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I'm trying to go to RAK (Morocco) tomorrow. There is a good connection via LGW so I would be traveling on a pass US-LGW, then wait for 4 hours and then take a BA (operated by GB airways) flight to RAK, using a ZED fare. However, the LGW departure tax is over $90! For a less than 3 hour flight. Insane! Is there any way around this given that I'm only transiting LGW?
This is a good question. Let me give you an exemple:
If I fly on a ZED ticket HKG to NRT on CX then NRT to LAX the same day with my airline I show them the CX boarding pass and the agent override the depature taxes. I do not know how it works the other way around.
If I was you I would ask the BA gate agent (and let us know), you have nothing to loose.
The ridicoulous taxes in Great Britain makes me avoid this country plus I hate LHR or LGW (but it is personal)
Have a good trip.
The GB tax to which you are referring is a ticket tax, that is it must be collected at the time of ticketing. Even if it is not collected by the airline that issued your ticket, presumably your emplying airline, bBA will bill them for it.
Like most taxes, the rules for collection of the GB were written to apply to commercial passengers. And the GB rule says it does not apply if you are transitting for less than X hours. Because staff travel on standby tickets there is no guarantee to the ticketing airline or the transporting airline that you will make a connection with X hours or, for that matter, that you actually intend to.
Unlike employees, commercial passengers generally buy a fare that differs based, in part, on whether they intend to stop-over (say more than 24 hours) or to connect. A connection usually costs less than a stopover and the taxes applicable differ. The commercial passenger is then bound to the ticketed itinerary. If s/he choses to change the itinerary from a connection to a stopover, then the itinerary has to re-priced and re-ticketed, likely, at a higher fare. The ticketing airline then also collects the correct and applicable taxes. This is not the case for employees.
In short, I don't expect your airline to waive this tax because BA (or which ever is the transporting airline) will bill them for it anyway. Your airline would then be footing the tax bill for you to travel.
It is my understanding that you do not pay the departure tax for a connecting flight unless you leave the terminal.
At Continental we do not pay it if we connect to another flight within 24 hours of arrival.
If you are connecting from CO to OAL, then CO is paying the OAL when the OAL bills CO for the ticket it lifted. That's probably not the case if you're traveling OAL to CO.
At AA, if you can show the AA agent that you arrived within 24 hours of departure (e.g., OAL boarding pass) you are either marked as a through and not charged the GB. If you forget to do that or if the agent makes a mistake when you're checked in, you can send the boarding pass stub to NRSA (billing) to have the GB refunded.