Labour attacks long-haul airlines

meester

Old scheme:

Europe £10
Non-Europe £40


New Scheme:

<2000 miles £12
<4000 miles £60
<6000 miles £75
>6000 miles £85

As usual, poorly thought out.

A quick break in Turkey will cost me £12 in tax, but £60 if you live in Glasgow or Belfast.

Long-haul airlines will be very heavily motivated to reroute. For instance, Manchester-Singapore doesn't really make sense at £85 in tax - so route via Frankfurt instead.

It's pretty thick, people will end up taking more flights and burning more fuel, by travelling on airlines like Air France that don't have to foot the bill for 11 years of Labour government.

discoinferno_99

meester wrote: »

Old scheme:

Europe £10
Non-Europe £40


New Scheme:

<2000 miles £12
<4000 miles £60
<6000 miles £75
>6000 miles £85

As usual, poorly thought out.

A quick break in Turkey will cost me £12 in tax, but £60 if you live in Glasgow or Belfast.

Long-haul airlines will be very heavily motivated to reroute. For instance, Manchester-Singapore doesn't really make sense at £85 in tax - so route via Frankfurt instead.

Not quite right about the calculations about Turkey. The APD is calculated for the whole of UK as being from London to the capital city of the country you are travelling to. So Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester etc will all be the same rate as London. In the case of the USA, we 'benefit' from Washington DC being closer on the east coast.

Likewise, routing via Frankfurt or European hubs won't save you APD unless you buy two tickets, which then means risking a misconnect. The government still calculate the APD on your final destination, not your first flight. (Great scam eh?)

The easiest ways to avoid the APD may be to start journeys in Dublin or Paris as a couple of close to the UK city examples.

Finally, yes the new APD system is even worse than the current system. Badly thought out, completely inappropriate and more tax being flushed down the toilet by the government.

blindman

Funny how this has not been mentioned at ALL on the news.

New APD charges

sturll

So the government are saying that BEFORE ticket prices, airport fees etc the base price in tax alone will be £170, or will the American Airlines stamp their feet again and continue to make it illegal to tax a flight leaving the States? If by that reckoning it is £85 return then the airlines could lower their fuel surcharge to offset the increase in APD and then next year we can finally vote that bell end that is Gordon Brown and his lame !!!! party out. Since they seem to be hell bent on self destruction via taxes.

Typical Labour - take 2.5% off one thing and declare it with a fanfare - add 30% on something else on the Q.T

markelock

agreed and you're right, we need some sort of national socialism.

that would give me the lebensraum I've always needed, and they'd be no tax on it at all.

is there anything left to be taxed now, other than independent thought?

Voyager2002

If this (modest) level of tax is a problem for you, you obviously can't afford to go on holiday.

The government spends enormous amounts of money maintaining a safe system of air transportation (everything from air traffic control to transport links to airports). Why whinge about paying a small part of this as a surcharge on your tickets, rather than in income tax? At least this means that foreigners who use the systems we support get to pay some of the cost.

Moonchild

As a non-apologists lifelong Labour supporter with vested interest in travel I do find this rather disheartening (like the extra 19p on a bottle of scotch), and ill-conceived.

There is room to make more money on travellers but this isn't the way to do it!

Still, my future entails world domination, a new 6 runway airport on the Thames Estuary connected to every major city in the UK by a series of Maglev trains. If they can do in Shanghai...

blindman

Voyager2002 wrote: »

If this (modest) level of tax is a problem for you, you obviously can't afford to go on holiday.

The government spends enormous amounts of money maintaining a safe system of air transportation (everything from air traffic control to transport links to airports). Why whinge about paying a small part of this as a surcharge on your tickets, rather than in income tax? At least this means that foreigners who use the systems we support get to pay some of the cost.

This TAX is supposed to cut down on carbon emissions not line the government pockets.

I fail to see how the Government are trying to stimulate the economy and get us to spend more by making everything more expensive?

All the increased APD will do will drive away big business clients and help more UK airlines fail.

sturll

Voyager2002 wrote: »

If this (modest) level of tax is a problem for you, you obviously can't afford to go on holiday.

The government spends enormous amounts of money maintaining a safe system of air transportation (everything from air traffic control to transport links to airports). Why whinge about paying a small part of this as a surcharge on your tickets, rather than in income tax? At least this means that foreigners who use the systems we support get to pay some of the cost.

To be fair £85 is not a small amount, perhaps if you fly alone. But a family of four to the States is now £340 alone in govt tax - before any other fees etc.

APD for a family of 4 to the USA:

2006: £80

2007: £160

2009: £340

On average Air passenger numbers are up 8% yearly, APD up 425%

You might be fine with that - i am not.

Voyager2002

blindman wrote: »

This TAX is supposed to cut down on carbon emissions not line the government pockets.

I fail to see how the Government are trying to stimulate the economy and get us to spend more by making everything more expensive?

All the increased APD will do will drive away big business clients and help more UK airlines fail.

How many "big businesses" are going to have trouble paying an extra 85 pounds?

Precisely how does a measure that deters some people from going away and spending money in other economies limit the stimulus to our economy?

And the government does not have "pockets": it collects money to pay for services that we all need. I have experienced what life is like in "failed states", where there is minimal tax but you have to provide basic services for yourself, and it is not a good idea.

Voyager2002

sturll wrote: »

To be fair £85 is not a small amount, perhaps if you fly alone. But a family of four to the States is now £340 alone in govt tax - before any other fees etc.

APD for a family of 4 to the USA:

2006: £80

2007: £160

2009: £340

On average Air passenger numbers are up 8% yearly, APD up 425%

You might be fine with that - i am not.

And those figures are, what, one night in a hotel room? A day-pass to Disney? A tiny proportion of the total cost of the holiday.