Holiday cancellation - who gets the APD

paulypost

We recently had to cancel a Saga trip to India because of family illness. AXA have been generally very good and have 'settled' & paid the claim within a month. However, Air Passenger Tax (£344) has been excluded from the settlement figure and they have directed me back to Saga who have said "we don't refund this anymore" and have directed me to the airline - Emirates - whose on-line claim form only allows a submission if the payment for the tickets has been made through their call centre or on-line. It's a tax that only gets paid to HMRC if the traveller gets on the plane, so Emirates will retain it by default!
I made the original payment with credit card so I have a section 75 letter ready to go. But can anyone suggest any other routes I might try, please? Maybe CAA or ABTA or small claims court or....?

Jumblebumble

paulypost wrote: »

We recently had to cancel a Saga trip to India because of family illness. AXA have been generally very good and have 'settled' & paid the claim within a month. However, Air Passenger Tax (£344) has been excluded from the settlement figure and they have directed me back to Saga who have said "we don't refund this anymore" and have directed me to the airline - Emirates - whose on-line claim form only allows a submission if the payment for the tickets has been made through their call centre or on-line. It's a tax that only gets paid to HMRC if the traveller gets on the plane, so Emirates will retain it by default!
I made the original payment with credit card so I have a section 75 letter ready to go. But can anyone suggest any other routes I might try, please? Maybe CAA or ABTA or small claims court or....?[/QUOTE
If the airline are charging an admin fee equivalent to the APD to return it then you are stuffed
My understanding is that some of the low cost are fond of doing this

Ben8282

You are correct that the payment of the APD (Air Passenger Duty) will only be made to HMRC if you actually travel and that in the case outlined above it would appear that Emirates will pocket it.
Clearly from the amount of APD paid by the two of you, you were not travelling Economy class. I am surprised that Emirates are adopting this customer unfriendly attitude to their for Business/First Class passengers. Have you actually spoken to Emirates about this?
What is the basis of the claim by Saga that they 'don't refund this anymore'? I find this to be a rather unsatisfactory response, more to be expected from the likes of Ryanair than from a reputable tour operator to their First or Business class customers. How far in advance of departure did you cancel? I assume that you have checked that actual Emirates (electronic) tickets have in fact been issued and have the Emirates (electronic) ticket numbers. I am asking this to be clear that Saga have in fact paid Emirates and that it is not Saga who are pocketing the APD rather than Emirates.
Why have the insurance company excluded it from your refund payment? I would have thought that the insurance company should have paid out on the entire claim then attempted to recover the APD from Emirates themselves.

paulypost

Things have moved on a little - not a lot!! I’ve spoken to both Emirates & Saga today. Emirates say that Saga should contact them to process the refund. Saga say that they can’t do that. I’m not giving up though and have processed a formal complaint with Saga on the advice of ABTA who’ve said they will conciliate after I make a complaint. So watch this space!!

Ben8282

Emirates say that Saga should contact them to process the refund.

Yes that makes sense. As Emirates were paid by Saga they should normally refund to Saga who should in turn refund you.

Saga say that they can’t do that.

Why not? Neither the refusal nor the apparent lack of cooperation makes any sense.

ABTA will only be able to assist in respect of problems with their member, SAGA. Emirates are a scheduled airline and nothing to do with ABTA. My view here is that your problem is with SAGA not Emirates who appear to be acting correctly in referring you back to SAGA.

I still remain puzzled as to why the insurance company have chosen to deduct only the APD from your refund and not for example any other taxes and charges which may have been included in the cost of the ticket. Did they state a reason for their decision to withhold payment of the APD amount?
Another question which comes to mind is if SAGA are refusing to contact Emirates, have the tickets ever actually been cancelled as obviously some contact between SAGA and Emirates would have been necessary to do this.

Could you clarify/confirm that what you purchased from SAGA was an inclusive tour (package holiday) and you paid one single payment (or deposit then balance subsequently) to SAGA to cover the entire holiday cost including flights, accommodation etc.

paulypost

Thanks Ben for your input.
Saga are in fact simply saying that it's not their problem. One of the CSRs actually said that if I had taken out their insurance the APD would have been refunded in full. Not very helpful comment really?
Axa/Lloyds Travel specifically exclude APD in their Ts&Cs "whether irrecoverable or not". This is simply a money saving exercise I assume.
The package was a Saga package Holiday inc business class flights - hence the high APD

Ben8282

I would suggest a small claims court action against SAGA.

Jumblebumble

Ben8282 wrote: »

I would suggest a small claims court action against SAGA.

Correct
You could ask Saga if Emirates have refunded them the money but I bet you would not get a yes/no answer
This could be why Emirates are not paying ball

paulypost

Great news this afternoon. I had processed a formal complaint with Saga & simply posed the question that it was unreasonable of them not to help me get the APD back from Emirates. I was turned down again by email saying that they were ‘unable’ to help which I questioned further by return. Anyway this afternoon I received a phone call from Customer Relations & was told that as a gesture of goodwill they will repay the APD amount owed. Good ole Saga we will be rebooking!!