My return flight to PHL on Nov 11 was upgraded at check in using an old systemwide. When my upgrade went through the agent told me to go to another USAirways desk to pay a 20 GBP departure tax. When I asked since USAirways collects this tax why wasn't it included in the ticket price when I purchased it? The agent told me it only has to be paid by first or business class passengers. Has anyone else experienced this?


Jay

Yes, I discovered this about a month ago and it has applied every time I've upgraded to Envoy from LGW since then....3 times total. Go figure....just another way for someone to take some money. I think it is a relatively new policy, but I don't think US has anything to do with it. The most annoying thing is that once I was not confirmed for Envoy until at the gate, but I still had to pay the tax "just in case," and no-one could tell me how to go about getting my money back if I didn't get the upgrade!

KIM

I also paid this on Monday coming back. At first I thought the agent was kidding.

I made sure I drank enough champagne on the flight to make up for it.

From my understanding, it is called the "Tony Blair" tax and applied to all biz/first class departures from London airports. If you had purchased an Envoy ticket originally, the tax would have been included in the price. Since you were upgraded after you were ticketed for coach, and only paid the taxes associated with a coach class ticket, you had to pay the difference upon being reticketed for Envoy. Small price to pay to sit up front.

gnomie,
correct. The check-in staff at Manchester also called it a "Tony Blair Tax", although it should be a "Gordon Brown Tax". I believe that it is a relatively new measure brought in during the last UK budget.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kimharp:
Yes, I discovered this about a month ago and it has applied every time I've upgraded to Envoy from LGW since then....3 times total. Go figure....just another way for someone to take some money. I think it is a relatively new policy, but I don't think US has anything to do with it. The most annoying thing is that once I was not confirmed for Envoy until at the gate, but I still had to pay the tax "just in case," and no-one could tell me how to go about getting my money back if I didn't get the upgrade!

KIM</font>


I was wondering what they did if you cleared at the gate. I too had to pay the departure tax this past Monday. My friend and I drank more than enough to cover the cost.
Last year when I upgraded with the old SWU, I was charged the fee when I purchased the ticket.

20 GBP....are we talking 20 pounds?

Wanted to check...I'm flying to LGW in december with some anticipation of upgrading to Envoy. Have not done europe this year and have two vouchers expiring in january. Thought I might use them both on the trip.

20GBP = $....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by starboy340:
20 GBP....are we talking 20 pounds?

Wanted to check...I'm flying to LGW in december with some anticipation of upgrading to Envoy. Have not done europe this year and have two vouchers expiring in january. Thought I might use them both on the trip.

20GBP = $....

</font>


20 British pounds --
current exchange rate is roughly $1.75 US = 1 GBP

So roughly $35 US. The tax is just on the return trip.



[This message has been edited by Alysia (edited Nov 12, 2003).]

AA also makes you pay if you upgrade to C with miles but does NOT make you pay if you upgrade with a VIP upgrade certificate.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Spiff:
AA also makes you pay if you upgrade to C with miles but does NOT make you pay if you upgrade with a VIP upgrade certificate.</font>

Odd...we used transatlantic certs and had to pay

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Alysia:

20 British pounds --
current exchange rate is roughly $1.75 US = 1 GBP

So roughly $35 US. The tax is just on the return trip.
[This message has been edited by Alysia (edited Nov 12, 2003).]</font>

£1 = $1.68615, so £20 = $33.72, as of the time of posting.

Actually, the departure tax for all (transatlantic) C class departures is a whooping 40GBP for all London airports. For coach, the departure tax is "just" 20 GBP. Since you already had paid the 20 GBP for your coach ticket, you just needed to pay the 20 GBP difference.

This 40 GBP tax has to be paid by all C pax regardless, and has only been in effect for a few months now (AFAIK). US and all other airlines have nothing to do with this!!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by chtiet:

This 40 GBP tax has to be paid by all C pax regardless, and has only been in effect for a few months now (AFAIK). US and all other airlines have nothing to do with this!!!</font>

It's been in effect for a couple of years, AFAIK.

And as Spiff pointed out, AA is not charging the tax when upgrading via a VIP cert, only when using miles.

Knowledgable AA personnel have said that it is because the ticket is re-issued (triggering the tax) with miles, but not reissued when using the VIP cert.

It sounds plausible, but I just assumed that AA was picking up the tax for its top tier elites. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Maybe AA is mistaken in not collecting the tax. In any event, AA EXPs can fly four RTs each year to LHR, upgraded with VIP certs (on any fare), and not have to pay the tax. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Column about this in USA TOday:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/elliott/2003-11-24-troubleshooter_x.htm

The double departure tax applies only to anything other than the back (i.e., FC, BC and premium economy class). If there's no back of the bus (Concorde), the departure tax was still GBP 20.