Unfortunately, flying from the U.K. is about to get more expensive.
The British Government has decided to raise the Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax that is charged on passengers flying from the U.K. The U.K. already has one of the highest APDs in the world. It’s charged on any aircraft that has a take-off weight greater than 5.7 tons or more than 20 passenger seats.
The APD for premium cabin tickets is increasing by 16 GBP (~$21). Every passenger who is buying a premium cabin ticket, either with cash or with airline miles, is subject to paying the increased APD when departing from an airport in the U.K. In fact, even just connecting through London will incur the extra fee.
Flying via London has been expensive for a while now, with their already high APD, so nothing much is changing here in terms of where it makes sense to fly with miles, now it just makes even less sense to fly via the U.K.
Does this fee increase affect you?