From 1 May 2015, children who are under the age of 12 years on the date of the flight, and travelling in economy class, no longer have to pay the £13 APD charge.

Children 12 years and over, or travelling in business or first class, are chargeable passengers and APD is due.

The 2,000 mile band covers UK, mainland Europe, Turkey and North Africa, while the rest of the world is charged at a higher APD rate.

From 1 March 2016 children who are under the age of 16 years on the date of the flight, and travelling in economy will not have to pay ADP, although charges remain for higher classes of travel.

Children under two-years old, who sit on their parent’s lap and are not allocated a paid seat, do not have to pay ADP. If a seat is purchased for the infant, then APD is chargeable.

The changes to ADP were announced by chancellor George Osborne in the Autumn Statement last December.

For those who have already booked tickets and paid for travel prior to the 1 May effective date, airlines are operating different refund processes.

Price comparison site www.money.co.uk said that ‘many airlines are asking consumers to pro-actively apply to get their money back. Just to add further complexity, many parents that booked package deals will have to go back to the tour operator to make a claim’.

Hannah Maundrell of money.co.uk said: ‘Overall it seems that many of the airlines are doing the right thing and issuing automatic APD refunds to parents that are booking flights for the under 12s.

‘However, others are operating a refund by request system and this could be one extra job that many parents never get around to doing, leaving much of the money stuck in APD limbo.’

EasyJet will refund international flights only, while Virgin Atlantic plans to refund all flights; British Airways will make full refunds, regardless of distance travelled, once the passenger has travelled. Those travelling with Ryanair will have to apply for individual refunds direct from the airline.

If you are an airline carrier operating routes affected by this change you will also need to make some changes to the way you complete your HMRC APD return, where these flights will no longer be declared. You will instead be asked to provide the relevant information on a quarterly basis in a separate spreadsheet.

From 1 April 2015, there are two destination bands: A (0-2,000 miles) and B (over 2,000 miles).

HMRC estimates show that the abolition of APD in year one will cost the Treasury £40m in 2015-16.

APD is going to be devolved to Scotland under the Smith Commission agreement secured after the 2014 referendum. 

Full details on the changes to APD are available on gov.uk Click here