<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nrsa13 @ Jan 2 2010, 02:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
I have been connecting from elsewhere in Europe, through FRA or LHR on my way back to the US for years now.
Regardless of the combination of carriers used, I will not pay the departure tax from FRA or LHR as long as I am a through passenger (24 hours of layover max) and can prove it.[/b]
Actually it does depend on the combination of carriers used and direction in which you use them. AA can only waive the non-transit taxes (for lack of a better term) if you are connecting from OAL to AA, that&#39;s either done automatically, like when you connect via LHR, or through a manual adjustment when you connect via anywhere other than LHR. The non-transit tax is, however, always collected by AA when you buy a ZED ticket that involves an OAL-to-OAL (e.g., BUD-MA-LHR-BA-PHX) or an AA-to-OAL itinerary (DFW-AA-LHR-BA-MOW). The tax is collected EVEN if you intend to make an immediate connection.

Keep in mind that you are standby and there is absolutely no guarantee that you will be accommodated within the permitted transit window. Additionally, because you are technically split ticketed and booked/listed in separate PNRs, there is no way the OALs accounting system will know you made an immediate connection so they will bill AA the tax whether it was collected from you or not.

I&#39;m fairly certain most airlines apply this same or similar logic, although I do know of a couple that do not and are paying a tax to another airline that they did not collect from the employee.