Refund of Airline Tax

eamonh

I recently had to cancel a flight with BMIbaby, the Airline Passenger Duty of which was £20. As I did not travel, I asked for this to be refunded.

BMIBaby said they would refund it but would charge £20 admin fee to do so. (£20 minus £20 = zero). I challenged them on this as I do not believe this is a fair charge and the principles of it run similar to what is being argued in respect of Unlawful Bank Charges.

I politely asked 3 times for my £20 to no avail so I issued a claim via Moneyclaim.

BMIbaby then gave in straight away and just sent me a cheque for £50!! (£20 plus costs), denying me the opportunity to prove in court that what they are doing is unlawful.

I wonder how many customers are being scared off from reclaiming their own by this bullying tactic from BMIbaby???

Just because airlines may impose an Admin fee in their Terms and Conditions does not legitimise what they are doing. This tax is your money if you do no travel and they cannot charge you to refund it.

Furthermore, I asked BMIBAby what would happen if the tax paid was not reclaimed. They stated in an email to me that the money would be "retained within the business". I am sure that it was not Gordon Brown's intention for the Airlines to further line their pockets when he introduced this Green Tax.

Please do not be put off by the bullying tactics of the likes of BMIbaby. Issue proceedings if you are not having any luck dealing with them direct and they will soon give in as I am sure that they do not want the publicity of pocketing money that is not theirs to keep.
[EMAIL="crawford.rix@bmibaby.com"][/EMAIL]

dzug

Well if enough people do it they WILL go to court and prove that it is legal, as it is. The bank analogy is a bad one.

For a one off it's cheaper for them to give in, regardless of the rights and wrongs. Virtually any large firm will do this.

2gilil

I have booked with sterling and they have now gone bust, how do I get my tax back?

dzug1

2gilil wrote: »

I have booked with sterling and they have now gone bust, how do I get my tax back?

Whatever you get back will (anlong with your fare) be through your credit card company.

2gilil

but I didnt pay with a credit card, but with debit card. does that make a diffrence?

many thanks for your help

dzug1

2gilil wrote: »

but I didnt pay with a credit card, but with debit card. does that make a diffrence?

many thanks for your help

If it's a visa debit card then at least in some circumstances it's treated like a credit card. Any other debit card you are out of luck.

fifeken

2gilil wrote: »

but I didnt pay with a credit card, but with debit card. does that make a diffrence?

many thanks for your help

See reply to your other post on this subject.