Are you paying much more than air passenger duty for flight taxes?

By Value hunter on Feb 22, 2011 | In In real life, Money chat, Bad business, Frugal wars

I have been making enquiries into flight prices, travelling to the USA.

Many "cheap" flights websites are quoting prices that are not available, they are also quoting prices that are "excluding taxes and fees" - which since 2008 under european law has been illegal for airlines to do!

Perhaps the biggest surprise is that there is no law regarding taxes and fees and how much airlines, travel agents, etc, can charge you!

For example, companies were quoting me Â£350 for taxes and fees yesterday, for flights to America. Many told me that this was down to air passenger duty and fuel duty being applicable.
So, straight from revenue and customs, have some facts about air passenger duty:

Air passenger duty is only applicable when you leave the UK
Air passenger duty is not charged for your returning flights
Air passenger duty rates can be found on the revenue and customs website here, take a look at section 2.1.2
Air passenger duty is charged for USA at band B rates, which ranges between Â£60 to Â£120 depending on which class of seat you occupy

So where exactly the travel agents get Â£350 from is anyone's guess.
ALWAYS ask for a breakdown of the taxes they are charging you BEFORE you buy!

Revenue and Customs tell me, that the air passenger duty is charged to the airline and some airlines do not pass this on to customers - although I've yet to find one that doesn't pass the cost on - different airlines charge different levels.

US Airways charges just Â£113 for air passenger duty and taxes on their flights to America, Lufthansa charge Â£368 tax for their flights to America.

A good explanation of what airline taxes and fees are made up of,Â can be found here, on the Civil Aviation Authority's website.