Air Tax, review of where the airlines stand. Pre bookings too.

jinkssick

British Airways.
No extra charges as the airline has agreed to absorb the 11million tax.

Easyjet
Passengers will be sent up to two emails telling them to pay or will be forced to pay at check in.

Monarch
Passengers will be send an email telling them to pay thru an online booking system. Those that fail to pay will be charged at check in or prevented from boarding and offered a refund.

Ryanair
Passengers will be sent an email and if they have not paid by the day before their flight, they will not be able to fly. How harsh!

Jet2
Passengers are being contacted by email to warn them that the additional tax will be taken from their credit cards. What if they dont get in contact and take the money out without concept. Is this lawful?

First Choice
Those who have booked a flight-only will have to pay the tax at check in desk. Those who booked a package holiday will not have to pay as travel regulations say operators have to absorb the first 2 per cent of surcharges once a booking is made.

Virgin Atlantic
Will charge passengers but has not decided how to collect it.

Thomas Cook
Is yet to clarify wether it will collect the tax from passengers. The company is awaiting advice from its legal team.

Lufthansa
Has alerted travel agents by letter, but has not contacted passengers. Holidaymakers will have to pay the tax at check-in.

BMI
Is yet to decide wether it will charge customers for the tax.



Fortunately my flight was booked with BA (Booked in Sep- flying June). If you booked the flights prior to this announcement of tax, the old £5 initial tax has been paid but it will increase to another £5.

For a couple who have already booked a flight an incurred charges, it should be an extra £20 to fork out. There and back.

jinkssick

Commercial Short haul flights inc. Europe= risen from £5 to £10
Long haul flights, USA, Australia for example= risen from £20 to £40

amf

Many thanks for a clear and helpful post:T

pennylane99

flights that are not lowest class of travel get higher charges....

Passengers flying to EEA destinations and certain other European countries In other than lowest class of travel changed from £10 to £20

Passengers flying to other destinations In other than lowest class of travel changed from £40 to £80

K9cuddles

I phoned Continential Airlines and they said they won't be charging on pre-booked flights!

The_Lambton_Worm

jinkssick wrote:

British Airways.
No extra charges as the airline has agreed to absorb the 11million tax.

Easyjet
Passengers will be sent up to two emails telling them to pay or will be forced to pay at check in.

Monarch
Passengers will be send an email telling them to pay thru an online booking system. Those that fail to pay will be charged at check in or prevented from boarding and offered a refund.

Ryanair
Passengers will be sent an email and if they have not paid by the day before their flight, they will not be able to fly. How harsh!

Jet2
Passengers are being contacted by email to warn them that the additional tax will be taken from their credit cards. What if they dont get in contact and take the money out without concept. Is this lawful?

First Choice
Those who have booked a flight-only will have to pay the tax at check in desk. Those who booked a package holiday will not have to pay as travel regulations say operators have to absorb the first 2 per cent of surcharges once a booking is made.

Virgin Atlantic
Will charge passengers but has not decided how to collect it.

Thomas Cook
Is yet to clarify wether it will collect the tax from passengers. The company is awaiting advice from its legal team.

Lufthansa
Has alerted travel agents by letter, but has not contacted passengers. Holidaymakers will have to pay the tax at check-in.

BMI
Is yet to decide wether it will charge customers for the tax.



Fortunately my flight was booked with BA (Booked in Sep- flying June). If you booked the flights prior to this announcement of tax, the old £5 initial tax has been paid but it will increase to another £5.

For a couple who have already booked a flight an incurred charges, it should be an extra £20 to fork out. There and back.

Excellent post but just to clarify your last point. The tax is only payable on flights from UK airports. So if you have a return flight (or two singles) to Barcelona from the UK the extra is only £5pp. If you have a return flight within the UK, eg Edinburgh to Stansted, you pay the tax both ways. ie £10pp.

FL

Any idea on flybe? Still waiting to hear from them. BTW - we have not heard from Jet 2 yet.

Noz

I got an email from Flybe asking me for payment sent on 10th Jan

As you may have heard in the news over the past few weeks, the Chancellor announced Airport Passenger Duty (APD) for short haul flights has increased 100% from £5 to £10 for each departing passenger per flight. The UK Government is responsible for implementing and collecting APD tax.

Flybe, along with other airlines, has lobbied strongly against this increase, but sadly to no avail. We are particularly disappointed that it is being applied to customers who already booked their flight prior to the Chancellor's announcement coming into effect on 11th December and are flying from the 1st of February onwards.

Regrettably, this means you are required to pay the additional APD. Your additional APD Payment MUST be made no later than 7 days prior to your departure.

trisontana

I phoned Wizzair and they told me they won't be collecting the extra tax. Somebody on the Holiday Truths website were told the same thing by Air Berlin.

The Daily Mail, in the guise of their "This is Money" website have got it all wrong. To quote them :-

" Those flying into the UK could also be stopped on arrival and prevented from entering the country unless they pay what has been dubbed the 'poll tax of the skies'."

That is not true . The tax is only paid on departures, not arrivals ,as The_Lambton_Worm pointed out above.

jetboy

Unsurprising that BA are absorbing the tax really, considering they are facing two major industrial disputes in the coming months. Both Pilots and Cabin Crew are planning industrial action. Nothing like gaining a few brownie points before the onslaught.

Alfie_E

jinkssick wrote:

Jet2
Passengers are being contacted by email to warn them that the additional tax will be taken from their credit cards. What if they dont get in contact and take the money out without concept. Is this lawful?

Irrespective of whether a court would consider it lawful, I think Jet2 have taken a very high risk strategy. Taking money from debit and credit cards without getting explicit authorisation is asking for trouble. Anyone who doesn’t realise what Jet2 are going to do and, as a result, goes over their credit or overdraft limit is going to be forced to dispute the transaction as unauthorised, to get the black mark removed from their record. There’ll also be people who dispute, just because Jet2 have annoyed them. It’s completely reasonable that a customer might want to pay using a different card or choose not even to fly, so it’s completely unreasonable for Jet2 just to take money without permission, using the card details they happen to have.

The risk comes from the consequences of having a large number of your card transactions disputed. Jet2 risk penalty charges from the card networks, or even being classed as a higher risk company, by their own bank.