Tax Refund from Cancelled Flight
nick1990
Posts: 14 Forumite
Hi All
I recently booked flights (through an agent travelup.co.uk) for myself and my girlfriend to go Indonesia on holiday in October (exact route: Heathrow-Singapore then return Bali-Hong Kong-Heathrow). A couple of weeks after booking a friend invited us to their wedding in South Africa right in the middle of our Indonesia trip. We really want to go to the wedding and so i contacted my agent asking about moving the flights or cancelling. The fee to move them is too much and the cancellation policy means we would get £21.39 refunded per ticket, which was described as unused airport taxes.
I have read that it is possible to claim a lot of the taxes back and as mine totalled £726.42 i was wondering if this is really possible?
What would you suggest i do? Push the agent to properly look into what they can really refund me?
If its useful my flights are with BA except the Bali to Hong Kong which is with Cathay Pacific Airways.
Your help is appreciated.
Thanks
I recently booked flights (through an agent travelup.co.uk) for myself and my girlfriend to go Indonesia on holiday in October (exact route: Heathrow-Singapore then return Bali-Hong Kong-Heathrow). A couple of weeks after booking a friend invited us to their wedding in South Africa right in the middle of our Indonesia trip. We really want to go to the wedding and so i contacted my agent asking about moving the flights or cancelling. The fee to move them is too much and the cancellation policy means we would get £21.39 refunded per ticket, which was described as unused airport taxes.
I have read that it is possible to claim a lot of the taxes back and as mine totalled £726.42 i was wondering if this is really possible?
What would you suggest i do? Push the agent to properly look into what they can really refund me?
If its useful my flights are with BA except the Bali to Hong Kong which is with Cathay Pacific Airways.
Your help is appreciated.
Thanks
Started Comping 24 June 2013
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Comments
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Not all taxes and fees are refundable. In particular, BA adds on what they used to call a fuel surcharge which is non-refundable and which will make up a large chunk of the £726.42 you mention. Flying from the UK you will be able to get back APD which (from memory) is about £75 per ticket. Not sure if there's any refundable elements from the other flights. If you do a dummy booking on BA's website, you should be able to get a breakdown of fees and charges. Keep in mind that both BA and the agent are likely to change an admin fee to process the refund so there might not be much left.0
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I have read that it is possible to claim a lot of the taxes back and as mine totalled £726.42
breakdown of your taxes per ticket
United Kingdom Air Passenger Duty APD (GB) £78.00
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge Departures (UB) £44.91
BA YQ surcharge (YQ) £199.00
Indonesia Passenger Service Charge (D5) £11.70
CX YR surcharge (YR) £10.70
Hong Kong Airport Construction Fee (G3) £14.60
Hong Kong Air Passenger Departure Tax (HK) £11.00
Hong Kong Airport Passenger Security Charge (I5) £4.10
total £363.21
of the above the YQ surcharge is definitely not refundable, the APD is and I am going to take a stab that a couple of the small ones may be since you got more than £3 back....
Travelup - "An administration fee of £75 per ticket will be levied on any non-refundable ticket where a tax refund application is made by us at your request and on your behalf".0 -
Thanks for the information. The £21.39 sounds like the APD after admin fees.
It seems crazy to me that 6 months ahead of the flight the fuel surcharge is non-refundable.Started Comping 24 June 2013July wins: Noise cancelling Headphones, £100 Topshop Voucher, 10 Driving LessonsAugust Wins: Bang & Olufsen Form 2 Headphones, Dustpan and Brush, 120 Del Monte Cartons0 -
Thanks for the information. The £21.39 sounds like the APD after admin fees.
It seems crazy to me that 6 months ahead of the flight the fuel surcharge is non-refundable.
You missed the wordingBA adds on what they used to call a fuel surcharge
It's a BA rip off fee. They tried to hide it undeer Fuel surcharge but IIRC got caught out by the USA when the fuel prices went down.
So they just renamed it.0 -
No defending BA but many airlines use YQ and still call it a fuel surcharge others call it a carrier imposed charge and that is what the CX YR charge is called as its called when other airlines use YR as well as YQ.
These extra charges do make it easier for airlines to adjust costs dynamically without have to re file all their fare's.
I wonder once the OP gets a refund, that fee is extortionate, they might be able to ask the airline how much was refunded by them to the agency, only out of interest0 -
Thanks for all the information.
I won't be getting a refund as £21 is a joke so unfortunately i won't be able to ask how much the refund is.Started Comping 24 June 2013July wins: Noise cancelling Headphones, £100 Topshop Voucher, 10 Driving LessonsAugust Wins: Bang & Olufsen Form 2 Headphones, Dustpan and Brush, 120 Del Monte Cartons0
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