Frequent Flyer Airmiles Schemes Debate
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Lord Hamilton of Epsom
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Frequent Flyer Airmiles Schemes
Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts(5 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord Duncan of Springbank
To be very clear, the UK has an air passenger duty which raises £3.6 billion a year. It is the highest such tax in Europe—many countries in Europe do not have such a tax—and that money goes a long way to address climate change issues, which are of importance to the Government.
Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)
My Lords, surely a customer loyalty scheme is what it says on the tin: it is trying to persuade people to fly with one airline rather than another. There is no evidence that if you discriminate against these schemes, people will fly less; they will just choose between one airline and another.
Lord Duncan of Springbank
It is not the policy of the Government to intervene in these commercial decisions. It is also important to recognise that this is a regressive step in many respects.