In 1777, Samuel Johnson famously said, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” With all due respect to that lion of literature, after a lifetime of regular visits, I’ve been getting tired of London for quite some time—tired of its snotty, superior attitude, its royal family clown car, its love of lucre, its coddling of oil sheiks and oligarchs, and its love of the egregious Richard Caring, the Club King of Bling. And now, there is yet another reason not to go.
Flying in and out of London from the United States has long been too expensive due to inexplicable taxes and fees nearly doubling ticket prices. Now, the U.K. is going to hike its Air Passenger Duty tax on outgoing flights, blaming the increase on inflation. But looked at another way, Kier Starmer’s new Labor government has decided to use that duty as a wealth tax that targets and screws rich visitors. Some may cheer, some may frown. The private jet crowd may well shrug. But all who fly will pay.
The impact depends on your choice of cabin class if you fly commercial (as, alas, I do). A basic economy passenger will only be charged an added $110.64. Mid-range flyers like me will cough up $264.66—the cost of a meal with a good bottle of wine at Scott’s in Mayfair. Meanwhile, top-class passengers will be dinged $1,189.88.
But those who fly even more comfortably can expect a 50% surcharge. At a press conference detailing new UK financial policies, Labor’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said, “I am taking a different approach when it comes to private jets.”
The new rules will take effect in April 2026. Rishi Sunak’s defeated Tories had already set prices for the prior year: In 2025, fliers will be charged a maximum of £673 per person, depending on their destination. As of April, 2026, that will rise to £1,000 pounds per flight.
AirportsUK, which represents dozens of British airports, deemed the new policy disappointing, saying the government should “recognize and champion the role that airports play in growth and international connectivity and minimize the cost and regulatory burdens imposed.” An aviation news website, AeroTimes, suggested Reeves may have been mocking the wealthy ex-Prime Minister Sunak’s “apparent love for flying by private jet and rumored desire to live in the U.S.,” when she added that the hike is “equivalent to £450 per passenger for a private jet to, say, California.” But perhaps she should recognize and champion the role that American tourists play in enhancing Britain’s GDP. Budget carrier Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary immediately announced a 10% cut in UK flights, which translates to five million passengers annually, predicting Labor’s action would damage tourism.
Visitors from outside the UK took a big hit when they lost the right to refunds of its 20% Value Added sales tax (or VAT) due to Brexit in 2021. The UK also ended tax-free airport shopping.
Now, picking the pockets of the wealthy who they apparently think won’t notice, the Brits are shooting themselves in the foot again. Late last year, a government report concluded that the end of VAT refunds hurt retail spending by tourists, job creation and Britain’s economy, causing “the recovery in tourist spending during 2022 vs. pre-pandemic trends [to be] much lower in the UK than France, Italy, and Spain.”
Rue, Britannia. I can afford you but I no longer want to so I’m waving bye-bye.