We are flying BA from Cyprus to the Far East via the UK and have a few questions. I’m sadly now a lowly Blue and it is a long time since I flew First.

My itinerary is Paphos to Manchester (cheap economy (GB)) connecting on the same day Manchester – Heathrow – Tokyo (Amex 241 in First). Returning from Hong Kong – Heathrow – Manchester (Amex 241 in First) connecting on the same day Manchester – Paphos (cheap economy (GB)).

1. Do I have to pay the Ł80 Airport Passenger Duty if I am only in transit?
2. What lounges will I be able to access? I understand I will have access to the LHR T1 First and Arrivals lounge but what else is available to me? Can I use Manchester or Paphos lounges?
3. As a First passenger with no status do I qualify for access to One World lounges or do you have to use BA lounges where they are available? (I am thinking particularly about Hong Kong).

Any assistance and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Have a look at this website from HMRC: Air Passenger Duty.

(1) Since they are ( or it would seem to be ) 2 separate tickets, then yes. If it is one single issued ticket, then you would not be charged

(2) you are definately entitled to use the Manchester Terraces lounge on the outbound. At Paphos on the outbound and Manchester on the inbound , I am not sure what BAs policy is when travelling on a separate ticket

(3) Yes. You can go and use the CX Wing or Pier at HKG

Dave

APD Duty for Transit on Seperate Tickets:

Officially NO

Unofficially YES

It is extremely difficult to get an Airline or Travel Agent to go to the trouble of cross referencing your 2 tickets especially when they may be issued by 2 seperate entities.


No APD Payable when:
4.4 Tickets
In addition to the time related criteria, the agreement for carriage must be evidenced by a ticket which must show the:

airport from which the passenger intends to depart
date and time of his intended departure and
airport at which he intends to arrive.
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 or
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.

And we Brits seem to have forgotten the customary welcome to FT! Glad to have you aboard.

Happy landings

Spottie

It tradition on the BA board. Help first - then welcome.

The exception in the UK APD rules is for conjunction tickets only. Conjunction tickets means that the whole sequence of flights is a single itinerary and a single contract of carriage, even if it is embodied in several tickets (which often happens when you have too many segments to fit in a single ticket). In practice, conjunction tickets are always stapled together, so the separate booklets hypothesis contemplated in the rules remains in effect just that, i.e. hypothetical.
These rules are stricter than the US rules on exemption from US domestic air transportation tax, which only require a reference in the domestic ticket to the international ticket without requiring them to be conjoined. I have succesfully convinced NW to exempt me from US domestic tax on a tickets bought separately but within the appropriate time bounds of an international ticket (it was hard work, though). This would not be possible for APD.

I can assure you that under The IATA Air Ticket Settlement Plan..any tickets even mixed carriers can be exempted from the APD under the 24 hour transit rule. Its just that neither Travel Agents or Airlines can be bothered to do it. The means are there, its just too much of a hassle. I insist and have had it done for me on at 2 occasions.

The isue is not about them being mixed carriers but about the tickets being conjunction tickets. If the tickets are conjunction tickets, this means that there is a single itinerary and contract of carriage and the risk of misconnect shifts from being on the pax to being on the airline.

......................

Many thanks for all your help.

For future reference - would it normally be possible for BA to issue one single ticket for a combination of a 241 booking and the connecting flight from Cyprus? That is, combining a 241 reward booking with a paid booking.

I bought some tickets off UA for a domestic a couple of years back. The agent asked if I was connecting with an international flight, I said yes (even though the connection was about 36hrs) and bingo, fare falls about $20 each!