dieswaytoofast

I'm currently booked on a WAW -> LHR -> JFK leg on the 30th of October.
I'd like to switch it to
• WAW -> LHR on the 27th (arrives at LHR at 2:30pm)
• LHR -> JFK on the 28th (leaves LHR at 9:50am)

I *thought* that since the connection time in LHR is less than 24 hours, APD doesn't apply, but per the agent, this isn't the case. He said something like "If you stay overnight, it's a Stopover, and APD applies..."

Is that actually the case? Am I missing something? Should I HUCA?

Thanks!

Airprox

No, no, yes although it is unlikely that the issue is with the agent you spoke to, and more likely someone from fares who worked out the change, and phoning back may just get them to read the same notes again rather than calculate the correct total.

KARFA

The agent is not correct. If you are doing

• WAW -> LHR on the 27th (arrives at LHR at 2:30pm)
• LHR -> JFK on the 28th (leaves LHR at 9:50am)

you would not pay APD. If you actually price up that as a one way on ba,com no APD is charged.

Globaliser

On the other hand, there are many possible genuine reasons why the price might go up when making the change; and there is always a possibility that the agent was just making up a reason to get the OP off the phone.

It's not clear whether the OP actually got a price quote that was unexpectedly high, and the agent was purporting to explain that; or whether this was a question and answer in the abstract without any connection to an actual quote for the change, which might (if obtained) turn out to be entirely as expected.

As always, the best thing to do, if you can, is to work out yourself in advance how much the change should cost, and then see whether BA will get it right. (IME, the answer has always been yes - but I know that others have sometimes had problems.)

dieswaytoofast

The agent broke down the fees for me - it was the expected $500 for the change fee, *and* around $400 (or so) for APD.
I asked again about APD, given that the layover was for less than 24 hours, and the agent said something to the effect of "other airlines might do that, but for us, an overnight is a stopover"

Baffled...

MSPeconomist

$400 sounds like a lot of APD, assuming one person, especially since the original ticket apparently included the other taxes and fees. What cabin class/fare booking class are you using?

I'm suspicious that $400 is a fare differential, although the agent could be adding a stopover fee (often $100 on international tickets IME).

Can the OP look at the fare rules to see whether "stopovers" (which this wouldn't be, but if the agent thinks it is, that agent could be attempting to reticketed in a higher fare class that does allow stopovers) are allowed and whether they're associated with an additional fee.

KARFA

For a LHR-JFK in W/J/F APD would be £172 so ~USD 225. Basically flights longer than 2000 miles and in anything other than the lowest class it is £172.

I think Globaliser is right in that the agent was misidentifying some other element of the TFC/change fee/fare difference due as APD.

dieswaytoofast

HUCA worked, on the 3rd try 🤯
The bottom line - APD should *not* have been charged, and both the website, and the agent's instructions were wrong. However, it turns out that this can be processed without APD *only* by doing the whole thing manually - it took a while for the whole process to complete..

Incidentally, the APD came to ~$350, not $400 (Club World. Dunno if that makes a difference)

Thanks all for the help!

UKtravelbear

$350 is certainly not APD as it is a fixed amount as per Karfa's post above

More likely down to BA change fees, fare difference and surcharges.

dieswaytoofast

I could have asked them for more details, but frankly, once they said I didn't owe anything . other than the initial $500, I didn't really want to get in the way of it Getting Done 🤗

brithk

Here are the rules on APD and connections.

(https://www.gov.uk/guidance/air-pass...nected-flights)

Domestic connections

Flights are classified as connecting based on the arrival time of the first flight and the departure time of the second flight. To qualify as a connected flight, these rules apply:If the first flight is scheduled to arrive between:Then the second flight must be scheduled to depart:4am and 5pmwithin 6 hours of the scheduled arrival of first flight5pm and midnightat or before 10am the following daymidnight and 4amat or before 10am the same day

International connections

Where the second of 2 flights is an international flight (from the UK to an international destination), the flights are connected if its scheduled time of departure is within 24 hours of the scheduled time of arrival of the first flight.

Globaliser

APD is USD 220.90. So something else must have gone wrong here.

Anyway, if the OP is now sorted, then all of that is academic.

Often1

Really should not be that difficult as HMRC defines a "connected flight" at 24 hours. Period. No need to even consider all of the fare rules.

"Where the second of 2 flights is an international flight (from the UK to an international destination), the flights are connected if its scheduled time of departure is within 24 hours of the scheduled time of arrival of the first flight."
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/air-pass...nected-flights