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UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures (Master Thread)

Old Jul 18, 2014, 8:16 am
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Last edit by: Prospero
(Link) to United Kingdom Air Passenger Duty (APD) Charged UK Departing Passengers

Link to html full APD tax law

APD rates as of 01 Apr 2020:
Band A (0 to 2,000 miles) 13 Reduced, 26 Standard
Band B (anything over 2,000 miles): Reduced 80, Standard 176

Infants and children
Children below the age of 2 years who are not allocated a separate seat before boarding the aircraft are not chargeable passengers. If a seat is purchased for the infant then APD is chargeable.

From 1 May 2015, children who are under the age of 12 years on the date of the flight, and in the lowest class of travel, are not chargeable passengers. Children 12 years and over, or travelling in any other class, are chargeable passengers and APD is due.

From 1 March 2016 children who are under the age of 16 years on the date of the flight, and in the lowest class of travel, are not chargeable passengers. Children 16 years and over, or travelling in any other class, are chargeable passengers and APD is due.

General notes:
distances calculated between national capitals - e.g. HNL calculated as WAS.
Link to Source: U.K. Excise Notice 550: Air Passenger Duty

APD is due when passengers pay to upgrade any stage of their journey

N.B. Arriving at a UK airport will not incur APD. Connections with less than 24 hours will generally not require APD*; you may have to have the rate desk intervene if you are not on a through ticket. As noted, "band distance" is calculated Capital to Capital.

APD is not charged on flights originating in the Scottish Highlands (INV) or Islands. APD is not payable on direct, Band B, flights departing Northern Ireland.

* Connecting flights exemption (UK APD regulation)
The connected flights must be detailed on the same ticket or conjunction tickets to qualify for the exemption. Tickets can only be regarded as conjunction tickets if:

a. they are in one booklet, or
b. where they are in separate booklets:
each refers to the other and states that they are to be read in conjunction
there is a summary of the flights constituting the passengers journey including the flights in question

Although the flights may meet all the other criteria for determining whether Two flights are connected, they will only qualify for the exemption if the connection is evidenced on the ticket or a flight summary.

AA (c/o JonNYC, post #219):


septix by JonNYCme, on Flickr
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UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures (Master Thread)

Old Jun 28, 2014, 5:49 pm
  #31  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
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the BA fuel surcharge is US$407 if economy
$611 if business.

no way you can avoid those, even if on a single ticket.
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Old Jun 28, 2014, 7:47 pm
  #32  
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Spoke with EXP helpdesk and they said it's not possible to join revenue segments with award segments in the same ticket. If they are ticketed separately then the taxes are computed on origin/destination city pairs, and since you can't join revenue/award segments it wouldn't be possible to price it out as SFO-BLR and thus avoid the LHR origination/destination taxes -- or so they say at least."

Call AA back, and tell them to try harder. As long as AA can "see" the award flights on BA, AA should be able to put both bookings on a single "summary" of the bookings -- not a single PNR -- and not have to pay the APD to HMRC. But as noted above, nothing can be done about the fuel surcharges on BA metal, unless you can find a routing on some other partner carriers (like 9W, QR, or EY) that will require an additional connection somewhere.

Other FTers have reported not having to pay the APD when flying into London on a BA-issued award ticket, and then out of LHR on a connecting AA cash ticket from LHR to the U.S. If AA can do that, then they should certainly be able to accommodate you when both tickets (cash and award) are issued on AA stock.
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Old Jun 28, 2014, 9:15 pm
  #33  
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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.

Last edited by JDiver; Jun 28, 2014 at 9:23 pm
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Old Jun 28, 2014, 9:20 pm
  #34  
 
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I too have been successful of avoiding connecting "taxes" at LHR by calling the EXP desk and "connecting the PNRs". I've not done it this year but not aware of any recent changes.
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Old Jun 28, 2014, 9:30 pm
  #35  
 
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I have successfully had the APD deleted when using separate PNRs connecting through LHR in the past as well. In my case, one was an award on BA (booked using AA miles on 001 ticket stock) while the other was a paid AA ticket. They had to take it to the rate desk and cross reference the ticket numbers in each PNR, but it could be done. HUACA.
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Old Jun 29, 2014, 12:11 am
  #36  
 
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Thanks for the clarifications and recommendations everyone, will try to get the APD deleted by connecting PNRs.
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Old Jun 29, 2014, 6:58 am
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by JDiver
It's the Air Passenger Duty, an Excise Tax, that is variable depending on route length...
That's not entirely true. APD is based on the distance from LON to the capital city of the destination (and seat pitch) rather than route length itself. So APD is the same for a LON-BOS ticket (3276 miles) as it is for LON-HNL (7240miles).
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Old Jun 29, 2014, 8:04 am
  #38  
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Originally Posted by TEX277
That's not entirely true. APD is based on the distance from LON to the capital city of the destination (and seat pitch) rather than route length itself. So APD is the same for a LON-BOS ticket (3276 miles) as it is for LON-HNL (7240miles).
Well, the bands are based on distance, as defined by the APD itself, and seat pitch (and actually several other conditions in certain cases) as I mentioned. I didn't post the entire rules for the APD as this is not the thread to do that in. (This is: UK APD / Air Passenger Duty and increases again - 1 Apr 2013.)
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Old Jun 29, 2014, 10:12 am
  #39  
 
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Originally Posted by JDiver
Well, the bands are based on distance, as defined by the APD itself, and seat pitch (and actually several other conditions in certain cases) as I mentioned. I didn't post the entire rules for the APD as this is not the thread to do that in. (This is: UK APD / Air Passenger Duty and increases again - 1 Apr 2013.)
Agreed but just to be clear it is nothing whatsoever to do with 'route length' as you originally stated but rather the the distance from LON to the capital city of the destination'. For example, LON-GIG-LAX-HNL (14500miles) would incur (all other factors being even) the same APD as LON-BOS (3300 miles).
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Old Jun 29, 2014, 10:20 am
  #40  
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Add a connection to each flight?

SFO-LHR-AMS

AMS-LHR-BLR
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Old Jun 30, 2014, 11:59 pm
  #41  
 
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For completeness/interest, realized that aa.com does break out the taxes/fees, and for the LHR-BLR routing on BA, the breakdown is roughly 2/5 taxes, 3/5 BA surcharge:


CARRIER-IMPOSED FEES $543.20 USD
PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE $3.65 USD
INDIA
DEVELOPMENT FEE $11.20 USD
INDIA
USER DEVELOPMENT FEE $25.08 USD
INDIA
PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE $75.60 USD
UNITED KINGDOM
Air Passenger Duty (APD) $289.50 USD
UNITED KINGDOM

Total Adult taxes and carrier-imposed fees $948.23 USD Per person
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Old Jul 1, 2014, 2:33 am
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by JDiver
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.
Thanks JDiver, just ticketed and all told nesting the two separate PNRs under a TCP per this post of yours worked perfectly. Taxes dropped by 2/3, a substantial amount.
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Old Jul 1, 2014, 7:54 am
  #43  
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Originally Posted by raucous
Thanks JDiver, just ticketed and all told nesting the two separate PNRs under a TCP per this post of yours worked perfectly. Taxes dropped by 2/3, a substantial amount.
Goodonya! And thanks for sharing your experience.
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Old Jul 18, 2014, 6:27 am
  #44  
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Originally Posted by g1ant
+1, and you get go visit Guinness and Jameson too.
Usually what you save on a flight from the UK to DUB is paid for by the saving in APD.
I do open jaw and fly into the UK but out of Dublin.
Just booked DUB-ORD-YYZ-LHR to head back for the Chicago Marathon in October via the EXP desk as it was a ~$400 savings over flying ex-LHR. Even with the LHR-DUB and hotel the night before, I'll save $200.

Gist of my conversation after requesting an EVIP be applied:
EXP Desk: If your UG clears (DUB-ORD), you'll be assessed the luxury tax.
Me: Why?
EXP Desk: DUB is in the UK.
Me: Um, no, it's in Ireland...

When I went into the reservation online, I thought it was a bit weird they did not automatically request the ORD-YYZ UG...clicked that box and hit request!

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Old Jul 18, 2014, 8:24 am
  #45  
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Originally Posted by rwoman
Just booked DUB-ORD-YYZ-LHR to head back for the Chicago Marathon in October via the EXP desk as it was a ~$400 savings over flying ex-LHR. Even with the LHR-DUB and hotel the night before, I'll save $200.

Gist of my conversation after requesting an EVIP be applied:
EXP Desk: If your UG clears (DUB-ORD), you'll be assessed the luxury tax.
Me: Why?
EXP Desk: DUB is in the UK.
Me: Um, no, it's in Ireland...

When I went into the reservation online, I thought it was a bit weird they did not automatically request the ORD-YYZ UG...clicked that box and hit request!

AmAAzing. I've found some agents are geographically impaired. One insisted there were no award seats in J on QF on a particular date (LAX-ADL) - when I pointed out she was not looking at LAX-BNE-ADL, but rather only SYD and MEL, her comment was "Oh, BRIZZ-BAYNE!"

And yes, some insist on calling it a luxury tax - but the APD is the standard rate for ~anything 40" pitch or greater, and it's the discounted rate for anything less. Nasty little money grabbing by HM Revenue and Customs...
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