Airline Passenger Duty is to be scrutinised on 2 legal grounds in a challange mounted by the Federation of Tour Operators. Firstly it is claimed that the UK Government can not impose charges solely to exit or enter the UK, charges can only be made for use of an airport service. Secondly the manner in which the recent doubling of APD was introduced is being called into question. Only seven weeks notice was given and passengers who had already booked were still liable for the additional tax.

British Midland are exploiting a loophole so that business class passengers only have to pay the standard rate of APD. They have removed the partitions which demarcate ecomony and business class. I can’t understand this as the business class passengers are still gaining access to lounges and receiving a higher standard of on board catering. Therefore how can they claim that, solely on the grounds that the partition is no longer there, it is now a one class plane? At present passengers travelling with airlines which only have one class, even if it is all business class, such as with Silverjet, pay the lower rate. However with that scenario everyone on the plane is receiving the same treatment.

tags: British-Midland, APD, Airlines, standard-rates, fares, business-class, economy-class, Silverjet