Taxes on BA F award booking for 2 x pax LHR-HKG

[Cruiser Elite]

Not seat charges but dep Taxes on BA F award booking for 2 x pax LHR-HKG through AA:



~A$700ea is getting up there isn't it?

(Hope is ok to post this in this thread)

 

[serfty]

~A$700ea is getting up there isn't it?

Nearly half of that is the UK APD (departure tax) - this can be avoided by connecting from a European port such as Amsterdam.

AMS-LHR- ... with a separate ticket to AMS would cost much less (even including the cost of that separate ticket).

I did exactly that in 2016.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Nearly half of that is the UK APD (departure tax) - this can be avoided by connecting from a European port such as Amsterdam.

AMS-LHR- ... with a separate ticket to AMS would cost much less (even including the cost of that separate ticket).

I did exactly that in 2016.

So you are suggesting I pay for a flt LHR-AMS to catch a BA flt AMS-LHR to connect with the same F flt LHR-HKG?

OK might be a saving in some $$s but seriously I do value my time and effort - trying to explain the rationale of that to the Ette would take a batter man than me.

Fees will hurt but effort much less painless.

 

[ajw373]

Nearly half of that is the UK APD (departure tax) - this can be avoided by connecting from a European port such as Amsterdam.

AMS-LHR- ... with a separate ticket to AMS would cost much less (even including the cost of that separate ticket).

I did exactly that in 2016.

This is one reason why BA were instrumental in the change to not allow through checking on different PNR’s. People would fly to Amsterdam or Dublin on one PNR and then long haul via LHR as the tax on short haul is significantly less which made the overall trip cheaper.

Can still be done of course but means needing to clear immigration after the short hop and recheck which adds time and a risk of missing the connecting flight back to LHR.

BA were also charging people the fare difference if on the return they failed to show/board on the LHR-AMS sector as that was another way around the charges for return flights.

 

[ajw373]

so you are suggesting I pay for a flt LHR-AMS to catch a BA flt AMS-LHR-HKG?

OK might be a saving in some $s but seriously I do value my time and effort - trying to explain the rationale of that to the Ette would take a batter man than me.

Fees will hurt but effort much less painless.

Yes that was the suggestion. But as I mentioned above BA by not allowing through checking on seperate PNR’s have made that time penalty far greater plus adds a risk of missing the flight back to LHR.

 

[serfty]

Fees will hurt but effort much less painless.

Fair enough, but then again you could make it a leisurely day or two in a western European town before heading back to HKG. The AA mile cost is the same.

 

[serfty]

But as I mentioned above BA by not allowing through checking on seperate PNR’s have made that time penalty far greater plus adds a risk of missing the flight back to LHR.

That was more to do with cheaper European fares than avoiding the APD (although that had some part of).

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Fair enough, but then again you could make it a leisurely day or two in a western European town before heading back to HKG. The AA mile cost is the same.

Tail end of 3 weeks in Euro so not searching for any extras - home James and don't spare the horses!

To add - before I found the BA fare via AA I did book SQ J LHR-SIN-MEL in J - taxes were A$430ea - W/L F also.

Easy to stopover in SIN and add side trip to HKG but for simplicity I think we will go the BA route.

 

[Mattg]

Sadly, this seems about right for BA ex LHR.

Is CX ex BRU/CDG/AMS an option? You could catch a direct train from London to any of these cities, then fly from there direct to Hong Kong while avoiding both the Air Passenger Duty and BA's fuel surcharges.

 

[bcworld]

This is one reason why BA were instrumental in the change to not allow through checking on different PNR’s. People would fly to Amsterdam or Dublin on one PNR and then long haul via LHR as the tax on short haul is significantly less which made the overall trip cheaper.

Not sure why BA would care...the APD goes to the government, not BA. It could be true to discourage use of significantly lower ex-EU fares though.