What are we paying for UK flights these days?

[headhonchoII]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this yet: the taxes for UK flights were changed a few months back. Now the amount of tax you pay to the UK airport depends on a) the class you flew and b) how far you came from.

So if you fly from Paris you'll pay a hell of a lot less than if you fly from Taipei.

Cheapest way now is to either fly to Dublin or somewhere else in Europe, get a cheapie flight over and suck up the 'check-in baggage/toilet/oxygen fees' you'll have to pay. It'll still be cheaper than paying 17000NTD in tax..

There are pretty much no connecting Asian-Dublin flights so that's a no no. Major European-Asian routes are Amsterdam, Paris , London and Frankfurt.

[tsukinodeynatsu]

The other day I was in a travel agency and noticed some VERY cheap UK flights. Something like $25,000 return. Of course, that was before tax @.@;

But anyway, we were waiting for ... something... a passport application? I think? and the desk attendant was bored and knew us fairly well, so me and him started going through all the UK flights after tax.. The cheapest one had an Aer Lingus logo on it, but obviously you had to change planes like three times. I wish I could remember more, but I can't .. sorry

You can always go into France, Germany or Holland as well. How much is the Eurostar? That runs to the Paris airport, but I think it's probably something like £60 one way?

[Nuit]

just seen this one ... my

Been travelling just before the start of summer peak (mid-June) with Emirates from HKG for the last 3 years - they've been pretty constantly 27,000 TWD.
I swear they're not passing on the full Uk APD to the customer, and are sucking some of that up themselves. They're far cheaper than KLM, BA etc.
Then to that 27,000 you've got to add the 9,000 or so on Cathay (TPE-HKG return)..

When Emirates flights go up, as they surely will, I'll be looking into tsuki's tip of flying to a Euorpean hub and then onwards with a cheap carrier, to avoid the long-haul APD tax.
I think that idea has legs, though I've never got around to pricing it up.

[tommy525]

just seen this one ... my

Been travelling just before the start of summer peak (mid-June) with Emirates from HKG for the last 3 years - they've been pretty constantly 27,000 TWD.
I swear they're not passing on the full Uk APD to the customer, and are sucking some of that up themselves. They're far cheaper than KLM, BA etc.
Then to that 27,000 you've got to add the 9,000 or so on Cathay (TPE-HKG return)..

When Emirates flights go up, as they surely will, I'll be looking into tsuki's tip of flying to a Euorpean hub and then onwards with a cheap carrier, to avoid the long-haul APD tax.
I think that idea has legs, though I've never got around to pricing it up.

IIRC Emirates stops in the midEast and is not nonstop to London. Could this be the reason for a lot less taxes, because of the stop?

Iv heard good things bout Emirates and I would be happy to fly them.

[Nuit]

Didn't think of that one, good idea - but wait, no, that can't be the reason because KLM also stop before UK (Amsterdam hub).
Yes, Emirates go via Dubai in mideast- both they & KLM allow you to fly easily to UK regional airports, not just Heathrow.

So booking KLM to UK for Oct, gives:
19,700 Ticket
11,700 Carrier-imposed international surchange (edit - Fuel surcharge)
3,850 UK APD
2,900 Other misc taxes
38,150 Total

Emirates are:
25,200 Ticket
4,850 All taxes
30,050 Total

Maybe Emirates do charge the full APD - it's not clear from their website how their taxes break down. I say that because KLM's "other misc taxes" include ones that are Holland specific, and probably Emirates doesn't need to charge anything similar, what with the UAE floating on oil.


Then the other big diff is [KLM Ticket Price + Carrier-imposed international surchange] is 6,000 more than Emirates Ticket Price.
But what is that surcharge? A-ha, googling that says it's lingo for Fuel Surcharge.
So perhaps Emirates charges a very low fuel tax, again related to oil revenues.

Either way, I can't see any reason for flying KLM to Europe again, with these hefty stewardesses. Have you ever seen an angry KLM stewardess at 33,000 feet? Scary.

[tommy525]

KLM is an European airline. They may be held to different laws perhaps. Emirates is NOT an European airline and may be circumventing by essentially selling you two separate sectors. Just my guess.

heres a report on Emirates lesser known competitor but still up and coming. And seems like worth considering if available. ETIHAD

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... in/215726/

[tsukinodeynatsu]

I think the tax is actually based off where your ticket originates. You pay tax on the whole ticket. Best way to get around it is likely to get a separate ticket from somewhere nearby (this necessitates going through customs, picking up your baggage and checking back in, though, so be aware!).

I haven't had a chance to go the UK, so I haven't bothered pricing it out. I'd probably be looking at Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Dublin, or Paris as an alternative, though not many budget flights fly out of those hubs. The Eurostar's also an option, isn't that around 60 euros?

[headhonchoII]

You can't fly to Dublin as a hub. Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and London are the main European hub coming from Taiwan/HK/BKK.

[tsukinodeynatsu]

You can't fly to Dublin as a hub. Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and London are the main European hub coming from Taiwan/HK/BKK.

Personally, I'd rather transfer through to Dublin on one ticket and then switch to Heathrow rather than trying to do it in Paris, Frankfurt or Amsterdam. If we're using two tickets we'd need to go through immigration, get luggage and check in again, and I bet you it'll be a hell of a lot faster in Dublin than in any of the main hubs.

Takes me about an hour to get out of Taoyuan Airport, 25 minutes to get out of Kaohsiung. There's just no as many people or flights to manage so everything's done quicker.

Flying to Paris and taking the Eurostar should be fairly painless though. And you end up much closer to the city centre than if you fly in to Heathrow or Gatwick.