Hi all, I've been reading about the air passenger duty and I'm confused. When I go to book our flights directly on the carrier's website (Ottawa, Canada to Heathrow and then CDG in Paris to Ottawa) there is a note saying to contact the airline before booking to avoid being charged the air passenger duty. But, from what I've read, this applies to departures from the UK only. Am I reading this right? Since we're taking the Eurostar from England to France, we don't actually depart from the UK at any time. We're five, so it's a pretty significant amount. (I tried to call the airline directly but all the lines are jammed because of snow storms on the east coast and I wanted to book online.)
Posted by
Green Bay
20186 posts
If you care to dig through all the fine print, here is the UK.gov site describing it. Good luck.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-excise-duty-air-passenger-duty/rates-and-allowances-excise-duty-air-passenger-duty#apd-rates-for-flights-originating-in-northern-ireland
Looks to me like it is only for departures from the UK. And it should be part of the ticket price.
Perhaps they are suggesting that you make it clear that it is not a round trip ticket, for which the tax would be charged.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
I second what Sam says. UK Air Passenger Duty is only charged on departing flights, and should be included in the ticket price so it will not be an extra charge.
If you leave the UK by train (or anything else other than flying: land border, ferry, swim the Channel), there is no Air Passenger Duty to pay.
Or does Canada have an Air Passenger Duty?
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2512 posts
Since we're taking the Eurostar from England to France, we don't actually depart from the UK at any time.
you might want to rephrase that
Posted by
1221 posts
After you've selected your flights on the Air Canada site, right before you get to the 'Continue' button, there's a section called 'Fare Summary' and a small link called 'Fare Details' Click on that link, and it will break down the taxes and fees for your proposed ticket. When I do that for your route on a test search, it shows it is pricing out the taxes correctly- no UK departure taxes and fees but you do get about $70 CAD in France airport taxes and fees.
Posted by
OP
Ottawa, Canada
68 posts
Thanks all, I'm reassured that I was in fact reading everything correctly, despite the warning message popping up on Air Canada's fare summary screen.
And yes, I do understand that I am eventually "departing" UK, though I suspect we might prefer to stay. ;)