Originally Posted by
Prospero
The taxes are hefty and by splitting your itinerary into two separate bookings, the HM treasury is dinging you twice over, first on the LHR-BLR, and again on the LHR-ORD.
The only way to avoid the UK APD charges is to book this as a single, through ticket.
I've had success having AA delete the APD on under 24 hour layovers connecting to other airlines (most recently, FI). I needed the ticket number and details for the connecting flight, and then they were able to do this and modify the fees on my ticket.
Of course LHR-BLR will incur some hefty fuel surcharges on its own.
Originally Posted by
raucous
$948 fuel surcharge on RT LHR-BLR? Dont think that's accurate. Also if you price it out directly SFO-BLR taxes are not nearly this high. These are luxury taxes out of the UK for business/first class seats. ...
It's the Air Passenger Duty, an
Excise Tax, that is variable depending on route length - and the standard rate is charged for seats in excess of 40" seat pitch; a reduced rate is charged for seats with pitch under 40", generally speaking, but APD is still due (assuming flights originate in the UK or connection is over 23:59) for Economy seats.