Airports aren't cheap to run, and they take up an extraordinary amount of real-estate, something the municipality involved would surely like to benefit from in some capacity.
Not to mention the amount of noise and air pollution planes in general generate.
The tax is simply an offset to this.
The problem here is prices are not advertised tax-in.
"The problem here is prices are not advertised tax-in." - and this can be trivially fixed; it's just a matter of requiring truth in advertising.
In EU (I believe all of it, but maybe not all), the airline prices (as others) are always advertised tax-in. I mean, otherwise it's just a bait and switch - if you advertise "Go to London for 50 EUR", then you'd better have an offer that does exactly that.
Huh? All prices I see are priced 'tax included'. The breakdown is available to look at, but the core price - in my case, $720 - is what came up when searching/comparing. It was only after I purchased that I looked at the breakdown - $400/$320.
Someone was willing to cart my body and luggage 24 hours around the planet for $400. Amazing, really.
This is only a major issue if you fly a premium cabin out of the UK. Elsewhere the taxes are minimal.
In college I racked up 135k United miles through credit cards and then used them for a first class ticket to Thailand and Singapore after graduation. The taxes came out to less than $100.
The taxes really depend on the airport involves during the flight. On a recent return flight from Dusseldorf->London Heathrow->Dubai->Melbourne, on FF points, the tax was 1/3 cost of the full price tickets, (around 450EUR).
Airport taxes in US must be quite low, relatively.
It's that way in Canada. Both Aeroplan and AirMiles make you pay taxes and fees. Depending on which airports you cross that's probably $50-$75 a head each way.
