Re: Air Passenger Duty - A message from Keith Williams, Chief Executive - British Air
The only way to avoid it altogether is to leave the UK by something other than an airport. So that means taking Eurostar or a ferry. Maybe a non-commercial flight may also avoid it, but not sure.
According to good ol'
Wikipedia, the Air Passenger Duty is payable on
...an aircraft that has an authorised take-off weight of more than ten tonnes or more than twenty seats for passengers
So technically there is probably some sort of flying machine (including aircraft) which could avoid APD, but for the regular, run-of-the-mill passenger, these would be relatively unrealistic options.
The amount of APD paid depends on the destination of the flight (final destination if first stop is just a transit)
The determination of the "final destination" is dependent on the flight coupon which contains the flight leaving the UK.
For example, this year I had LCY-FRA-ZRH-PEK... etc. Between LCY-FRA and FRA-ZRH-etc. was 22 hours, so by and large definition merely a transit. That said, I paid the premium APD on only LHR-FRA. This must be because LHR-FRA was on one flight coupon, and the FRA-ZRH-etc. flights were on the other coupons, even though, of course, all these flights were on the same itinerary.
In the end, the devil is in the detail, because attempting to save on paying the APD (even at the premium rate) may backfire if the alternatives (or their timeliness) are not economically suitable. For example, booking to CDG and then adding a return Eurostar between CDG and London St Pancras would only be worth it if you can avoid overnighting in CDG
and get cheap tickets on Eurostar (then add also a little bit more for the RER between CDG and Gare du Nord). The time must then be factored in. GBP 184
is a fair whack (2012 rate, Band D, standard (premium) rate), but.......
Also note that beyond about BRU (also served by Eurostar), most extra train travel beyond that starts to stack up on the time factor (and possibly cost), unless you would like to integrate these as part of your trip.