Airlines collected UK airport tax despite exemption

The travel agents have demanded refunds for customers

Teenagers may have paid a higher price for travel from the UK for over a year as airlines did not inform agents of a tax exemption.

All passengers departing from airports in the UK pay air passenger duty (APD), which varies according to distance and class of travel. While economy class passengers till the age of 12 are exempted from the duty, the UK authorities extended the exemption to those below the age of 16 from March 2016.

Economy class passengers from London to India are charged £75 and it is included in the ticket price.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has claimed that airlines did not inform them about this. The agents have also demanded refunds for customers.

The issue came to light last month after a customer complained to an agent. Following this, the TAFI raised the issue with airlines.

Air India, Jet Airways, British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic (VA) operate non-stop flights between India and London. A large number of passengers travel on these airlines as well as Emirates and Etihad Airways on this sector.

“There has been no circular from your airline to travel agents informing about this tax abolishment. Neither have any procedures been informed to collect the tax refund for passengers.

It is quite clear that mechanisms exist with the global distribution systems used by agents for ticketing to deduct this tax at the time of ticketing. However, no efforts have been made on that front either,” the TAFI said in a letter to airlines.

“Even now some airline websites are not equipped to provide exemption to passengers. Also the airlines are silent on the issue of refund,” said Rajat Bagaria, the TAFI’s joint secretary.

While a passenger can book a ticket through an airline website, travel agents use global distribution systems such as Amadeus, Travelport and Sabre. Ticket prices are preset on these systems and it is an airline’s responsibility to ensure that the correct break-up of fare and taxes is available following any price revision.

Tickets are available in three age categories: Infants (less than two years), children (2-12 years) and adults (above 12 years).

Websites of BA, Emirates and VA have options for booking passengers between the ages of 12 and 15 years if travel is from an UK airport. Jet Airways’ website mentions the tax exemption will be applied if a passenger is between 12 and 15 years of age.

Following the complaint, Air India, Emirates and Amadeus issued circulars to inform agents about the procedure that allows for tax exemption while booking.

In its response to the TAFI, Jet Airways said it had issued a circular in 2016. The airline did not respond to a query from Business Standard.

In its response to the TAFI, BA said since 2016 its systems allowed the exemption at the time of booking and there should ideally be few or no tickets where this tax was charged wrongly. “These changes are in the public domain,” BA said.

Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters