railfan99
Established Member
The number one consideration for many travellers is price, including when travelling by air, assuming they've decided what class of travel (economy, premium economy, business or in rare cases, first) and itinerary they want.
Re the latter, the time journeys take, the number of changes (if any) en route, the safety record of airlines, seat comfort, food/drink range and quality on board and airport lounge offerings, the type of aircraft and what airline staff are like can be secondary considerations for self-funded leisure travellers.
This latter large group though can often be price sensitive.
The UK needs to raise revenue, but its GBP91 "standard" long haul Air Passenger Duty and the 'higher classes' equivalent of GBP200 is a disincentive to leave from the UK for those of us from Asia and Oceania. (Cleverly, Heathrow to Los Angeles seems just below the highest rate applicability of 5,500 miles or more).
Like last year, I'll fly into UK and out from a European city in 2023.
There are limits as to how many passengers daily Eurostar can handle, but I am not the only Australian to partly use the APD as an excuse to purchase a business class open jaw ticket, in my case Manila to London and back from Milan. (Buying a return ticket from Australia to Asia, and a separate one to UK/Europe can often give savings, irrespective of class. They're on different Passenger Name Records, with sufficient overnights in Manila to ensure connections are made).
Heathrow "loses" outwards journeys because of this high tax.
Re the latter, the time journeys take, the number of changes (if any) en route, the safety record of airlines, seat comfort, food/drink range and quality on board and airport lounge offerings, the type of aircraft and what airline staff are like can be secondary considerations for self-funded leisure travellers.
This latter large group though can often be price sensitive.
The UK needs to raise revenue, but its GBP91 "standard" long haul Air Passenger Duty and the 'higher classes' equivalent of GBP200 is a disincentive to leave from the UK for those of us from Asia and Oceania. (Cleverly, Heathrow to Los Angeles seems just below the highest rate applicability of 5,500 miles or more).
Like last year, I'll fly into UK and out from a European city in 2023.
There are limits as to how many passengers daily Eurostar can handle, but I am not the only Australian to partly use the APD as an excuse to purchase a business class open jaw ticket, in my case Manila to London and back from Milan. (Buying a return ticket from Australia to Asia, and a separate one to UK/Europe can often give savings, irrespective of class. They're on different Passenger Name Records, with sufficient overnights in Manila to ensure connections are made).
Heathrow "loses" outwards journeys because of this high tax.