Airport Tax Refund on Non-Refundable Tickets

• 

  Kiwi on 02/01/2017 - 22:34

  What's the situation? Missed/can't make the flight and want to know about getting just the taxes refunded?

  • 

    KatNZ on 02/01/2017 - 22:51

    Hi, thanks for the quick reply:) I have a couple of situations personally but thought it might be useful for everyone to know if they can limit their exposure when taking advantage of cheap deals, particularly if the flights are many months in advance.

    1/ Purchased some cheap AirAsia flights (<$200 return) to the Gold Coast but now need to change the date of the outbound flight to a different day and with the change fees it's looking like it'll be cheaper to to book a whole new flight and was wondering what my chances would be of getting the taxes back on the flight I wont be taking.

    2/ Already purchased cheap Jetstar flights to Melbourne in July (non-refundable) but was very tempted to add a week in Bali beforehand when they had $167 Akl to Bali fares last week. This would have meant foregoing the Akl to Melbourne leg of the trip. In the end I decided against booking the extra week but it would be handy to know if I could have got a tax refund on the leg not taken.

    Thanks:)

    • 

      Kiwi on 02/01/2017 - 22:59

      No worries, was just watching the live feed on my other monitor.

      http://www.jetstar.com/nz/en/conditions-of-carriage-jq Might help for 2.

      5.4 Non-refundable fares

      Some fare types are non-refundable. Please refer to the applicable fare rules for more information.

      Even if your fare is non-refundable, if you do not travel you may be able to claim a refund of certain charges or taxes excluding fuel and insurance surcharges. If there is a charge or tax which Jetstar collects on a per passenger basis to remit to an airport or taxing authority, and we do not have to remit that amount as a result of you not travelling, we will refund that amount to you, after deducting a reasonable administration fee (see Fees and Charges for current fees). If the administration fee reasonably incurred exceeds the amount of the refund, no refund will be paid.

      So, after their fee (Of probably about $50/person/flight) you might get something back, but it depends on how much they charge to process it.

      As for Air Asia, try here for some info, but their live chat or call centre would probably be the best bet.

      Be prepared to be screwed around if requesting, and have T&C references handy for the conversations.

      Good luck!

    • 

      puppety on 03/01/2017 - 19:16

      had a few air asia flights i had to cancel. applied for a tax refund but was unsuccessful- and only got a reply like 5 months after.

      • 

        Kiwi on 03/01/2017 - 19:23

        applied for a tax refund but was unsuccessful

        Did they give a reason, or just said no?

      • 

        puppety on 03/01/2017 - 22:54

        @Shaw:

        Not really, they just sent me this response:

        ---

        We have reviewed your request and regret to inform you that we are unable to process your request as it does not meet any of the following criterias:

        • Airport Tax
        • Duplicate Booking
        • Double Payment
        • Duty Free
        • Flight Cancellation
        • Flight Reschedule

        If you wish to resubmit, click here https://eform.airasia.com/ and select the case category as 'Customer Request' for further assistance."

        ---

        So this came as an "auto-generated response" five month after the booked flight so I've just resubmitted it in a different category to hopefully be processed by actual person. I think the tax/service charge refund is about $20 so not a deal breaker but will be nice to have back!