Opodo/Continental extra tax!!!

simonSE15

Hi,

I was sent an email by Opodo early this morning telling me that the flights I booked to the USA3 weeks ago are liable for extra Airport Duty. :mad:

The reason I am so furious about this is that this was announced last year, so the airlines new about the extra duty well before I booked and it should've been included in the price quoted. I feel they deliberatley hid the extra charges to make the price seem more competetive.

Is there anything I can do?

pboae

I'm in the same position, I booked flights on the 15th Jan and have had the email asking for additional tax. Surely the tax should have been included when I booked, as it has been known about for some time.

The receipt from Opodo is very vague and doesn't break down the tax so I cannot see exactly what I have paid already.

simonSE15

pboae wrote:

I'm in the same position, I booked flights on the 15th Jan and have had the email asking for additional tax. Surely the tax should have been included when I booked, as it has been known about for some time.

The receipt from Opodo is very vague and doesn't break down the tax so I cannot see exactly what I have paid already.

B*stards, they're taking the pee! I've emailed them questioning the legality of quoting prices which "include all taxes", then trying to ask for more money. I suspect the airlines are using the APD increase as an excuse to extort money from passengers who have already paid. pboae, let me know if you have any joy with them.

Simon.

magic_pants

this is NOT the airlines fault!!! This Government introduced the tax and THAY made it retrospective. Blame the Government NOT the airlines!

pboae

I think you have missed the point magic pants, this isn't retrospective, simonSE15 and I both made our bookings after the new tax had been introduced. I quite understand the issues with flights booked before the Dec 06 announcement, but I do not understand why it would be an issue with flights booked a month later. The tax was known about and should have been included in the price.

How long will this go on for? Are people booking tickets today going to get suddenly asked to pay another £40 next month? What about people booking next month? Next year? The airlines should have started charging as soon as they knew about it.

pboae

simonSE15 I think this is a scam, I queried it with opodo and got a reply, I won't copy it all but the important bit it:

"In reference to your travel booking, we can advise you that you are not
required to pay the additional surcharges. However,
if you make any changes to your flight reservation, you will be
required to pay the additional surcharges."

They have only confirmed this for the flight I queried (I booked two tickets with different dates), they sent me two copies of the original email telling me how to pay it. If I hadn't queried it, would they have refused to accept the payment if I had just paid straight away?

I am still unsure why I would have to pay the surcharges if I change my ticket. Surely the tax was either paid at purchase, or it wasn't.

simonSE15

pboae wrote:

simonSE15 I think this is a scam, I queried it with opodo and got a reply, I won't copy it all but the important bit it:

"In reference to your travel booking, we can advise you that you are not
required to pay the additional surcharges. However,
if you make any changes to your flight reservation, you will be
required to pay the additional surcharges."

They have only confirmed this for the flight I queried (I booked two tickets with different dates), they sent me two copies of the original email telling me how to pay it. If I hadn't queried it, would they have refused to accept the payment if I had just paid straight away?

I am still unsure why I would have to pay the surcharges if I change my ticket. Surely the tax was either paid at purchase, or it wasn't.

hi pboae,

I got an email just now telling me that I dont have to pay anything extra as the tax was taken at the time of booking. Im not sure whether this was a mistake because they sent out a general email or if they were trying it on. Either way I wont be using Opodo again, the muppets. I have car hire and 4 weeks accomodation still to find and will be looking at Expedia, Lastminute, in fact anyone but O-dodo! Yes Magic Pants rather missed the point :rotfl:

I dont know what they mean about "surcharges", that obviously applies if you change your ticket, but I assume you werent doing that anyway!

all the best,

Simon.

pboae

No, I'm not planning on making any changes, it just makes me nervous when I don't know what they are up to ;-)

I have still not received any email about the second ticket I booked (which I haven't queried yet), only for the one I opened a question for. So I am pretty sure they are only offering the information that you have already paid if you query it. After the weekend I will query the second ticket and see if that prompts another email.