The Increase in Air Passenger Duty [APD] is causing a lot discussion on Travel Rants. Many consumers are annoyed that they are having to pay this additional cost on top of their flight, and many have said it should only apply to flights booked from 1 February.
One consumer told me how he had received an email from EasyJet stating that he had to pay the APD by 15 January to guarantee his seats on the plane, and they referred to the booking terms and conditions which stated that any increase in tax would have to be paid by the passenger.
EasyJet was one of many airlines which lobbied the Government hard not to increase the tax on flying. Contrary to what the Chancellor said, we do not believe that increasing APD is an effective environmental tax and is simply a means for the Government to raise additional revenue. However, we have no choice but to implement this tax increase and we must collect the additional tax per departing passenger from you.
Please visit easyJet.com and provide the additional payment before 15 January 2007.
Ryanair have yet to act, and time is slowly running out – I’ve a flight booked the 19 February to Oslo, and are they expecting me to turn up at the airport and pay this tax, or are they doing to do the decent thing and not pass on this charge to customers.
British Airways apparently aren’t charging customers the increased duty for bookings made prior to the announcement of the increase in December. I’m also informed that BA has just announced it will reduce the fuel surcharge for long haul flights shorter than 9 hours by £5.
Further update from BBC News [Thanks Alper of Travel Gateway Ltd]
One consumer tells me she refuses to pay the additional tax, and isn’t going to pay before the 15 January with EasyJet, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens at the airport when she is going to check-in.
It’s outrageous that we have to pay this additional tax, and if you think that this increased APD will go to help the environment then your living in a dream world – the money will go towards the failing NHS and under performing Education system.
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Rohan | 12 January, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Thanks for the update. I’ve booked a flight with Czech Airlines, and I have yet to hear anything yet. Has anyone else received any notification from Czech airlines about the passenger duty?
Darren Cronian | 12 January, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Rohan, have you tried visiting the Czech Airline website? There’s usually a news section on most airline sites. You might find more information on there, but I’ll keep a look out for you.
Lee Harrison(owner Select World Travel Malvern) | 13 January, 2007 at 9:29 am
Ryanair have stated that you have to pay your tax in advance or YOUR FLIGHT WILL BE CANCELLED.
Nice Irish Hospitality!!!!!!
Darren Cronian | 13 January, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Are you sure that’s Ryanair and not EasyJet Lee? I heard on the BBC this morning that Ryanair were cancelling flights if you don’t pay the tax, but not heard a thing about Ryanair (or from Ryanair)
I have a flight booked 19 February with them, so I’ll have to do some research on their site. If they are charging APD and haven’t notified customers of this then I’ll be pretty pi$$ed off.
Darren Cronian | 13 January, 2007 at 1:01 pm
Lee your right, just heard it on the news that Ryanair are expecting customers to pay the APD – where’s my bloody email??? Grrrrr Going onto the site and expect a rant soon about this!
Darren Cronian | 13 January, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Further update.
Jet2.com are automatically taking the £5 from consumers credit or debit cards! Okay, can they do this?? What about if your skint and no money is in your account, and the withdrawal overdraws you.
Are you warned before the money is taken to make sure that you have enough money in your account.
It’s crazy.!
Lee Harrison(owner Select World Travel Malvern) | 13 January, 2007 at 4:46 pm
I Would have thought that taking Clients money from a clients debit or credit account without informing them or having permission amounts to Fraud.
if any one is to blame it’s Gordon Brown for the way he’s introduced this ludicrous tax. Normally when Petrol prices are Taxed you know the Charge will Come in at Midnight. You Couldn’t go to People who filled up Before the deadline and demand they paid the extra.
This Tax should have been implemented for any client BOOKING a Ticket after the 1st of February and not those that have elected to TRAVEL after the first of February .
I Would urge any traveller who booked their ticket from the beginning of December when Mr Brown announced this tax and is travelling from the 1st of february and beyond to check with their airline as to their proceedure, Or as Ryanair have announced NO TAX PAYMENT, WE WILL CANCEL YOUR RESERVATION
Del | 21 January, 2007 at 7:25 pm
International passengers will stop using UK airports! These tax hikes are outrageous! Flying between Asia/Africa and North America, we will choose other countries that tax us less!!!
Anne H | 19 February, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I flew with Ryanair on Friday 2nd Feb from Leeds to Dublin. Prior to departing I received three emails from Ryanair. One on 25th Jan stating they would take the tax from the card I booked the flights on and two further emails saying I must call their Reservations Department in Ireland (at my expense naturally) as my card had expired (it hadn’t). To add to the confusion, the emails and their website clearly state that only flights “booked before the 7th December 2006” are liable for the extra tax. As my flight was booked ON the 7th December I assumed I had already paid the extra tax and did nothing.
Well I got to the airport and discovered they had removed our names from the passenger manifest and wouldn’t let us fly without paying the extra £5 each. They sent us to the Servisair desk to pay it and here’s the worst bit… I handed over my credit card (not the one I booked the flight on by the way). The woman charged it without asking for a signature, pin number or any proof of ID. Then refused to give me a receipt. I was gob-smacked. When I asked her how she knew the card wasn’t stolen, she replied “If you haven’t reported it stolen then that’s your problem.”
This morning I rang the credit card company (Nationwide) and they were pretty shocked too. As far as they were concerned, it should not have been possible for my card to be charged in that way. They put me through to disputes where the £10 was refunded as a fraudulent transaction. I know it’s not a fortune but it’s the damn principle.
I wonder – has anyone else been charged that way? My advice would be: ring your card company!
jim | 9 April, 2007 at 10:34 pm
i booked a flight with airtours in august 2006 to go to florida in june 2007 i received an invoice for my ballance in march 2007 which stated £20 apd
now i have recieved another invoice wanting another £60 for apd because it is now £80 per person so i am now paying treble
Elaine | 14 June, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Just to let people know – I was charged £80 APD by Virgin when I arrived at the airport in Mar07, unaware of any changes. I had to pay or couldn’t board.
I had booked thru Jetsave (part of TUI) in Aug06 and so took this up with them when I returned, they sent me an £80 voucher. Annoyed, I wrote back quoting the “package Tours regulations 1992″ – section 12a – which states that “where the organiser is constrained before departure to alter the price, he will notify the consumer as quickly as possible in order for him to take the appropriate decision”. They tried to get out of this by saying Virgin had imposed this cahrge upon me and I reminded them that under consumer law my contract is with them not Virgin, I quickly got a cheque for £80!!! Hope this helps someone else.
A Summers | 8 December, 2007 at 10:47 am
Has anyone had the misfortune to miss a flight and have to book additional tickets? This happened to me earlier in the year and despite Thomsonfly admitting that their staff had screwed up in the re-selling, refused to refund the resultant expenses and when asked about the APD being refunded, said “yes you are entitle to a refund, but we impose a £25 handling charge per person for this, so we owe you nothing!” The description as “rip-off merchants” springs to mind
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12 responses to “Air Passenger Duty Update”