On those tickets, there are 3 letters that annoy the hell of out of me.
APD – Airport Passenger Duty.
The UK seems to innovate in taxation, where in the first phase, it was like this:
| Class of travel | Intra EU | Outside of the EU |
| Economy | £10 | £40 |
| Business | £40 | £80 |
Of course, for the bureaucrats in Whitehall, and the money grabbing Prime Minister/Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister), this isn’t enough. Intra EU flights go up by £2, whilst its now a sliding charge dependant on where you are flighting if you’re heading out of the EU
So now in it’s unreadable form it’s like this (thank you Her Majesty’s Treasury: ):
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/tax_environ_index.htm
So read that carefully. Off to Sydney from London? That’ll be an EXTRA £15 in 2009, and from 2010…. £45. That’s over 100% increase. Premium travellers will be heavily punished too.
Now I’ve actually had a read of some of these documents, and the intresting number is the cost of Tax collection – 0.06p. What happens to Rest of the tax – Well it certainly isn’t ring-fenced or defined isn’t it. What does that translate to? Into the tax coffers in Whitehall. See: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/prebud_pbr08_aviationduty.htm
My advice. As much as I hate to say this, For hells teeth sake, avoid using any UK airport for long haul flights after 1st November 2009. Jump a flight to another EU nation, and then on a separate ticket do your major journey.
As we’re in a downturn of course, it’s the perfect time to bump up taxes isn’t it? Thank you Gordon Brown (MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath) and Alistair Darling (MP for Edinburgh South West). You will be thanked in the manner that should be appropriate to you – P45’s in the post by 3 June 2010.
