APD tax holidays: what is it and how does it affect you?

"> Posted on November 12, 2010 by holidayholiday

You can have read recently in the national press APD tax that will affect flights & holidays prices.  1 November 2010 saw a walk in this Air passenger Duty (APD tax) tax, a tax that is applied on flights from the United Kingdom by the Government.

What is APD?
The APD tax was originally introduced in 1994 and was originally a flat-rate tax on £ 5pp.  The tax is now calculated on the basis of tax band, on the basis of the distance between London and the capital of the destination.  In november 2009 the Government conducted a strong increase of the tax paid, with further increases in november.

The tax has caused controversy in the travel industry, as it has seen unfair in the way that the tax is assigned, with destinations like the Caribbean are much higher than, for example, Hawaii in spite of the island of Hawaii are located much further away from London (because the tax is calculated the distance to the U.s. capital, Washington) is taxed.  As a result, the Caribbean Tourism Association have insisted on a revision to the system and how it is calculated as in their opinion, discriminates against the disproportionately long distances to travel.

How does it affect you?
If a holidaymaker, increases the load on the flight prices may affect you depending on where you plan to travel to and whether you intend to fly economy class or an alternative class.

The tax is banded by 4 APD tax zones, so where you travel to within these zones will affect how much you pay.  The destinations in the areas furthest away will pay more APD tax on flights, and then the increases in tax depending on what you fly economy class class so that less in comparison with premium economy/business class will pay.  The tax is applied to all passengers over the age of 2.

So for example economy class tickets:

Band A, 0-2000 km from London:
Includes Europe, Tunisia, Morocco, Canary Islands, Turkey-£ 12pp apd tax added to the price of your ticket

Band B, 2001-4000 miles of London:
Includes the United States, Dubai, Egypt, Russia-£ 15pp apd tax added to the price of your ticket

Band C, 4001-6000 km from London:
Includes the Caribbean, far East countries and South Africa-£ 75pp apd tax added to the price of your ticket

Band D, more than 6,000 miles of London:
Of New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia-£ 85pp apd tax added to the price of your ticket.

The apd tax will automatically be added to your holiday price by the supplier of your holiday.  Premium economy and business class tickets pay even higher tax rates.

What can you do about APD tax?
Unfortunately you can not avoid paying APD tax, unless you are renting your own private jet, which for the majority of us is not an option! (Move over Catherine Zeta Jones?!).

Some companies are suggesting that vacation can take you a flight within Europe and then a second flight to your destination from the long term, so avoiding the higher tax rates on long-haul flights.  However, you need to carefully weigh the cost savings for the booking on this as it may not always work out.  It is worth shopping around or using sites like holidayholiday.co.uk to ensure that you get the best cheap holiday possible.

Let us know what you think-how does the increase in the APD tax you? It will change the way you travel?

The Telegraph have a petition against apd tax that you sign up to support the campaign-go to www.telegraph.co.uk/apd (so far, more than 40,000 signatures)

… … … ….. Share |