valid connection. Playing with figues.

[fyrefli]

Originally Posted by VAFFPAX

Granted, overall, the customer experience of a single charge is better, but when you had FR and EZY running ads that used to hide the extra charges in the small print (which we never read), the commercial disadvantage was clearly there.

Here's an example:

- BA charges you a price of £145 for a flight LHR-TXL rtn. It includes everything.
- FR charges you a price of £40 for a flight STN-SXF rtn. It does NOT include: checkin charge, hold baggage and excess luggage charge (at 23 kilo), airport fees and taxes. Those are mentioned in the small print.

As a normal pax from down the pub, which one would you plump for? FR of course. It's cheaper. Or at least looks like it.

Well, personally I'd read the information properly and make an informed decision To anyone who doesn't, tough. It's like most of the crap on Watchdog - if it looks too good to be true, it almost certainly *is*!

It's like when I used to work for BT and the cable companies (who all scuttled back off to the US with their profits, leaving us with just one competitor for BT again, surprise, surprise) used to quote their prices ex VAT and people fell for it. Some, give them their due, would change their minds when you pointed it out but most were just too pig-headed (or actually stood to gain by switching, although the proportion to whom that applied was surprisingly small).

"You pays your money..."

[VAFFPAX]

Oh the classic VAT excluded switcheroo gets people every time. I know. :-)

S.

[Globaliser]

Originally Posted by James 1077

This is why the fuel surcharge isn't included in the flight price - which it should be as it is a simple cost of flying. But by not including it people spending their points will have to pay it in addition to their "free" ticket.

The other big cost is UK APD which comes up to about $160.

"Free" flights have never been such, because there have always been some "taxes, fees and charges" to pay. Getting an award ticket is really just getting a 100% discount on the base fare. It was always like this, and it still is exactly this now. The difference is that the TFC have become so significant.

I have never believed that this structure (including fuel surcharges on top of the base fare, rather than as part of it) was aimed at the small proportion of passengers who fly on award tickets. The bigger impact is on those who fly on corporate (or other percentage) discounts. They still have their 50% or 75% or whatever taken off the base fare, but they pay 100% of the fuel surcharge. Exactly the same for those of us who fly BA using the 10% shareholders discount - it's 10% off the base fare, and it has always been.

[Seat62K]

Untrue. I remember when I used to fly a lot on KLM and Northwest I was able to redeem "Flying Dutchman" miles at absolutely no cost. This was, admittedly, before the introduction of APD in the UK. The flights were totally free.

[Capot]

The other big cost is UK APD which comes up to about $160.

Please see the excellent post below; the $160 APD is only for premium long-haul travel, to get it into perspective.

The United Kingdom's Air Passenger Duty ("departure tax") is quite straightforward.

For economy class travel, the duty is £10 short-haul (domestic and European) and £40 long-haul (everywhere else). For travel in premium classes, the rate is doubled, i.e. £20 short-haul and £80 long-haul.

It's a tax, pure and simple - a revenue-raising exercise. There is no need to justify it or explain what the money is spent on.

Any charges over and above the APD are applied by the airline itself (e.g. security surcharge, fuel surcharge or Ryanair's wheelchair surcharge) and/or the airport operator.