I am traveling to the UK in March and booked my ticket on Delta, through Orbitz approximately 5 months ago. I received an email from Orbitz explaing this increase to me and also telling me that Delta would not be charging me for it. I say Kudos to Delta!!

<<< I say Kudos to Delta!! >>>

Simple economic fact - it would cost more for them to collect it than the size of the charge because they get bookings from a number of sources.

Unlike low costs airlines where all they have to do is to put another charge against your credit card which would take a competent programmer about 5 minutes to sort out

I have tried in vain to find out about VA policy on this "new" tax. I called the US number several weeks ago and they had no knowledge of it! I purchased my tickets to London on 12-12-06 for my trip in MArch. How do I know if I have paid this tax?

If you book on 12/12 (which is after 12/6), the new tax is already included in your total fare.

RKkwan: Thank you for your reply. Virgin Atlantic has not been helpful. Is 12-6-06 date the date for all the airlines? Any ticket booked after that has the increased fee in it???

Yes, all airlines should have incorporated the extra tax for tickets sold after 12/6/06. So, don't worry. They cannot charge you.

I have just received an answer to my tax query from VA. They said any ticket purchased on or before 12-13-06 and for dates from 2-1-07 will have to pay the additional tax. They also said "VA is very diappointed that Gordon Browne increased the tax on travel that was booked before the announcement was mad" - not disappointed enough to help the passengers out at all!!!!