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

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Old Jul 18, 2014, 8:16 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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)

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Old Nov 11, 2013, 7:51 am
  #1  
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UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures (Master Thread)

Any further progress as to avoiding APD if connecting on two separate tickets?
I currently have a BA itinerary (LHR-MUC) nested among my AA roundtrip ORD-LHR. Awaiting mileage co-pay on the return LHR-ORD. Since I'm technically connecting, has anyone found either:
1 - a way to link the itineraries to show as one (one booked direct AA the other BA)?
2 - a way of proving the connection to avoid APD upon the upgrade clearing?

Both are paid ticket if it matters...
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 8:34 am
  #2  
 
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Originally Posted by porsche534
Any further progress as to avoiding APD if connecting on two separate tickets?
I currently have a BA itinerary (LHR-MUC) nested among my AA roundtrip ORD-LHR. Awaiting mileage co-pay on the return LHR-ORD. Since I'm technically connecting, has anyone found either:
1 - a way to link the itineraries to show as one (one booked direct AA the other BA)?
2 - a way of proving the connection to avoid APD upon the upgrade clearing?

Both are paid ticket if it matters...
Call AA and tell them about your nested BA ticket. You'll need to have the record locator or ticket number. They are able to look it up.

I've done this many times as I've found nested tickets cheaper intra-Europe than a multi-segment ticket when coming from the US.
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 9:28 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by teemuflyer
Call AA and tell them about your nested BA ticket. You'll need to have the record locator or ticket number. They are able to look it up.

I've done this many times as I've found nested tickets cheaper intra-Europe than a multi-segment ticket when coming from the US.
I'm surprised they will allow this. Won't people just buy a refundable ticket and then cancel it?
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Old Nov 11, 2013, 10:01 am
  #4  
 
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Originally Posted by UA Fan
I'm surprised they will allow this. Won't people just buy a refundable ticket and then cancel it?
They sometimes require you to call them back after your flight arrives to validate the connection.
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Old Jan 20, 2014, 7:45 pm
  #5  
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Connecting within 24 hours without a through ticket

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 ñapa" - what you possibly didn't know is the term is from the Andean Kechwa / Quechua / Runasimi language). FT ^!

Last edited by JDiver; Jan 20, 2014 at 7:52 pm
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Old Jan 20, 2014, 8:47 pm
  #6  
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Truly great post.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 1:14 pm
  #7  
 
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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.
Thanks so much for this detailed post, as I've wondered for some time about how to make dual ticket situations like this work and avoid the now truly ridiculously expensive APD. In my case, I'm often on BA from some African or EU location and want to have a slightly under 24hr stopover in London.
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Old Jan 21, 2014, 6:48 pm
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What happens if you later change or cancel the flight into LHR? Does AA later re-verify that you actually arrived by air to LHR?
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Old Jan 22, 2014, 5:49 pm
  #9  
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Originally Posted by SJC AA
What happens if you later change or cancel the flight into LHR? Does AA later re-verify that you actually arrived by air to LHR?
My guess is they can as they viewed the FI ticket first and can document it in the PNR to check.
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Old Jan 23, 2014, 2:55 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by AA_EXP09
My guess is they can as they viewed the FI ticket first and can document it in the PNR to check.
My biggest worry would be that an agent may check on the day of departure and insist on immediate payment at risk of denied boarding. I would not suggest this as a way of APD avoidance.
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Old Jan 23, 2014, 8:23 pm
  #11  
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Originally Posted by Microwave
My biggest worry would be that an agent may check on the day of departure and insist on immediate payment at risk of denied boarding. I would not suggest this as a way of APD avoidance.
I would do this but only for legitimate cases of 2 separate tickets.
I'm not sure if I really want to risk $200+ though if I cannot find an agent that will do this for me...
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Old Mar 19, 2014, 4:23 pm
  #12  
 
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APD to DECREASE from April 2015!

Finally some good news. Per the announcement in today's Budget, the 2 highest bands of APD will be abolished from April 2015 and all flights over 2000 miles will be charged at the same band B rate.

This will mean that the APD I regularly pay on LHR-EZE flights in biz will decrease from £188 to £134 ($310 to $220) at today's prices so a good saving (unless of course the airlines "adjust" fares as a result!)
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Old Mar 19, 2014, 4:49 pm
  #13  
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Originally Posted by britenbsas
Finally some good news. Per the announcement in today's Budget, the 2 highest bands of APD will be abolished from April 2015 and all flights over 2000 miles will be charged at the same band B rate.

This will mean that the APD I regularly pay on LHR-EZE flights in biz will decrease from £188 to £134 ($310 to $220) at today's prices so a good saving (unless of course the airlines "adjust" fares as a result!)
Indeed. It will have no impact on UK-US trips since they were already in band B
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Old Mar 19, 2014, 4:51 pm
  #14  
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Originally Posted by britenbsas
Finally some good news. Per the announcement in today's Budget, the 2 highest bands of APD will be abolished from April 2015 and all flights over 2000 miles will be charged at the same band B rate.

This will mean that the APD I regularly pay on LHR-EZE flights in biz will decrease from £188 to £134 ($310 to $220) at today's prices so a good saving (unless of course the airlines "adjust" fares as a result!)
That is good news - no more discrimination depending on whether my flight originates in NYC or SFO. But still quite punitive - and I continue to advise friends, relatives to stopover at LHR on their way into Europe, rather than on the way home, so as to minimize this obnoxious levy.
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Old Mar 19, 2014, 5:01 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by Boraxo
That is good news - no more discrimination depending on whether my flight originates in NYC or SFO
Flights from the UK to the USA are charged at the same rate based on the distance to the capital city so the APD for LHR-JFK is the same as that for LHR-SFO or LHR-HNL
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