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UK "Departure Tax" May Help Environment, Definitely Annoys Us

Normally we'd let something as dry as a British budget speech coast under our radar, but this year the pollies said something we didn't like: They're making every flight out of Britain more expensive.

The departure tax that they call "air passenger duty" was already doubled last year, but now it's going up again. Low cost carriers like Ryanair are complaining that the last thing the travel industry needs is even higher charges for cost-sensitive customers.

Rather than applying just two taxes--short and long haul--the British government is now dividing destinations up into four zones depending on distance and applying higher charges for further distances. Australians for one are not happy about being on the D-list, which means an extra £85 ($130) for flights longer than 6,000 miles.

And the worst bit: The UK government is pretending it's all a green tax. Which means when we whine about it, we sound like we don't care about the polar bears. But we do!

Related Stories:
· Green Tax Is the End of Low Cost Flights [UK Times]
· Australia on D-List for New Flight Tax [SMH]
· Britain Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Abraham C]