So I’ve moaned about rise in Air Passenger Duty (APD) today. Lets look at ways of cutting the cost of APD.
1) Flying into the UK.
APD is not applied flying into the UK. You are liable for airport duties.
2) Flying out of the UK.
Before getting much further I’d get a calculator out. Or a spreadsheet. Or something you can work your numbers with. There are good rules to making an APD savings are simple to follow:
- Factor in the £11 you have to pay to position to an EU country.
- Is the cost of the positioning flight more than the APD on your ticket? – If the cost of the positioning flight is too great, smile and pay the APD. If not, continue.
- Have you enough time between your positioning flights and your “real” flight? – You’ll be on separate tickets, so you won’t be able to interline the tickets together (or else, you’ll be stung for the full APD). If the gap is too short, you might miss your real flight and have to buy a new ticket…
- Can you afford the time? – Important one – If you’re on a holiday trying to maximise time, you may not accept going somewhere else before going to your destination is a valid thing. Alternatively, the savings may make a big difference.
- Factor in other costs. For example, if you have to overnight somewhere, add that cost too.
- Remember you can connect back via the UK. If the ticketing is correct you can connect back via the UK and not be liable for APD as you’ll be a transit passenger under 24 hours. Check the terms of your ticket though.
Whilst some may see £170 on an First Class ticket a drop in the ocean, I personally wouldn’t be happy handing this much over to the government where there are other options and other countries you can fly from and save money (or heck – even earn miles on).
And remember – vote with your wallet.
Kevin, one thing I've not seen mentioned anywhere except for a small comment in one of the Scottish Sunday papers is that APD isn't payable from certain small Scottish Airports. The list is available here.The only one of these with any flights from the major alliances that I know of is Inverness, which has seasonal flights to Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, so it should be theoretically possible to get a longhaul redemption in F and pay no ADP without needing to start in another country.
Thanks Murry. An interesting loophole – and probably one to support the Essential Air Services that these airports/islands have. Maybe it's time to convince more operators to head northwards to provide more long services. However, INV being the largest of all would need to prove itself as a market – and that's a big question in itself sadly. I doubt this would work in reality. It would be more likely for Airlines to offer "APD Breaker flights" Eg – a cheap low tax trip to Paris or Madrid, a quick turnaround, and back to London on the "expensive" ticket, reducing the APD burden. Still a con though….