One of our favorite international destinations is London. As far as overseas destinations go, it’s an easy trip from the East Coast, and there are plenty of options for getting there. However, I hadn’t planned a trip to the United Kingdom since 2019 when we flew to London on Virgin Atlantic. On my most recent trip, I found a deal using Flying Blue points to book Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic for 94,000 miles and $230 in taxes.
When I searched for return flights, the taxes and fees were nearly double the amount I paid for my flight to the UK. When looking for award tickets, the best options available to me were flights with Air Canada, American Airlines, or JetBlue. However, the fees for these flights were over $350 each, largely due to the UK Air Passenger Duty.
UK Air Passenger Duty
The UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) is a tax applied to all passengers departing from UK airports. The tax you pay depends on the class of travel you are in, the distance of your flight, and your age.
There are four different pricing bands for APD:
- Domestic Band: Domestic flights (only within England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) – £7 for economy class and £14 for premium class.
- Band A: International flights of up to 2,000 miles – £13 for economy class and £26 for premium class.
- Band B: International flights of 2,001 to 5,500 miles – £88 for economy class and £194 for premium class.
- Band C: International flights of more than 5,500 miles – £92 for economy class and £202 for premium class.
You can find the details of the fee and all of the permutations on this website. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-allowances-for-air-passenger-duty
If you’re booking a flight from the UK, this fee is added to the ticket price. I ended up flying home with Norse in Premium Class and the APD was the most expensive part of the ticket price.
No matter which program you choose to book with, the UK APD is the same. It’s the cost to visit the United Kingdom.
Children under 16 years old are exempt from APD when traveling in the lowest class but need to pay the APD if flying in business class. Children under 2 years old without a seat are exempt from Air Passenger Duty, regardless of the class they travel in. However, if a seat is purchased for an infant, they will only be exempt from APD if they are in the lowest class of travel.
While there are some ways to avoid this fee, for people like us who value their time more than a few hundred dollars, it’s the price we have to pay to visit London and the rest of the UK.
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