Travelup flight tax refund fee

kelloggs36

Hi there
We took the decision to cancel the holiday we had booked to Crete due to the uncertainty surrounding everything.  We have cover via our Nationwide travel insurance as this is an annual policy which was in effect before Covid existed.  We are now within 28 days of travel and the FCO advice on the date of cancellation, was no non-essential travel.  So far, so good.
We filled in the online form with travelup and also sent an email to them asking them to cancel the flights (we booked the accommodation separately) but heard nothing so I called them.  I was advised that we would be entitled to the tax back on the flights from them - which was more than I was expecting to be honest.  They guy I spoke to said it was £16.37 each refund.  The tax is actually £51.37 each but they are taking £25 per person as a refund processing fee.  This still leaves a shortfall of £10 each not accounted for.  Is this normal?  It seems excessive to charge £100 for refunding money as only 1 transaction will be occurring as the money was only paid by one person in the first place, yet they are taking a fee per person.  Where does the other £10 per person go?
We have not yet had the cancellation invoice - apparently that takes 4 days to generate?  Does anybody know if they will state the refund that we should have received, ie all of the tax, or whether it will just say the amount we are actually getting?  Will we be able to state the difference on the claim to Nationwide as we are already paying an excess per person to make the claim.
Thanks

Westin

Not all ‘taxes’ are refundable.  Some are airline imposed fees.

kelloggs36

How can I find out if this is the case?

Westin

Do you have the breakdown of the £51.37 you mention?

It is the AIr Passenger Duty element which is refundable but often the admin fees to process this out weigh the value of the APD.

Air Passenger Duty rates can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-allowances-for-air-passenger-duty

For UK to Greece in standard economy the adult APD is currently £13.