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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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(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 Jul 18, 2014, 9:41 am
  #46  
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Originally Posted by JDiver
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...
It threw me for a minute when you moved this.

Often times, booking the open jaw is not worth the extra time getting to DUB, overnighting if needed, etc. This time...yeah...

The agent was perfectly nice, but their knowledge of geography...well...

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Old Jul 18, 2014, 9:47 am
  #47  
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Originally Posted by JDiver
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...
It's all PR. In the same pseudo-speak air is not free, but it's tax-waived. In real-life its doubling for premium seats is a luxury tax.
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Old Oct 16, 2014, 12:39 pm
  #48  
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Originally Posted by JDiver
Connecting within 24 hours without a through ticket / with two separate tickets (as indicated above by teemuflyer ^, and verified by my experience today - and previously, but today I took the time to pay attention to the process, as the EXP agent didn't know what the heck I was talking about):

We are connecting at LHR on a (return legs) KEF-LHR-ORD-SFO FI to AA, separate tickets, but (barely) with 24 hour connection. Contacting AA, we were able to give the FI (Icelander) ticket number - this allowed the Rate Desk to view the FI (1008-) ticket, and delete the APD from our (001) AA ticket, resulting in a cost savings $452.40 for two people.

This took some time - over thirty minutes for the EXP agent to get the Rate Desk to research it, view our FI tickets and make the requisite changes to our tickets. Interestingly, the otherwise capable EXP agent did not know this could be done; he thanked me for the opportunity to learn something new. I smiled all the way to the bank.

Off topic, as one ticket was a paid ticket and the other an award ticket, asking the agent to associate the two PNRs with a "TCP" (To Complete Party) took little time and easily got it done. When I went to get the paid ticket at the local airport ticket counter (I was using a voucher for partial payment) the longtime Ticket Agent (ex-TW, iirc) knew how to accept and document the voucher, but did not know about the "TCP" annotation in the remarks section of the PNR.

Knowing all this stuff from FlyerTalk is, as they say in New Orleans, a nice lagniappe (in southern Cuba it's "la apa" - what you possibly didn't know is the term is from the Andean Kechwa / Quechua / Runasimi language). FT ^!
Is this possible only with AA? Or can others do it? Thinking of booking AA metal with AS miles.
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Old Oct 16, 2014, 2:48 pm
  #49  
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Originally Posted by UA Fan
Is this possible only with AA? Or can others do it? Thinking of booking AA metal with AS miles.
I've only done it with AA connecting onward with other airlines or vice versa, but as the APD has the same rules for all, it should work. Whether agents we deal with know or not, as well. (When one thinks Dublin is in the U.K., I wonder where s/he might think Belfast is? )
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Old Dec 6, 2014, 7:17 pm
  #50  
 
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Originally Posted by pandaperth
For flights to LAX in business (source - itasoftware.com)
The French Solidarity tax is EUR40
The UK APD is GBP134
I have CDG-LHR-LAX and LHR-LAX was upgraded to business by SWU recently.
AA charged $50.70 when it's reissued. CDG-LHR is economy by the way.

In my case the $50.70 tax is the French Solidarity tax and the UK APD is not due because it's only 3 hours connection at LHR, correct?
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Old Dec 6, 2014, 8:04 pm
  #51  
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sounds correct Approx EUR40 Solidarity tax to pay which is approx USD50
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Old Dec 7, 2014, 1:32 am
  #52  
 
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Doesn't look like this has been mentioned anywhere (on the AA pages) so here goes....

UK APD is being scrapped (on coach tickets) for children under 12 (on day of travel) from May 2015. This will be broadened to include children under the age of 16 (on day of travel) from May 2016.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ldren-scrapped
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Old Dec 7, 2014, 3:47 am
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by Stripy
Doesn't look like this has been mentioned anywhere (on the AA pages) so here goes....

UK APD is being scrapped (on coach tickets) for children under 12 (on day of travel) from May 2015. This will be broadened to include children under the age of 16 (on day of travel) from May 2016.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ldren-scrapped
^

And a reminder that the 2 highest bands of APD (Bands C and D) will be abolished from April 2015. All flights over 2000 miles will be charged at the same band B rate from next year potentially saving up to 52 pp for the longest flights in premium cabins
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Old Dec 7, 2014, 9:58 am
  #54  
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Originally Posted by britenbsas
^

And a reminder that the 2 highest bands of APD (Bands C and D) will be abolished from April 2015. All flights over 2000 miles will be charged at the same band B rate from next year potentially saving up to 52 pp for the longest flights in premium cabins
Originally Posted by Stripy
Doesn't look like this has been mentioned anywhere (on the AA pages) so here goes....

UK APD is being scrapped (on coach tickets) for children under 12 (on day of travel) from May 2015. This will be broadened to include children under the age of 16 (on day of travel) from May 2016.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ldren-scrapped
Added to the wiki; thank you both. (Any member with 90/90 can edit the wiki.)
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Old Dec 7, 2014, 10:20 am
  #55  
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Originally Posted by Stripy
Doesn't look like this has been mentioned anywhere (on the AA pages) so here goes....

UK APD is being scrapped (on coach tickets) for children under 12 (on day of travel) from May 2015. This will be broadened to include children under the age of 16 (on day of travel) from May 2016.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ldren-scrapped
How generous.
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Old Feb 11, 2015, 2:14 pm
  #56  
 
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Hi, I had booked a flight, LAX-LHR-Croatia, return Croatia - LHR-LAX. I had 2 separate itineraries one for the LAX-LHR I purchased and the croatia flights were purchased on miles, all on AA/BA. Today I upgraded my LAX-LHR using evip's, I was able to avoid the luxury departure tax by showing that I was in LHR < 24 hours each way (Thank you everyone on this forum for getting me that far). My question is when I originally purchased the LAX-LHR in Y, they charged me APD, should the APD be refundable in this instance? EXP didn't seem to think so, that I only avoid the extra luxury tax with my stay in London being less than 24 hours. Hope you all can help. Thanks,
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Old Feb 11, 2015, 5:09 pm
  #57  
 
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Originally Posted by aaflyer1
Hi, I had booked a flight, LAX-LHR-Croatia, return Croatia - LHR-LAX. I had 2 separate itineraries one for the LAX-LHR I purchased and the croatia flights were purchased on miles, all on AA/BA. Today I upgraded my LAX-LHR using evip's, I was able to avoid the luxury departure tax by showing that I was in LHR < 24 hours each way (Thank you everyone on this forum for getting me that far). My question is when I originally purchased the LAX-LHR in Y, they charged me APD, should the APD be refundable in this instance? EXP didn't seem to think so, that I only avoid the extra luxury tax with my stay in London being less than 24 hours. Hope you all can help. Thanks,
The APD "luxury tax" only applies for flights originating out of LHR. There should not have been any UK departure tax on the LAX-LHR segment but there should be something like "PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE $81.80 USD UNITED KINGDOM" for you LHR-LAX and no "luxury tax since you aren't originating there.
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Old Feb 11, 2015, 5:40 pm
  #58  
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Originally Posted by aaflyer1
Hi, I had booked a flight, LAX-LHR-Croatia, return Croatia - LHR-LAX. I had 2 separate itineraries one for the LAX-LHR I purchased and the croatia flights were purchased on miles, all on AA/BA. Today I upgraded my LAX-LHR using evip's, I was able to avoid the luxury departure tax by showing that I was in LHR < 24 hours each way (Thank you everyone on this forum for getting me that far). My question is when I originally purchased the LAX-LHR in Y, they charged me APD, should the APD be refundable in this instance? EXP didn't seem to think so, that I only avoid the extra luxury tax with my stay in London being less than 24 hours. Hope you all can help. Thanks,
LAX-LHR incurs no Air Passenger Duty, so there's no refund due.
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Old Feb 11, 2015, 6:05 pm
  #59  
 
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So when I booked my flight from LAX-LHR-LAX....I have a charge of the below...clearly for the return flight from London.

"Air Passenger Duty (APD) $108.00 USD
UNITED KINGDOM "

Then I went and booked the flight From LHR-ZAG-LHR on a separate itin (all with being in LHR < 24 hrs). Do I need to call AA back and tell them to refund me the $108? I have spoken to 2 agents and they say they will not refund that.

Thanks for all of your help.
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Old Feb 11, 2015, 9:50 pm
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by aaflyer1
So when I booked my flight from LAX-LHR-LAX....I have a charge of the below...clearly for the return flight from London.

"Air Passenger Duty (APD) $108.00 USD
UNITED KINGDOM "

Then I went and booked the flight From LHR-ZAG-LHR on a separate itin (all with being in LHR < 24 hrs). Do I need to call AA back and tell them to refund me the $108? I have spoken to 2 agents and they say they will not refund that.

Thanks for all of your help.
Pursuant to the UK regulations, if you can present one single itinerary from a travel agent or AA that establishes an under 24 hour stay, then you do not need to pay the APD.

HOWEVER, AA has no way to implement this law. If it is in separate pnrs they charge you.

Some have been successful requesting a refund.
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