Air Passenger Duty for under 16 - AA charges ?

The_Phantom

Had a phone call this evening from AA Customer Relations. A rather rude woman advised me I am not getting a refund and that's that. The ticket has to be used first as they cannot issue partial refunds. When I asked why their leaflet states they will refund pro-actively she said I didn't read it to the end and offered to read it with me. She read it out and I was waiting for the punch line which didn't come. She just read out what it says. When I asked what the point was she said I am not getting a refund unless I cancel the ticket and that was that. When I said I am going to take this further she said I could take it where ever I wanted for all she cared and I would still not get a refund. She offered that I could take it up with their refunds department direct and said she would e-mail me their details and then hung up on me.
I did get an e-mail shortly afterwards with a postal address in Phoenix Arizona and a telephone number which states 'for US residents only'
and a closing sentence that she hoped they could welcome me aboard shortly.

You couldn't make this up. I wonder whether there is something like Trading Standards in the USA...?
Alternatively I am still searching for a Postal address for AA in the UK. If they sell tickets here surely they need to have a business address here ?

The_Phantom

Found an address for them in the UK.

AMERICAN AIRLINES
AA
3rd Floor, Orient House (HAA3), PO Box 365, Waterside
Harmondsworth UB7 0GB

Assume that is an office at Heathrow airport, probably for their ground staff here.

So it's good to know they have an address here in the UK
Will now let it run until after the journey and see if they refund me then.
If not I may try to get the money out them the official route.

parahandy

I had a similar issue when booking flights to Canada for July with Westjet. Like you, I had to phone the airline as the website wouldn't allow me to correctly book for two adults and my daughter (who will be 14).

When all the documents came through, I noticed the APD was not removed for my daughter.

I phoned Westjet tonight and they refunded the APD. The lady did say "our records show it's only removed for under-12s", but I was able to get explain the 1st March changes and there were no issues with the refund.

callum9999

The_Phantom wrote: »

Found an address for them in the UK.

AMERICAN AIRLINES
AA
3rd Floor, Orient House (HAA3), PO Box 365, Waterside
Harmondsworth UB7 0GB

Assume that is an office at Heathrow airport, probably for their ground staff here.

So it's good to know they have an address here in the UK
Will now let it run until after the journey and see if they refund me then.
If not I may try to get the money out them the official route.

How annoying. If you need the refund before you fly then just keep hanging up and calling back until you get a competent employee.

That's BA's headquarters - I assume AA have an office inside it then, though I doubt they can/will do anything with APD refunds.

The_Phantom

You are right, it is BA's address near Heathrow. As they are alliance members I agree that AA has most likely got some office space rented there. Probably to deal with staff and administrative issues arising from departing and arriving planes including cargo.
They wouldn't do anything with regards to my refund issue, but if they repeatedly refuse to refund me it gives the option of a Court Claim , Trading Standards or CAA.
All of that would be impossible if they had no registered UK address.

The_Phantom

parahandy wrote: »

I had a similar issue when booking flights to Canada for July with Westjet. Like you, I had to phone the airline as the website wouldn't allow me to correctly book for two adults and my daughter (who will be 14).

When all the documents came through, I noticed the APD was not removed for my daughter.

I phoned Westjet tonight and they refunded the APD. The lady did say "our records show it's only removed for under-12s", but I was able to get explain the 1st March changes and there were no issues with the refund.

AA is claiming they cannot issue partial refunds. If I want a refund they will cancel my ticket. But as I don't want to cancel the ticket they say I have no other options - they won't refund. I can try and ask for a refund after the ticket has been used completely (in and outbound) (which will be by the end of August) and they will then 'consider it'. So they have my money in their bank for 7 months before 'considering' a refund.
The thought has crossed my mind whether this should warrant interest to be added, as I feel the fact that they can't issue partial refunds is their problem and not mine.

oaldoak

I booked flights to Cuba through a travel company, they use Air Europa. Our 14 year old was considered an adult by the company as she's over 11. There's the problem, HMRC say children under 16 don't pay the tax. Are Europa say the child is an adult as she's over 11. Are we entitled to the £71 back?

leylandsunaddict

oaldoak wrote: »

I booked flights to Cuba through a travel company, they use Air Europa. Our 14 year old was considered an adult by the company as she's over 11. There's the problem, HMRC say children under 16 don't pay the tax. Are Europa say the child is an adult as she's over 11. Are we entitled to the £71 back?

If they've charged APD for the child, yes you're entitled to it back. Some airlines only refund after the flight. Some you have to apply for it, others just refund automatically. Whichever way, any refund will come from whoever you booked through, so you need to contact them.

The_Phantom

I had a surprise refund from AA straight into my account , without any form of communcation from them.
£73.-
But as they said they can't refund without cancelling the ticket, I thought I better check my reservation online....and guess what. It's gone !
Considering I am over £1000.- out of pocket if they have cancelled the ticket I am not well pleased. Considering it is a non refundable ticket. Sense of humour failure approaching very fast now

zolablue25

I have had a similar issue with BA. When we booked our flights last year we were told that the BA system wasn't set up yet so we had to book an adult ticket for our 12 year old.

When I queried how to get a refund I was at first told that we couldn't have one as she had travelled on an adult ticket. I got back to them to say that we weren't travelling until May and that we didn't have the option of a child ticket at time of boarding. Their reply was that it would be automatically refunded after our flights, but I think that was probably just a fob off. Fortunately its just £13 but it is the principle as much as anything.

By contrast, I emailed BMI Regional about our flights to Germany in the summer and got an almost immediate reply saying they had forwarded my information to accounts and I would receive a refund shortly. It was in my account within 2 days.