richinaz

I keep seeing talk about high taxes on flights departing from the UK in various forums. It seems like the amount varies depending on the ticket class (economy, business).

Could someone explain this or point me to a good, recent thread talking about this?

I'm really thinking about a trip to/from LHR on US Airways and trying to upgrade to Envoy (possibly via the CP upgrade). How much of a tax hit would I see? If the taxes are assessed based on class, does Envoy fall into business or first class? I'd assume business but assuming seems to get me into trouble

I tried some googling but didn't see anything current although I must have missed something.

Thanks
Rich

Orion

I don't know the particulars but I see big differences in the tax/fee portion of my European trips. LHR seems the highest and BCN the lowest. AMS, CDG, MUC and VIE fall somewhere in the middle.

dcpatti

There is a departure tax on business class from LHR (I believe it's all of London so I don't think you will escape it by going LGW but I could be wrong on that). It's 60 GBP per person. If you upgrade with miles, they collect it when you collect your boarding passes and I am fairly certain the CP certs work the same way. No online checkin if you owe for the taxes. The last time I flew on CP certs to the UK we departed MAN and no tax was collected. If you book a pure award ticket then they lump the taxes in with the rest of the taxes. Envoy counts as Business Class in this regard.

There will still be taxes on an economy ticket but the business class departure is 60 GBP regardless of paid-for ticket, mileage upgrade, award ticket etc.

rajsbasi

On 1 November 2010 the UK Government increased the rates of Air Passenger Duty such that on a flight from LHR to PHL (in the 2001 - 4000 mile B band) the taxes are £60 in Y and £120 in J/F.

As biz and first and taxed at the same rate it doesnt matter which group Envoy falls into, although I believe it would be classed as a business class product.

Interestingly though although the USA falls into band b the tax is the same whether you are flying LHR to the east coast or the west, even though the west coast is 5000 miles plus.

Go figure eh lol.

United_Flyer3

I refuse to pay such nonsense taxes now.

Instead of booking C/F from LHR to XXX (eg SIN, HKG etc), I now book Y LHR-FRA or similar, then carry on in C/F to destination.

That way I pay the least tax. With these taxes in place and no expansion of LHR in place for the future, I can't see much hope for it.

ArizonaGuy

If I recall correctly, Germany now has increased their APD on premium travel. Can anyone confirm?

cwe84

We recieved a memo that all departure taxes from Germany were going up. It didn't give us a fixed amount but that they were increasing. Paris also charges a higher tax rate on F/J seats.

rfrost

The French "luxury" tax on flights to the US is under $50 at current rates of exchange. The extra UK APD on premium economy, business or first to the US is around $100 now.

ArizonaGuy

Which along with high YQ explains why a "free" round trip ticket to/from LHR in F using BA miles is $600-$700. Ridiculous.

Europe is becoming terribly unfriendly, fee-wise.

richinaz

Ok. Now I'm more confused. The post above states it is ~$100.
The post below implies it is $186 (assuming 1.5573 exchange rate).

I'm guessing the second post is more correct. Regardless it certainly makes me think twice about a "free" upgrade. (Not that $186 is a bad price to pay for a better seat but for some reason I have to admit it does irk me.)

I'll check other options such as Madrid.

Thank you for the replies.

mkgrip

The other post is talking about France, while the other is talking about the UK.

On a separate matter, have I understood correct that the UK tax doesn't apply if I'm just connecting through LHR?

wdp85

I'm not sure it's the same amount in both directions. Either way, I just booked SFO-PHL-CDG and upgraded to J via an Envoy certificate, and paid an additional $93 USD in taxes.

cwe84

Departure Taxes only based on todays exchange rates for the single segment.

LHR-PHL C $238.17
LHR-PHL Y $145.88
CDG-PHL C $129.19
CDG-PHL Y $81.13
FRA-PHL C/Y $123.00
MUC-PHL C/Y $110.04
BRU-PHL C/Y $50.96
MAD-PHL C/Y $35.64
DUB-PHL C/Y $54.65
MAN-PHL C $218.64
MAN-PHL Y $125.81
AMS-PHL C/Y $57.30
ZRH-PHL C/Y $61.91
FCO-PHL C/Y $41.28
GIG-CLT C/Y $53.50

awaflyboy

Are these from the ETC?

ashwinbrao

Wow: a one way upgrade using miles from LHR to PHL will now cost 30K miles + 500$

Does the 150 pound tax also apply to goenvoy upgrades?