If you have had to cancel a journey at the last minute, you could now claim back up to £150 on each airline ticket!
Thousands of air passengers who cancel flights at the last minute are missing out as they are unaware they can reclaim hundreds of pounds in taxes and duties!
Many of the airlines still have high admin charges on refunds - or, (like Ryanair) decline to issue a refund altogether; and passengers are not claiming refunds to which they are entitled.
Since Chancellor Gordon Brown increased air passenger duty in February, the amount of tax and duty paid on each flight has risen sharply - to the extent that it can now add up to as much as £150 on a long-haul flight.
Passengers who booked the cheapest tickets on a non-refundable basis have accepted they will lose their money if they cancelled at the last minute.
HM Customs & Revenue, which collects departure tax behalf of the Government's has stated that the airline only pays the tax if a passenger actually flies. The British Airports Authority (BAA) says its charges are worked out in exactly the same way.
Until recently, the charges were barely above the "admin" charges used by airlines to process the refund. However, the doubling of air passenger duty has meant that the refunds are now worth pursing; especially on flights outside of Europe.
British Airways says that a passenger flying between London and New York is currently paying around £155 in taxes; well above the £30 or £15 charge imposed by the airline (per ticket rather than per booking) to return that money.
"Passengers who book refundable tickets can always get their money back if they have to change or cancel a flight," says a BA spokesman. "If the passenger booked the ticket online, they can get a refund via the website; in that case there is a £15 admin charge. If they phone our call centre they will have to pay £30. Both charges are per ticket rather than booking," he says.
A spokesman for the low-cost carrier BMI paints a similar picture. "The taxes and duties on a flight between Manchester and Chicago are around £146; which is all reclaimable, minus our handling charge of £25," he says.
Flights to and from Europe attract lower charges thus meaning they can be the same as the admin fee. The total tax and duties paid on an easyJet flight to Geneva is currently around £25 (the company imposes no charge on the £10 air tax it will refund) but unlike some other airlines, it will not refund passenger fees.
Ryanair has always refused to hand back taxes paid as part of a booking. It will let passengers switch their flights by paying a £25 charge, plus any additional fares. EasyJet charges £35 for the same service. In each case it is per passenger.
Meanwhile, the legality of imposing such high admin charges continues to be questioned. The issues bear strong similarities to recent battles over the £25-£35 penalty charges imposed by banks on customers who pay bills late, or exceed credit limits.
In the past, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said it the courts should decide whether the air tax refund fee "reflects a reasonable pre-estimate of the actual costs??. Until a case reaches court, or unless the OFT toughens its position, the airlines may continue to stand by terms and conditions and apply these hefty charges!
But if you have booked a flight and had to cancel, it's still worth contacting your airline to see if you can reclaim what is rightfully yours!