Hello Goanstay. Do you mean that when i turn up on the 3rd of December to fly with Jet i will have to pay an extra amount of money beyond what i have already paid ? Because as far as i am concerned that tax was paid when i purchased the ticket in September ! They cant just bung a tax on and make it retroactive ?

Perhaps the Goans have been advising our Government!!!!! It was not this Government which brought in the additional tax from 1st November, it was the last lot!!!
will be interesting to have reports from those who fly out in the next few weeks as to whether they have to pay or not.

Which airline is that?

hi all called in travel agents on saturday and asked the question on the extra tax they told me if your flights are already booked & confirmed it wont affect us ,only if you book today:

As far as I am aware (I checked with my Travel Agent at the time of booking although have nothing in writing) Jet did one change Free of Charge on the return journey. Any subsequent changes were chargeable. But if you don't want to change then what's the big deal.
I will pop into Panjim at some stage and check that it is still true

I'm only the messenger.

Some of the earlier posts were getting wound up about having to pay an extra £75 per person, I was only pointing out that IF you have to pay extra (which the email from Jet seems to indicate you do) then it would only the difference.

I think you will find that the Departure Tax is payable on departure, so all the airline have done is made it easier for you and charged you what was the going rate at the time. Most ticket small print allows for changes in taxes as that is beyond the control of the airline. All I was suggesting is that you should be in a position to pay the additional £25 when you get to the airport. Anyway we should know more by next week once a few more people have arrived

I think you will find that Jet have been messing around with the "one free change" for at least the last 2-3 years. Both the office at Patto Plaza and independent booking agencies have stated that it depends what you pay for the ticket, ie, if it was rock-bottom then no free changes. To be fair, I dont think anyone else did this.
It has nothing to do with outsourcing.....


.

First of all the tickets i bought from JA were not cheep.It was £ 602 return fare. When i called the second time i asked the who was i talking to and the answer i received was an out sourced agency in India via a call centre in words to that effect. They were definitely not JA. I have written to their office in West London asking for an explanation re the £100 charge so it will be interesting to discover what's gone on.Also the feed back function on their web site is disconnected too.But that's not unusual because BA do it all the time ! The old rule with JA was the first change was free and the second was around £25.

Thomas Cook - I know, I'm not holding my breath !

Hi Goanmad

Just to say welcome to you as a new member to BE.
Like the name - you have to be mad to go to Goa these days - especially with this bloomin extra tax etc !!

Dread - x

Last year, I had to return to the UK in October, flying back to Goa in November. On November 1st, I got an e-mail from Jet telling me I needed to pay an extra £10 tax, using the method described above. It took absolutely ages so make sure you allow plenty of time. As a result of this and the incredible length of the on-line check in queue, I had no time for duty free shopping! Good, informative link:

http://news.cheapflights.co.uk/2010/...assenger-duty/

Travel Tip Tuesday: Air Passenger Duty

thanks to cheapflights.co.uk
and Chameleons


Higher rates of APD will come into effect next Monday, November 1
What is Air Passenger Duty (APD)?

APD is a tax which the Government imposes on each seat sold on aircraft departing from UK airports.

Is this a ghoulish Hallowe’en trick? Why are you telling me about it this week?

APD was introduced in 1994 and has been gradually increased since then, particularly since 2007. On November 1, further increases will come into effect.

Why do we have to pay APD?

In late 2006 the Stern Report on climate change recommended concerted international action on reducing CO2 emissions. With public concern for the environment at fever pitch, APD was presented as a necessary environmental tax. The government doubled the existing APD rates in February 2007. And in November 2009. Then, it introduced four tiers of APD depending on the distance from London to the capital city of the country you’re travelling to.

And the gruesome facts (or percentage rates)?

Since January 2007 the Government will have raised the tax on economy and premium seats for European destinations by 140 per cent. For long-haul flights the tax on both classes of seats has risen by between 200 per cent and 325 per cent depending on the distance travelled from London!

What are the distance bands in the four tiers of APD?

Band A 0–2,000 miles from London
Band B 2,001–4,000 miles from London
Band C 4,001–6,000 miles from London
Band D over 6,000 miles from London

What are the APD rates coming into force on November 1, 2010?

Band Economy Premium
2010-11* 2010-11*
Band A £12 £24
Band B £60 £120
Band C £75 £150
Band D £85 £170


Which countries fall into these bands?

Band A covers Europe, our favourite destinations such as France, Spain, Italy. Band B appears to be all-encompassing – Africa, the Middle East, the USA. Band C, the Caribbean and some African countries. Band D – Australia and Asia. There’s an anomaly in the drafting of the legislation. APD for Hawaii is in Band B despite being more than 7,000 miles from London since Washington DC is within that band. The list of countries is on the HMRC website (pdf).

Can I dodge APD?

Not unless you’re a child under the age of two travelling in your parent's lap or are flying domestically from airports in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Oh, if you have a private jet, you do not need to pay APD.

It’s possible to fly to a European hub, Paris for example, paying the £12 or £24 APD in Economy or Premium and fly on to Bands B to D as long as there is 24 hours between arriving and then departing from the European Airport. This may also apply to a “connecting flight” subject to strict arrival and departure times. The HMRC website has guidance on this.

“Government-speak”

When the Government refers to “Reduced Rate” class they mean Economy Class. “Standard” means Premium cabin.

One small exemption is that if you should be lucky enough to be upgraded from Economy to a Premium cabin seat you will not have to pay the higher APD applicable to that seat!

Not if you use your airmiles to pay for it!

Seems all of the airlines are at it - when I wanted to change the date of a Kingfisher internal flight recently the amount they wanted to charge was more than the cost of cancelling and booking a new flight - when I pointed out that their flight conditions said 'fully refundable' thay said that only applied to the airport tax!!!!

AndyD 8-)# (... and I'd been really impressed by Kingfisher up till then)

I had an email from JA explaining the new tax and saying that we will have to pay an additional £25 per person on check in in the UK. This applies to all flights made on or after Nov 1st 2010 irrespective of when the flight was booked. Our flights are economy. This is another one of Gordon's fleece the workers and give it to the shysters taxes.