Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus - Award Taxes

I have just booked an award ticket in F LHR-HKT and the "taxes" came to £439.49. I asked for a breakdown and was advised the following:

£162.00 UK business class departure tax
£34.49 Heathrow security tax
£14.40 Thailand departure tax
£4.20 Phuket departure tax
£217.40 fuel surcharge tax

My comments:

First one is simply "thieving government" (UK not Thai, compare £14.40 with £162) and then the UK government will waste most of it; a significant amount going in their own pockets of course.

It makes me laugh when I hear comments on corruption in Thailand. Here in the UK we have the prime minister's father-in-law receiving £1,000 a day in rent for a bit of worthless land because of a government subsidy with our money to wind farms and the deputy prime minister's wife being appointed to the board of a major manufacturer of wind turbines. Hahaha, no Thai politician would get away with that.


£35 for security! Ignoring the queue how long does it take? Under half a minute with 4 people running it. I make that £4,200 an hour or £1,050 per labour hour for people with no qualifications and minimum training. I wish I could get those sort of margins.

And it is all so pointless, they confiscate a safety razor or a blunt nail file but it would be impossible for them to spot a scalpel blade taped to the inside of metal bag latch and the plastic handle could be put anywhere. Not that this would get a terrorist or a group of them similarly armed on the flight deck nowadays anyway.

Then they confiscate your water but allow a mother to take a baby bottle full of liquid so long as she squeezes a bit out and tastes it. Well maybe there is a bit of milk in the teat with a seal under it but beneath which is nitroglycerin. You are also allowed to purchase and take on board a litre of highly inflammable spirit. And a lighter.

Try putting an expensive laptop or other electronic device in your checked baggage and see if it is there at the other end. The people who steal this are air-side, if they can get it off the airport then surely they could bring something else the other way.


Thai security although just as pointless does appear to be free.


I am not sure why an award ticket should pay fuel surcharge but I suppose the argument is that the miles were earned on cheaper fuel.


Yes, it is still good value but you would not want to ever book a "free" ticket in economy would you. As well as your miles you would pay about £350 for a ticket that others may have paid only £600 for.

London is a killer, isn't it, or to be precise Heathrow is, so it is the place to avoid if possible. Point of Interest to anyone who has dual FFPs, the Singapore Airways one has just changed, it is worth looking at again, the London run is cheaper:)

The fuel surcharge is of course purely driven by the airline. Most Asian airlines charge this. And it gets worse with distance. Last year I wanted to do an award ticket from PEK-BKK-LAX return...which I have done before. But I had to abandon the effort, since the "award" ticket was going to cost me over USD 700! :eek: About 500 of which was fuel surcharge.

As for taxes, yeah, Heathrow is on the "To Avoid" list just for this reason.

London is a killer, isn't it, or to be precise Heathrow is, so it is the place to avoid if possible. Point of Interest to anyone who has dual FFPs, the Singapore Airways one has just changed, it is worth looking at again, the London run is cheaper:)

Yes, I have flown SQ to Phuket via Singapore a few times but I fly over Phuket on the way so it adds at least an hour to the journey. Then I have to suffer Silk Air and no use of a lounge with my ROP Gold prior to the Silk Air flights. I have not tried SQ business as I can get TG first for about the same price.

I've just done a similar trip to Phuket but to avoid the extortionate uk taxes I simply jumped onto the train to Paris and departed from there

The added advantage is you also get the first suites on the 777 aircraft

London Taxes are huge, but to link them to the PM's father in law is a little but of a leap of logic!

Many savvy UK residents now fly via Europe to avoid this APD.

I've just done a similar trip to Phuket but to avoid the extortionate uk taxes I simply jumped onto the train to Paris and departed from there

The added advantage is you also get the first suites on the 777 aircraft

How much is the tax for BKK-CDG?

The taxes on the next Paris flight are 274 pounds (never knew I didn't have pound button, do they only put these on European computers, don't have a Euro one either:o)

London Taxes are huge, but to link them to the PM's father in law is a little but of a leap of logic!

Many savvy UK residents now fly via Europe to avoid this APD.

Perhaps I was helping to explain what the UK government does with some of the APD tax (and other taxes):
Subsidises electricity generation by wind farms.
This subsidy directly leads to a financial benefit to the deputy PM and the PM's father-in-law.
I regard this as lining their own pockets as mentioned earlier in the post.
The logic seems ok to me.


I live 30 minutes from the M25 and my record is home to LHR SAS lounge in one hour six minutes and a total sixteen and a quarter hours to Phuket home so whilst I might save money flying via Europe it would not be worth the hassle and extra journey time.

Extra charges ( which "taxes" do they mean ?) FRA-BKK F plus BKK-China C , all return , are 483 Euros .

If I buy 11 bottles of wine in my local wine shop , bottle No.12 is free . It is not 2,89 Euro " taxes " .:confused: