Planes, Trains and Automobiles - Air Passenger Duty, what a con

Hi,

The rates of the UK 'Air Passenger Duty' are as follows;

0 - 2000 miles - £12
2001 - 4000 - £60
4001 - 6000 - £75
6001 +         - £85

Business and First class Passengers pay double the rates above. Planes with less than 20 seats are exempt. We wonder what type of plane is mostly used by our wonderful politicians? Private charters with less than 20 seats? So the scumbags get away with paying no tax? Oh, how cynical can we get?

As you can see the jump in tax from <2000 miles to 2001 - 4000 miles is comparitively huge compared to the other hikes for flying 4001+ miles. The real con is that you can fly to Hawaii (7228 miles) and pay exactly the same tax (£60) as someone flying to Cairo.(2181 miles).

Why? Because the tax is calculated by the mileage to a countries capital city from London, not the actual mileage flown to your destination. So the flight to Hawaii is taxed on the distance toWashington DC (3663), not Honolulu. (All mileages quoted are approximate, and should be regarded as not completely accurate).

Are there ways to save some money on this unfair tax?  Yes, but it does require some time researching air distances and also looking at some train timetables too. Or just fly via Ireland or Europe as detailed below. Or just not fly at all, and save the hassle and queues of the neverending security checks.

The easiest way to save money on a 2001+ miles flight is to fly via Dublin. The Irish version of the air passgenger duty tax is a flat rate of 3 Euros. Yes that's right, 3 whole Euro's to anywhere in the World. We would not bother trying to save money on a flight under 2000 miles, as the extra cost of the flight far outweighs the tax levied at £12. Try and get a budget airline deal when they sell flights for around £12 - £20 each way. (virtually pay taxes only), At least you get a city break thrown in to your holiday for the extra money, rather than filling the UK government coffers.

An even cheaper alternative is to fly via Sligo or Donegal and pay no tax at all! Now how about that from a bankrupt Irish Government surviving on loans from the EU? There are far fewer destinations that can be reached from those two airports compared to Dublin, so unless you can grab a great deal then Dublin is the way to go. The best destinations for this tax avoidance ploy is the USA or Canada, Dublin is 'on the way' so to speak. You could treat this trip as a dual centre holiday. Do work out all the figures which ever way you go, and see if the Irish diversion makes sense financially, as well as being not too time consuming.

If you must use long haul flights, then flying via popular European hubs like Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid or Paris could save you paying the higher rate of duty . If you book a return flight to one of the above, you are obviously paying the £12 duty each way. But if you book another return flight to an onward long haul destination, for example from Paris to Melbourne then there is no extra duty. You must book the connecting flights with another carrier to pay the lower rate of tax. If you use the same airline for connecting flights, then the above journey from London - Paris - Melbourne is considered as one journey from London to Melbourne. Therefore you will pay the £170 tax in total, rather than £24 for just the London - Paris segment.

Again make sure you calculate all the costs and weigh up any possible inconvenience issues. Saving £146 in tax and paying £200 extra in flights is obviously not a good idea.

One thing to remember with APD is if you don't fly, claim the tax back from the airline. The duty is charged at booking, but is only collected after the passenger has actually flown on the plane. Most airlines charge a hefty fee for this claim (grrrrrr), so you won't get all the money back.

For short breaks under 500 miles from London, then flying makes no sense. The Eurostar can whisk you off to Brussels or Paris in around 2 hours, with a check in of at least half an hour. That amount of time can be spent at the airport alone, in these security conscious times. Then from these two cities, virtually all of Europe is yours to explore. One of my favourite websites to peruse possible train journeys at leisure is Mark Smith's superb award winning 'Man at seat 61'

www.seat61.com/ 


Take time to nose around this site as it is very informative and interesting. The only minor issue I would have is the long distance train suggestions. Some of the prices quoted for the longer journeys in Europe are hundreds of pounds and three or four days long. Fine if you have the money, and even better if you have the time to use a week just travelling to and from the destination as well. Unfortunately in these recession riddled times we don't have the funds or the time to do any of the journeys justice. In a lot of cases a flight is the only viable option, both from a monetary and time saving viewpoint.

Another website for researching train travel is the German railways website. Look for the 'London - Germany Special' and 'Europe Spezial'  London to anywhere in Germany for 49 Euros, by Eurostar and ICE trains at a maximum of 186 mph. Considering the distance covered for a small outlay, this has to be one of the best travel bargains out there.

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/prices/europe/london-cologne-special.shtml?dbkanal_007=L04_S02_D002_KIN0001_kv2-london-cologne-special_LZ001

The man at seat 61 website covers this in detail on the 'Germany' page, scroll down to the 'London to Cologne' section;


http://www.seat61.com/Germany.htm

Up until last year the 'staycation' using your car was a pretty good way of having a holiday in the UK, saving cash and not having to contend with stressful airports and lousy currency exchange rates. With the price of fuel rocketing skywards, this is not the cheap alternative of previous years. There is, however a cheap alternative to using your own car in the UK. National Express coaches are running a promotion until Sept 30th for £9 tickets to anywhere in the UK.

 http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/Offers/summer-2011

'Megabus' and 'Megatrain' can be even cheaper at £1 each way, but there are restrictions attached to these rare tickets.
 
http://uk.megabus.com/default

A cheap way of getting to Normandy or Brittany via Portsmouth from London, is with American coach legend 'Greyhound'.  Travel to Portsmouth from £1 each way,  from London Victoria Coach Station and then take a ferry to Caen, Cherbourg or St Malo. Greyhound also have cheap fares to Glasgow, Isle of Wight, Southampton and Bournemouth from London.


http://www.greyhounduk.com/where-we-go/


As with National Express, the available routes mostly go to/from London. A bit of a pain if you want to travel cheaply between say, Cardiff and Carlisle.

Coach travel has improved beyond recognition in recent years. The coaches are well equipped with toilets and tv and and at seat drink service on some routes. As with any public transport, book as far ahead as you can to grab the cheaper seats. On the more popular routes (eg. London to Manchester) we advise booking the day the tickets are released for sale on the website. If you are travelling from London, look out for sporting events and avoid football in particular on the date you wish to travel to a destination. Cheap travel will be almost impossible, if a game involving the bigger Premier League clubs are played in most english cities. Most fans book their travel early and bag all the cheap seats on offer.

Where to stay once you have arrived are your destination? Our budget choice is usually Travelodge, but then only if on a 'sale' from £9. Most of these hotels are located out of urban centres on main roads, fine if you have a car, not so great on public transport. The few hotels that are in city centres, come with a location price premium. The 'moneysavingexpert' website normally gives a few days notice of any Travelodge sale. Sign up for the newsletter, the money saving tips are superb. There are various tools to help save money on currency, cheap flights and much more.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/

We have also used French budget chain 'Formule 1'. They only have 5 hotels in England (Barking, Birmingham, Coventry, Liverpool and Thurrock) Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed. With prices from £18 it is a bargain, even if there is not much in the way of facilities. We stayed in the Birmingham hotel, and have just one piece of advice, don't eat in the hotel restaurant for your evening meal as it was awful, but the breakfast was quite nice.

http://www.hotelformule1.com/gb/booking/hotels-list.shtml

Tips for travel

13. When offered on an airlines website to take up their insurance for your flight(s) don't. As can be seen on the 'moneysavingexpert' website above, the insurance offered is very poor value. We would get an annual policy if you travel more than 2 or 3 times a year (including the UK). And use the currency calculator to get the best deal for your hard earned cash.

14. When travelling on airlines that have punishing charges for hold luggage, take a jacket with a lot of pockets if possible. Stuff the pockets with as much as you can comfortably carry, and don't forget your 10kg hand luggage too. If you are worried about being stopped by airport staff, look at this jacket packed to the gills with up to10kg of stuff. (14th post from the top)

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3339962


Fight fees on budget airlines - given an extra tip here, aren't we generous? lol.


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/beat-budget-airline-charges


And Another Thing......

Do you consider yourself a 'tourist' or a 'traveller'? Apart from snooty people who claim that only they have seen the 'real' country they have visited, as they are travellers not tourists, who cares? We certainly don't, and we get narked with this mostly arrogant view from people who sound well worth avoiding at all costs. We are willing to bet the majority of 'travellers' still use slides to bore their friends and relatives to death with. Eating a sheeps head or a few insects do not make you look like a local, it just makes you a local joke. We reckon there is a daily/weekly competition abroad of 'what disgusting food can you get the stupid traveller to eat'?
We all have the same goal on holiday, to enjoy ourselves. Whether that involves sightseeing at a historical site, wandering around museums, just laying on a beach or by the pool, if thats your ideal holiday fine. To all the pretentious 'traveller' idiots consider this, if everyone wanted to be a traveller rather than a tourist, then your precious out of the way 'real' places would be swamped with people. Having holidaymakers spread out doing their own thing is so much better, some places are crowded enough thank you.

Thanks for reading,

Mr & Mrs G