Passenger duty Tax

JoeMarina1

In december I booked 2 decently priced flights (one for one adult and the other for three adults) I booked online with a debit card. I have recently been sent emails from the 2 airlines involved to state that I have to pay passenger duty tax ontop of what I paid in December. I have read in the media lately that this is illegal and we should not be paying this but unfortumately as I paid with a card it has been automatically taken and has added £40 to my trips. Does anyone know how to claim this back or if indeed it is illegal.

alanrowell

If you go through this forum you'll find that this has been asked one or two times before over the past couple of weeks

o_t_e

Hi joe - the bottom line is the tax is legal until a judicial review advises otherwise, and no such review has been instigated. The removal of the money from your credit card is harder to defend given that it is not a route all airlines have gone down; the airline will argue that they are acting within their terms and conditions which you agreed to when you made the original purchase.
There have been legal opinions in the press disputing the legality of the tax increase and stating that passengers would be within their rights to withhold payment, or in your case dispute the payment with your credit card company when it is taken; in practice however the Treasury will expect full payment of the tax by the airline if you fly and so if you haven't paid the tax in full you won't fly.