Holiday to England Just Appear to be too Expensive

You didn’t hear much about this in the news, but flying to or through London got far more expensive this month, with a 33% to 56% rise in the taxes added to your ticket. If you’re in any class besides the lowest level of economy, you’ll pay even more.
As this article from Mexperience lays out, flying from London to Mexico will now cost you at least $100 per person more in taxes than flying from Paris or Amsterdam.

Passengers flying direct between London and Mexico need to pay charges for band C i.e., £75/$120 or £150/$240 if you’re not traveling in a basic economy seat. If you fly from London to Mexico via the United States, you pay B and B rates—at least £60/USD$96.
If you plan to travel from London to Mexico, you will pay less APD if you fly from London to a European hub city and connect to Mexico from there, instead of flying direct to Mexico or via a gateway city in the United States.
You can reduce your APD to £12/US$19 by flying to Mexico using a European carrier: for example, Iberia from Madrid, KLM from Amsterdam or Lufthansa from Frankfurt. Air France has a code-share agreement with Aeromexico offering direct flights to Mexico City from Paris; so if you fly from the UK with Air France, and connect at Charles de Gaulle airport, your APD per passenger is just £12/US$19 instead of £75/US$120.
For a couple flying between London and Mexico, taking a European hub route instead of flying direct or via the USA will save £96/US$154 if you are flying economy

Going the other way, the same is true if you’re flying to any other of The World’s Cheapest Destinations from the U.S. or Canada. Getting to Hungary or the Czech Republic via London, for example, will be far more costly than via another European gateway.
If you live there, you could be better off taking a bus or train to another country first before catching a flight to say, Thailand or Egypt—the total could be less than just going from your home airport. As the BBC says, in not so many words, this sucks:

A group of four people flying economy to Florida will now pay £240 in tax, an increase of 33%. And flying economy to popular holiday destinations in the Caribbean will cost £75 in APD, up from £50 last year and £40 two years ago.

Why are they doing this? The government seems to be taking lessons from the airlines, who have tacked on baggage fees, fuel surcharges, and reserved seat fees. It’s a pure money grab, with no added benefits. They put their hand in your pocket and hope you won’t notice.
But just as Southwest Airlines has profited mightily from the added baggage fees its competitors are charging, I expect other European airports to steal a lot of business from this move, and for the city of London to lose a significant number of overnight visitors in the process. As for what it means to you, only fly through London if the flight is far cheaper after fees than it would be to go to another airport.
Here’s advice from The Telegraph on avoiding the fees by choosing alternate airports.
Related posts:
Three Options for Flying Around the WorldWorld Cup of Travel: England vs. USAAirline Fees in EuropeBargain Travel Time in HungaryThe Real Europe: Crowds, Tourists, and Money
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