We just got this email from AA regarding our trip in Sept - LAX to Budapest, via Heathrow and the return Prague to LAX via Heathrow. We will be hit with the Business class retro tax.

"Following the U.K. Government's decision to double the Air Passenger Duty paid by passengers traveling from the United Kingdom, American Airlines customers who have purchased tickets to travel on or after February 1, 2007, will be required to pay the increased tax before flying.

For long-haul flights to the United States, APD (GB tax) has increased to:

£40.00 for Economy Class travel (previously £20.00)
£80.00 for Business & First Class travel (previously £40.00)

Customers who purchased tickets prior to December 12, 2006, will need to pay the extra tax at the U.K. airport when checking in for their flight. Payment can be made by credit card or cash.

American greatly regrets the inconvenience that this retroactive tax will cause our customers."

Yes, I received the same email today as I am flying AA through Heathrow for Fjords. Just because I thought my business class ticket was such a bargain!

I am still waiting for taxes on FF tix to Istanbul for cancelled Greece cruise, cancelled end of Dec, to post on CC - called Delta tonight they are sooo vague - huh? what?? do you have your confirmation #'s YES I do - so time consuming

I agree with you both: using our FF miles is going to be more than anticipated - but still better than full fare.

All of this is time consuming! Ah, the joys of travel..... Makes finally getting there twice as fun.

You are so right Miriam - we are fortunate to have the points and to have found seats available - the planning and rearranging is half the fun - when I'm in the mood to do it :D :D

Very interesting. We haven't heard a word as far as I know, and maybe they just haven't gotten that far out, but we are flying AA ORD-LHR in Oct for CROSS, changing to BA in LHR. Guess I'll go onto AA.com and see whats up.

JoAnn, maybe you are in luck. I'm reading that to mean the tax increase applies from LHR to the US.

Dena

Yes, this "luxury" tax are only on Business (or presumably First) class flights out of the UK (either Gatwick or Heathrow). And I also think that it applies to upgraded tickets (we had to pay this "tax" in November on Delta upgraded Business from Gatwick).

On the subject of AA. If anyone thinks they'll be doing any flying for the year or so, they should sign up for the "challenges" on AA for Gold or Platinum status (don't think they do it for Executive Platinum) which basically allows you to qualify for that status by flying a certain amount (usually 1/4 of the normally required amount) within 3 months. See www.flyertalk.com go to the AA forum and do a "search" on "challenges" (be warned though about posting since flyertalk is much less "friendly" than here and the AA forum especially is known for its nastyness :(

Quote Peter:

(be warned though about posting since flyertalk is much less "friendly" than here and the AA forum especially is known for its nastyness
*******

Why is that? Don't want to start anything, just curious.

Peteropny,

We were told that all passengers regardless of airline class of service will be charged the new taxes leaving the UK. Next weekend we are traveling to Prague and the taxes are unbelievable..., 85 GBP per person. Both the UK and the Netherlands charge exceedingly high rates for the pleasure of flying through their countries!

Cheers, Pam

Robert I enjoy reading Flyertalk, wealth of info, from very seasoned travelers - many of them speak in airline language which baffles me at times - they do not "suffer fools gladly" - so a newbie with questions must be prepared to feel like a fool!!

Pam - I wasn't aware of that - that's a lot of taxes.

Robert/Joanna - Joanna is correct in that there is a group of Flyertalkers who will greet a "new member" asking a question that has been answered very recently with "Do a Search" or worse. The AA forum is especially bad in this regard but the current moderators there have been trying to redirect those people. I moderate two forums on Flyertalk, fortunately they're quite a bit calmer.

Thanks for the 411, Peter. Appreciated.

According to this article "the tax does not apply to travelers who are transiting through a British airport only on their way somewhere else". I'll be very happy if that's true!

I wonder if we will be effected. On our CROSS cruise we are flying on BA from Paris to London Heathrow, then we bus down to Gatwick, where we overnight before our early morning flight on to Funchal. I think that is considered a through flight since there are no flights from Paris that leave early enough to connect to the 7:15am flight from Gatwick. Guess we will find out.