FinanceBAM News

This weekend will be one of the busiest periods in the flying calendar this year. It is highly probable to see thousands of seat go empty due to last minute cancellations and flyers turning up late.

With budget airlines now refusing to refund any cost of the ticket for late or no turn up flyers, it is now possible to at least get taxes charged by the company towards your ticket. Most airliners more than happily refund this amount which can amount to a lot of money, compared to not getting anything at all. Approximately £50 can be refunded from a £200 ticket which is 25% of your ticket cost.

The recent doubling of passenger duty or UK departure tax for long haul economy flights to £40 makes it worthwhile to go through the trouble of having these charges refunded as a bare minimum. A lot of the budget airlines have agreed to refund all passenger departure tax and overseas government taxes as reported in the financial times on April 8^th.

Some airlines go a step further like BA, who says they will refund everything else that is not part of the core fare charged by the airline for the journey. This includes all the customer departure tax, passenger duty, fuel surcharge and any insurance charges and administrative charges, all this together could amount to over £100 for someone who does not travel.

However, these charges could only be claimed against if the tickets are booked directly with the airline, and not through an agent, where these claims would then need to be made through the agent who could incur two administrative charges, and reduce the amount that can be reclaimed.

The consumers agency body advises that unhappy refund customers should challenge these administrative charges, however, as soon as you know you will not be traveling, it is best to get in touch with your respective airline or agent and tell them as they may be able to alter your ticket for a much smaller charge than you would stand lose if you do not fly at all. This would make much more financial sense.