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I found this out by accident.
I was trying to book a return flight to/from Hong Kong using a companion voucher. It was impossible to find a return journey with dates we wanted but I had put a booking through for the full return journey in business class using a return date I wouldn’t use to give me a picture of the cost of taxes. These came to £1,100 pounds for the two of us.
As I couldn’t get the dates I needed, I waited for a future time for our visit and then booked the outbound leg with the inbound journey being more than 355 days ahead, so I could book the return when it became available. The outbound journey’s taxes cost me £550, as expected.
When I managed to book my return journey from Hong Kong back to Heathrow (in business class), the takes I was charged came to £71.80, giving me a total charge of £621.80 plus the Avios for my flights. This is a massive difference from the £1,100 I would have been charged had I booked the return flights in a single booking.
You can thank me later 🙂Sorry to burst your balloon but has been known about for years.
It’s down to HKG not allowing airlines to impose surcharges (taxes are different) on trips originating there – which applies if you book a separate HKG- LHR fare but not if yiu book a return originating in LHR.
Brazil has a similar law.
Japan does something where they assess the level of surcharges a few times as year and adjusts them against the oil price and is then set for the forthcoming period to stop airlines chopping and changing at will.
Yep when booking to Brazil I always buy separate tickets. The tax difference is huge, so still a gain even if you have to pay double the cancellation charges.
I knew about HK but not Brazil, thank you as I’m looking to go next year!
Is it the case that if you buy 2 x singles to the USA it’s more tax than a return? Or am I imagining that??
It’s down to HKG not allowing airlines to impose surcharges (taxes are different) on trips originating there
HKG did previously have a cap for fuel surcharges, which was gradually lowered until the maximum permitted surcharge was HKD 0. When that happened, BA removed fuel surcharges on tickets from HKG.
But this no longer applies to passenger flights, and a fuel surcharge is now included in the price for most flights from HKG. For example, CX charges HKD569 of YR per sector on HKG-LHR and HKG-LHR-HKG, as described here https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_HK/prepare-trip/travel-advisories/fuel-surcharge-updates.html
For some reason BA has chosen to continue not applying “carrier-imposed charges” on its tickets from HKG.
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