aristoph

I thought a new thread was merited as I started the old one and this important issue had been raised but then lost in there. Confirmed by Mr Brown himself this morning, he has told the airlines to go back and surcharge those of us who have travel plans post February 1st already booked and paid for.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6175479.stm

Witch

"When the airlines charge surcharges for fuel they charge it on existing tickets as well as new tickets and holiday operators have often done that as well"

This part of his statement isn't even correct - BA have never come after me and added an increase in surcharge to a ticket I've already booked for the future.

How on earth is this going to work?

Kibison

Still seems a bit ambiguous:

He said there have been "discussions between ourselves and the industry and these continue".

aristoph

Fingers crossed, but there doesn't seem much room for negotiation with Gordon.

"I think that the whole issue of the air passenger duty tax has got to be seen in the context that this is a departures tax. It's not bookings tax, it is not a tickets tax, it is a departure tax. "

Raffles

Time to get those check-in desks dusted down and open again, BA ...

Looks like PYOBP is likely to be suspended from Feb 1st, either unilaterally (if BA cannot the IT to just block early bookers) or just for those people who already have bookings.

leaveamessage

Perhaps they should go round the cabin with a bucket?

Piss take

Gaza

Fundementaly correct I'm afraid. Airlines only have to account for APD once the passenger has actually taken the flight. This means that when someone is a no-show on an inflexible and makes no effort to claim the tax back the airline can pocketed the cash rather than give it to HMCE.

There are many countries around the world who levy tax at departure. I'm much happier with the UK system that means it is collected at point of sale, even if it does mean that when the tax changes I have to pay the difference.

PhilH

I'm very surprised that Gordon has done this. He's usually much more conniving. There are maybe hundreds of thousands of passengers who are going to get contacted and told to pay more - which will severely p*ss them off, especially when told its a backdated government imposed tax.

Very un-stealthy for our normally much more light-fingered Gordon.

Likely to cause much consternation in Labour-supporting middle classes, just about the same time the buffoon becomes PM. Then again, when you've p*ssed away billions of taxpayers money on nearly a million extra government non-jobs, I suppose the extra £100m it will raise is hard to turn down.

philco

Just typical! I have always hated the departure tax for its total insanity. Nearly as bad as the war fund-raising window tax of some king of ours.. or the minute limits in the early 70's on how much cash you could take abroad with you stamped & annotated in your passport!! God help us - how long before we are all the way back to that level of nonsense!
Grrr

koksy

Hang on, I thought this extra tax was supposed to discourage people from flying? If that's the case why is he trying to claim the extra from people who have already booked a flight and so (in many cases) are committed to flying anyway? Will I be able to cancel a non refundable ticket if I don't want to pay the extra tax?

Kiwi Flyer

You're right that some countries collect at the airport, NZ being one of them. Any increase can easily be collected, as long as passengers are made sufficiently aware they need to have more cash/credit on them. It is up to airline and travel agent to inform passengers of the increase.

However, collecting an increase in tax at check in for places which normally collect tax at ticketing is a recipe for disaster IMHO. The systems won't be set up to deal with the extra cash handling and massive increase in credit card processing. The airlines and travel agents also have a harder time convincing some pax of the need to have spare cash/credit on them, since wasn't previously the case of any need (ignoring parking fees, shopping etc which BAA would love pax to spend money on while at the mall err airport).

I'm glad I dont have any UK travel early February. Expect big delays at check in and delayed flights as a consequence.

Kiwi Flyer

To get a refund would require goodwill on BA's (or other airline) part. You must be joking!

Of course you can cancel - but don't expect a refund of anything other than taxes paid.

Swanhunter

Good grief, this is going to be a logistical nightmare to manage at airports that aren't designed to manage large volume of people paying additional taxes. Should take the already shambolic T4 premium experience to new queueing heights.

Jenbel

If you refuse to pay the tax, presumably BA won't let you fly. Would that count as denied boarding?!

(Yes, I know it probably won't... but it's a nice thought that we could invoke EU comp!)

Gaza

There is nothing backdated about it. As I said above the airline are only have to account for APD once the passenger has actually taken the flight. The fact that an airline choose to collect the tax at the point of sale and then pass it on to the Government after the flight is not the Governments issue. For a long time airlines have collected the tax and when pax have not turned up or reclaimed the tax then they have benefited.

Airlines will now be faced with two choices:

(1) Decide that trying to collect the additional charge is more hassle/costly/customer unfriendly and swallow the loss

(2) Make sure they have systems in place to collect the additional charge before the flight or at check-in.