MSE News: Ryanair and BMI Baby slap extra Spanish tax on flyersid

Steve_xx

jpsartre wrote: »

None of those situations are in any way comparable to passing on a tax imposed by someone else, nor are they covered by any airlines terms and conditions, and if they were, it probably wouldn't be legal. I fail to see the point of speculating about what may or may not happen in hypothetical situations that are entirely irrelevant to what's happening here.

Charging for using your credit/debit card is not a tax imposed by someone else. Yet airlines choose, and are allowed, to royally rip their customers off with the imposition of card charges and these are unavoidable since there is no other way to pay. So don't try and make it appear that airlines are good guys and that they only add charges when imposed from governments.

jpsartre

This thread has nothing to do with card charges.

Steve_xx

jpsartre wrote: »

This thread has nothing to do with card charges.

It matters not. It's the thin edge of the wedge, as they say. And. it serves as a very real example of how airlines are quite capable of imposing extraneous charges on their customers without the intervention of government and/or the tax regime.

jpsartre

It doesn't matter that you are arguing a point that has nothing to do with the tread? I very much disagree. Card charges and the Spanish tax increase are two completely different things. It is of no help to anyone to run them together.

Steve_xx

jpsartre wrote: »

It doesn't matter that you are arguing a point that has nothing to do with the tread? I very much disagree. Card charges and the Spanish tax increase are two completely different things. It is of no help to anyone to run them together.

I believe, though I accept that you may not do, that there is some correlation between the two.

I reiterate my earlier analogy that one would not expect to go to Tesco, pay for one's shopping, and then have an additional charge imposed sometime after the purchase was initially made. Most right-thinking shoppers at Tesco would be incensed at the notion that Tesco could recover additional charges at a later date in the way that airlines currently do.

jpsartre

Indeed, I do not see the correlation at all. Card charges are (soon to be were) a way of exploiting a loophole by which airlines can artifically keep base fares low, thereby comparing favorably with other airlines and attracting more customers to their sites. It is a fee determined and charged by the airline and which goes in their pockets. APD, on the other hand, is a tax imposed the relevant authorities and which is charged by the airline on behalf of those authorities, to be passed on to them on the day of travel. Such taxes do not generate any revenue for the airline, with the latter being nothing more than a middleman between the passenger traveling and the authoritites in the country they are traveling from. So again, it's really two completely different things.

I agree that people wouldn't expect to buy something in Tesco only to be charged more at a later stage but buying a pint of milk in a supermarket isn't like buying a airplane ticket. It's an unfortunate side-effect of the way APD is charged and paid that increases in APD can result in passengers being charged extra after booking. The upside is that the system makes it easier to get a refund of those taxes if the passenger doesn't travel. Of course, some airlines strongly discourage this by charging a large process fee, effectively making it worthless to pursue such a refund. But that's another issue altogether.

Steve_xx

jpsartre wrote: »

Indeed, I do not see the correlation at all. Card charges are (soon to be were) a way of exploiting a loophole by which airlines can artifically keep base fares low, thereby comparing favorably with other airlines and attracting more customers to their sites. It is a fee determined and charged by the airline and which goes in their pockets. APD, on the other hand, is a tax imposed the relevant authorities and which is charged by the airline on behalf of those authorities, to be passed on to them on the day of travel. Such taxes do not generate any revenue for the airline, with the latter being nothing more than a middleman between the passenger traveling and the authoritites in the country they are traveling from. So again, it's really two completely different things.

I agree that people wouldn't expect to buy something in Tesco only to be charged more at a later stage but buying a pint of milk in a supermarket isn't like buying a airplane ticket. It's an unfortunate side-effect of the way APD is charged and paid that increases in APD can result in passengers being charged extra after booking. The upside is that the system makes it easier to get a refund of those taxes if the passenger doesn't travel. Of course, some airlines strongly discourage this by charging a large process fee, effectively making it worthless to pursue such a refund. But that's another issue altogether.

....yes,and similarly one would be horrified if Tesco imposed a fee for issuing a refund! Charging for issuing a refund being another airline self-imposed scam.

jpsartre

I don't disagree but it's another issue that has nothing to do with this thread.

debtdalek

dlake0001 wrote: »

Ok, here goes. I'm due to fly on the 22nd and, while not exactly happy to pay the extra tax, I wasn't going to let a few euros each extra ruin my holiday. The problem I have is that since booking the flights I have changed bank accounts. I looked all over Ryanair's website to update payment details etc. but there is no option to do this.

I took the plunge and decided to call their (0871, naturally) customer services number. It took me nearly 3 days to get further than the 'high volume... call later' gumph but when I eventually got through I explained everything to the woman on the other end. I asked if I could give her my new debit card number and she said this wasn't possible without cancelling the whole booking and rebooking the tickets again at the current price. I asked her what I could do then as my old account is now closed. She said to do nothing. I asked how this would affect my booking and she said it wouldn't. If the extra isn't paid then it isn't paid. We still get to fly. I asked her to confirm this in an email but she refused.

Surely this isn't right? I don't want to spend my whole week worrying that we won't get to fly when we get to the airport. Anybody else experienced this? Any ideas?

I posted a similar query last week, but no-one answered it!
My daughter is due to fly on 28th with BMI Baby but she no longer has the credit card as it was being used fraudulently.
So now she's having a major panic about how they will collect the extra as they are supposed to be starting to collect from next Monday.
It really would be nice if people actually ofered help and advice to those such as the above poster and I noticed another one who had a prepaid card with a zero balance, instead of just bemoaning the fact that the authorities in Spain have increased one of the taxes.
It must have happened before so it would be good if people could share their experience of how they overcame such problems instead of just complaining about a small price hike on flights which are frankly in some cases cheaper than my local train journey!

Steve_xx

debtdalek wrote: »

It really would be nice if people actually ofered help and advice to those such as the above poster and I noticed another one who had a prepaid card with a zero balance, instead of just bemoaning the fact that the authorities in Spain have increased one of the taxes.
It must have happened before so it would be good if people could share their experience of how they overcame such problems instead of just complaining about a small price hike on flights which are frankly in some cases cheaper than my local train journey!

The answer to the first part of your query is: telephone the airline and ask them how they wish to collect it.

To the second part, the answer is that this forum is for discussion on the detail of the proposed tax. People on forums like these do bemoan these types of price hikes, and that's what this thread is about. The price hike may seem small to you, and insignificant too, but to a family of five it may just impact on the enjoyment of their holiday.