Originally Posted by
danger
In addition to the USD125 re-route fee I'd be up for and additional USD674.94 in taxes for KWI which seems huge.
Yes that certainly does seem huge
Two important points. First, my ticket involved an involuntary re-route that resulted in CX becoming involved with my AA ticket. As a result, AA can't see that I've actually paid the UK APD or whatever the appropriate taxes are for a stopover in LHR, rather than a transit. Therefore, the above amounts included "about $300" for these UK taxes that I have actually paid. But even at about USD370 the taxes for KWI seem ridiculous.
Perhaps you should get CX to do the re-route?
On itasofware there are NO differences in taxes and surcharges between flying LHR-JED and LHR-KWI.
Both have UK-APD of GBP138, UK-PSC of GBP44.96 and BA-YQ of GBP159.50.
So a total of GBP342.46 (approx USD556)
(note: I've assumed you're travelling in a premium cabin and so do not get the 50% discount on APD that cattle class pax get)
But, second, as Calchas suggested, AA said the taxes are re-assessed on all remaining unflown sectors, not just the one final sector I'm flying. Therefore, maybe the USD370-odd is not just KWI taxes but increased taxes on the five remaining sectors I have.
Interesting to know
Personally, I am not aware of any recent significant changes in taxes
Or of significant changes in exchange rates, which might? impact the total taxes when expressed in USD
Finally, while waiting for the RTW desk to contact the rates desk I looked up KWI on Wikivoyage. In big letters: "Entry will be refused to citizens of Israel and to those who show stamps and/or visas from Israel". However, I called the Kuwait Embassy in Canberra this morning and the lady I spoke with says it's no issue for an Australian passport holder. I would feel better if that was written somewhere so I'll have a look in the trip report thread.
I've just done some checking in EF
For Australian, UK and US passport holders there is no mention of Israeli stamps
Whereas for Israeli passport holders, it states "Admission and transit is refused to holders of Israeli travel document(s), even if not leaving the aircraft and proceeding by the same flight."