Originally Posted by
NickB
With separate tickets, UK APD is always due. It is a condition for treating the connection as a connection for APD purposes that both flights be on the same ticket. It is not like the US domestic tax where domestic tax is not due if connecting to/from an intl flight even on separate tickets as long as the tickets are cross-referenced.
I've read reports here of people doing just that- getting AA to have the one ticket "reference" the other (which, I believe, is close to the actual wording of the tax document) and have avoided the taxes. This is far from standard, but more than a few have reported it.
(I don't have time at present to find it, but I believe that these are in the main APD thread here on AA.)
Cheers.