Claiming back taxes/charges on unused flights

grumpytrousers

Only this morning I booked a flight to the UK, and the total cost of flying - i.e amount going to Aer Lingus is around €40, but another €35 or so is going in assorted other charges.

If it emerges that I can't fly, am i able to claim back this €35? And secondly, is this universal - i.e. on all Airlines

I ask this 'cos as I was shopping around I noticed that i could get a Ryanair flight on the same day for around €8 but their charges amounted to €65. (Same-ish net total. factor in cost of to/from stanstead v to/from Heathrow and Aer Lingus is cheaper/better/easier/more comfy!)

My reckoning was that with an iffy schedule, I'd rather have a decent chance of getting half my money out of Aer Lingus rather than sod all out of Ryanair - my spidey sense tells me that it's a tricky situation.

Any of you bods able to shed light on this....

leeroybrown

To the best of my knowledge you can't.

Basically, the airlines are all seperating the ticket cost out into component parts so they can advertise artificially cheaper tickets. No frills carriers like Ryanair started it I think. They've seperated the landing charges imposed by the airport and taxes from the ticket price itself but ultimately they're part of the ticket cost.

And all so they can say fly for €19 or whatever.

maxheadroom

You can demand a refund of the tax (and only tax, no other charges like landing fees or insurance levies etc), but the airline can charge a processing fee for refunding this to you. Which in many cases will wipe out the value of the refund.

HarryD

I managed to get a tax-refund outta Malev (Hungarian Airlines)
after I didn't take a flight.
AFAIK, the airlines get charged airport taxes based on the number of bums on seats.
Hence if yer not on yer seat the airline don't get charged the tax, and you
are entitled to it back.
But as maxheadroom said the processing fee may wipe out the value of refund.,

grumpytrousers

I managed to get a tax-refund outta Malev (Hungarian Airlines)

aye - I thought that it was possible...

if yer not on yer seat the airline don't get charged the tax, and you
are entitled to it back.

indeed. Effectively the airline holds the money in trust for the other agencies who want their cut....

But as maxheadroom said the processing fee may wipe out the value of refund.,

also true. In the case of ryanair mind, I still think it's worth doing - i.e. amount due €30, processing fee €25, you get €5 back. You won't be going mad, but it will actually cost ryanair in time and money having to send you that fiver....you might as well get your moneys worth:D

maxheadroom

Again, you're only entitled to reclaim government tax. Not airport fees. Not landing charges. Do a bit of googling and you'll find quite a lot of material about this (most in reference to Ryanair).

In this case, Ryanair don't send you anything, the tax is rarely more than £5 sterling on any given flight leg. You can see the breakdown of charges on the ryanair booking pages.

blorg

AFAIK Aer Lingus *will* refund the taxes, even on an otherwise unrefundable ticket, while Ryanair will not. Certainly they have refunded the taxes for my girlfriend in the past. IIRC this actually included the airport fees.

This is unless Aer Lingus policy has changed. Why don't you ring them and ask them, they are generally very helpful.