CHC Departure tax/levy/fee

[2muchplastic]

Returned today from CHC (first time setting foot in NZ) and came across something that I haven't encountered before - a departure tax not included within the ticket price and payable separately.

(I've searched on the forum and can't find it mentioned anywhere, though it only took a few minutes of searching on the CHC website to find reference to it.)

So, a $25 fee per person so that you can depart - or even get though to the departure lounge! I must admit I was unprepared for this - having never encountered it before, so hadn't factored in the extra time needed to queue up a second time to pay to get out of the country, or the extra $100 to get the 2MP clan back to Oz.

So it set me thinking. What other airports do the same?

And what happens (e.g. you are a poor backpacker) if you don't have the $25?
Is NZ so hard up for migrants that the only way it can get people to stay is by charging people to get out?
:mrgreen::mrgreen:

 

[Saab34]

Is this the trip that you got the whole clan there and back for under $500 bucks. How did it all go?

 

[Mal]

I think all NZ airports did have a departure tax for International, and some had it for domestic as well. (Normally $20/$25 / $10)

Mid last year, some of the airports rolled it into the airfares as a departure tax. Auckland was one, not sure about others.

Physical departure taxes are pretty rare (Bangkok was the one I used to encounter, but has been removed), but still exist in some countries.

As the options to pay are fairly broad (eg Credit card in some instances, cash etc), I think very few people would not have the ability to pay. There is a reason why the payment stations are often in Forex conversion places.

Normally I'm flying Qantas, so pay the fee when using their premium check-in desks. They allow payment when checking in by credit card, which makes things very simple.

 

[Travel Guru]

Kathmandu and Bali come to mind, I believe some airports in Thailand also do.

TG

 

[2muchplastic]

Is this the trip that you got the whole clan there and back for under $500 bucks. How did it all go?

An excellent time was had by one and all. It started off with a bargain air fare ($400+ dollars for 4 return) and carried on with the first night and third night in the All Seasons on Papanui Rd paid for with a|club vouchers.

That's where it stopped though. We stayed at the Select Braemar Lodge and Spa in Hanmer Springs for the second night which cost more than the whole of the rest of the weekend added together. It was well worth it though!
Hanmer Springs is a beautiful place to visit, and what with the springs themselves, a horse riding trek and other activities made a superb long weekend.

 

[midnight]

As far as I know it is a cough tax that goes to the council and thus can't be included in the ticket price as it is not a national tax. Catches a lot of people unawares (Used to live thgere and run a backpackers and it was amazing how few people knew about it. Often wondered what they would do if you had no money. (A lot of backpackers plan down to the last cent).
Apparently in the not to distant fguture it will be included in the tickiet price.

 

[harvyk]

As others have said, there are a few countries with a departure tax... Nearly got caught out leaving RAR (Cook Islands) and was handing over the last of my NZ coins to pay for departure tax...

AKL is the only NZ airport which I know rolls the departure tax into the ticket, and even so this only came in mid way through last year... (Annoying as I was leaving the week before it was rolled into the ticket, and yet there was no noticable size difference in the airfares had I left a week later, except I would have saved the $20)

 

[serfty]

AKL is now $14 for both arrivals and departures and is charged with the ticket (shown as "NZ"). A Oz-AKL-Oz booking will be charged a total of $28.

CHC/WLG are $25 for departures only.

So fly into CHC/WLG and out of AKL and pay only $14.

FWIW, ROT has a $5 domestic departure tax as well as a $25 for international.

(All prices listed are NZD)

 

[Blackadder]

Came across this

Gate 1 Travel - Airport Taxes

One of the Airports in Japan comes to mind from when I was flying via there to/from the US a few years ago at KIX(???)

 

[samh004]

And what happens (e.g. you are a poor backpacker) if you don't have the $25?
:mrgreen::mrgreen:

Leaving New Zealand in 2006 after studying there for 6 months I almost didn't have enough money to get home, as the airline was charging me through the roof for excess baggage, and had I not negotiated for a lower price, I wouldn't have been able to pay the departure tax.

I didn't have a credit card at the time, nor did my parents give me a subsidiary card at that time, so I would have been stuck.

I know the tax is at ZQN too, which is really annoying as they usually only have 1 desk open for it, and it's shared with the currency exchange, so you'll often have some fool changing all his money and a massive line of people waiting just to pay to leave!

 

[docjames]

The tax is payable at every NZ airport except AKL (where it's rolled into the ticket price).

Of course, remember it's payable in Aus too (just rolled into the ticket again).

 

[serfty]

The tax is payable at every NZ airport except AKL (where it's rolled into the ticket price).

Of course, remember it's payable in Aus too (just rolled into the ticket again).

There are two significant differences here:

• AKL charge both arrival and departure tax; For ex Oz and other NZ airports it's departures.
• The OZ government gets the $$$ with theirs, in NZ it's the Airport "owners" who benifit.

 

[Hvr]

Kathmandu and Bali come to mind, I believe some airports in Thailand also do.

TG

Got caught in MNL last year and had to run back to an ATM to get some money to pay the departure tax.