Query re: Air Passenger Duty (APD)

the_tired_one

Might also be known as 'Airport departure tax'

A friend of ours is going on holiday with her 2 children in 2 weeks time. She booked the tickets about 3 months ago.

She got a call today from the airline asking her to pay extra - when she enquired what for, she was told it was a new tax that they now had to charge for.

1. Can they do this?

2. Do they call passengers when this tax is reduced and offer refunds in the difference?

3. What if she refuses to pay?

What should she do?

Thanks in advance

apt

Yes they can charge the extra if they have not already included this. However, the increase was announced a lot earlier than 3 months ago and should have been included in the quoted price.

fifeken

She should try and find a breakdown of the first payment to see what tax was initially paid, but as above, the increase is actually the second part of an increase (first hike was this time last year) and announced in early 2009 so there is no excuse for it not being costed in to the initial price of the holiday.

Spursman180

The tax is retrospective if you choose not to pay then you won't be allowed to fly. It's not the airlines but HMRC, the airlines collect this on their behalf in the same way businesses collect VAT.

Reduce a tax, I don't think so, It's has been going up regularly since 2007 and will probably continue to do so.

HXDave

which airline?

routing?

was it booked directly through the airline or through an agent?

Like mentioned above, whilst they can charge extra for the APD, it seems quite strange that if only booked 3 months ago the tax was not included at the higher rate.