?? Cheap Flights??

[gbuttery]

Just booked two direct return flights to Orlando from Manchester for March 2012.
Cost £194, ie £48.50 each flight each way!!

Oh yes, they did add on taxes (just £560 extra)

******

I knew a big chunk of our flight costs are made up of taxes, but I had never realy looked into it before and didn't realise just how big a chunk.
I read at the weekend that flight tax has risen for long haul by 1,700% since 1994 and it is due to rise again by 25% !!!
This is getting silly.

Just thought I'd share with you.

[Lyn]

Could not agree more. Makes you wonder how the airlines can continue on the small amount that they get for each flight.

[Katys Grandad]

You really feel the pain when you book award travel and have to pay the taxes and surcharges on top of the miles. I recently booked a couple of First Class returns from Manchester to Miami on BA and the charges for supposedly free fights came to £968!!

More annoyingly, the taxes for the UK - US flight were over 4 times that for the return so you can clearly see who's making the money here.

[sammibabe]

I had the bulk standard reply when did the 'email your mp about APD(?)'. they can't reduce tax in these time of austerity measures and a whole page of waffle but if they have gone up to that extent since 1994 there have been good times in there for most of that. Reductions when the economy improves - I doubt it! Same as when energy companies put prices up because they buy 6 months ahead but you don't see it come down 6 months after you here wholesale prices are coming down, but that's another topic

[Paulo]

Agree with the comments already made on the thread.......broken Britain chaps.....what more can you say. Car Fuel, Flights, Trains, Domestic Fuel......they're all in it together!!

On a brighter note, I booked with Virgin on Sunday evening direct from Manchester in Y and redeemed some miles, total for 2 adults, 1 child, 1 infant was a fairly decent £892.00. We're Mousebound on the new VS A330 on the 5th March....

[steph_goodrum]

Just booked two direct return flights to Orlando from Manchester for March 2012.
Cost £194, ie £48.50 each flight each way!!

Oh yes, they did add on taxes (just £560 extra)

******

I knew a big chunk of our flight costs are made up of taxes, but I had never realy looked into it before and didn't realise just how big a chunk.
I read at the weekend that flight tax has risen for long haul by 1,700% since 1994 and it is due to rise again by 25% !!!
This is getting silly.

Just thought I'd share with you.

Not trying to defend the Government, but if you look again at those "taxes, fees and surcharges" you'll find that around £175 of it is the "operating airline fuel and insurance surcharge", I think offhand it's only something like £60 that is actual APD.
When you look at the flight prices it gives you the option to choose "fare breakdown" and this is where you see that the airlines craftily put this in so that it looks as though they are only taking a small fraction of the cost and it's the Government making them add on the rest. The fuel surcharge has been in place so long that it should be part of the ticket price, imo. Also this way if you book a reward flight then you have to pay this amount even on a supposedly free flight.

I

[Katys Grandad]

Not trying to defend the Government, but if you look again at those "taxes, fees and surcharges" you'll find that around £175 of it is the "operating airline fuel and insurance surcharge", I think offhand it's only something like £60 that is actual APD.
When you look at the flight prices it gives you the option to choose "fare breakdown" and this is where you see that the airlines craftily put this in so that it looks as though they are only taking a small fraction of the cost and it's the Government making them add on the rest. The fuel surcharge has been in place so long that it should be part of the ticket price, imo. Also this way if you book a reward flight then you have to pay this amount even on a supposedly free flight.
I

I agree with your general point about where the money is going Steph but it's much more complicated than that and it isn't just APD that the UK goverment are taking. These examples give some idea about how each government and different airlines work the system to their advantage.

Both these charges are on top of the miles for an award flight Heathrow/Miami and back non-stop in economy:

British Airways - £200 outbound and £125 inbound. Total £325
American Airlines - £101 outbound and £1.60 inbound. Total £102.60

If you want to redeem miles in Business Class those rise to £478 on BA and £162 on American.

Contrast those with a Dublin-US flight on American where the total taxes and surcharges for the return award tickets come to just £31 and, unlike in the UK, that stays the same if you fly in a premium cabin.

I would suggest that this demonstrates that BA and the UK government are the ones who are exploiting their passengers.