MSE News:

Former_MSE_Helen · 2 April 2012 at 10:07AM

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Higher rates of the air passenger duty (APD) airport departure tax take effect this week"

Read the full story:
Air passenger duty rise takes effect

scottishperson2 · 2 April 2012 at 10:23AM

Sometimes cheaper to fly long-haul from Schiphol, especially if you were intending to catch an internal flight to London first.

hermante · 2 April 2012 at 11:38AM

scottishperson2 wrote: »

Sometimes cheaper to fly long-haul from Schiphol, especially if you were intending to catch an internal flight to London first.

Only if you book the tickets separately, i.e. you need to leave the airport with bags and then recheck in AMS. Can lead to problems if the flight to AMS is delayed as you may miss your longhaul without compensation.

Next time I'm flying to Asia I will take BA from Paris. This means my route will be LHR-CDG-LHR-BKK-LHR-CDG-LHR. By spending a few extra hours on the 4 segments to Paris and back, the overall cost becomes 20% less (despite me taking the same longhaul flight from London). I also get a few thousand more miles and the government only gets the APD to France.

scottishperson2 · 2 April 2012 at 11:50AM

hermante wrote: »

LHR-CDG-LHR-BKK-LHR-CDG-LHR

Its a crazy world we're living in, and that route shows what a farcical joke this "tax" has become

""Moreover, the move which is intended to help reduce carbon emissions is also likely to backfire," Baumgarten added, "since passengers travelling to long-haul destinations will probably choose to use airports in continental Europe as their departure point for their long-haul flights. This would likely increase short-haul flights out of the UK, and so end up increasing, rather than decreasing, carbon emissions.""

http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/32349-WTTC;-revised-UK-Airport-Departure-Tax-discourages-long-haul-travel.

thelawnet · 2 April 2012 at 1:28PM

It's just a money-making scam. The government doesn't care about the environment in the slightest.

JezR · 2 April 2012 at 3:25PM

Two good alternative starting points are DUB or BRU. With the latter you can take a cheap Eurostar ticket and pay no APD at all. Especially good value if travelling above Economy.

Frozenace · 2 April 2012 at 3:42PM

I really don't know what this tax pays for. There's no point in building more airports if the people can't pay to fly.

chattychappy · 2 April 2012 at 4:40PM

This tax is twice as bad as it looks when you consider it is only a tax on the outbound sector. If all governments taxed the way the UK did, tickets would be even more expensive.

PLUS, it is a tax that tourists are forced to pay when they visit the UK. I'm sitting in Taipei right now - London flights are looking rather expensive when compared with other European destinations.

Visas to the UK are amongst the most expensive and hardest to get. Unlike the Schengen visas, they will only work in the UK rather than getting you several countries. Do we, or do we not want wealthy far eastern tourists spending their money in our shops?

So much for UK plc competitiveness.

immoral_angeluk · 2 April 2012 at 6:54PM

I booked our package holiday last July, for travel this May. It was paid for in full in January, but does this mean I could end up with an extra bill?

sonny_c · 3 April 2012 at 7:30PM

As above I booked my tickets for a family of 5 in FEB this year which was fully paid for before 1st APR

Would this extra tax affect me?

alanhanger · 4 April 2012 at 10:16AM

I thought the idea of being in Europe was to promote free trade? Having to fly to Europe for a long haul flight is anti-competative.

What's the easiest way to book long haul from Europe? This could have a dedicated thread.

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