MORE airlines are
jumping on the
bandwagon and
refusing to refund the fuel
surcharge or carrier-imposed
surcharge on non-refundable
tickets.
David Pegg, md of Sure
Viva Travels, says this has
been a noticeable recent
development in the industry.
“The longer we leave things
the more airlines will start
doing this,” comments Tracy
Teichmann, manager of Sure
Adcocks Travel.
While some airlines, such
as British Airways, have held
this policy for some time,
David says other airlines
like SAA and Arik Air have
now also started refusing
to refund fuel surcharges.
He also points out that
Lufthansa has one-way fares
that are higher than some
of its return fares. When the
return fare is cheaper, the
airline will refund neither
the fare nor the taxes on
the return leg of a round trip
where the passenger has
flown one way only.
Airlines no longer refer
to the YR tax as a fuel
surcharge but call it a
‘carrier-imposed surcharge’.
Sean Hough, ceo of
Pentravel, says it is very
opportunistic that they have
changed the name, and says
while airlines cannot justify
why the surcharge is needed,
it has become an important
revenue stream for them.
Spokesperson for SAA,
Tlali Tlali, confirms that the
airline amended its rules
on June 1, such that carrierimposed
charges are not
refundable on non-refundable
tickets. For tickets with a
cancellation penalty of 50%,
the residual value of the
base fare is refunded, plus
the full unused portion of
carrier-imposed fee. Tlali
says many carriers that
operate in the same markets
as SAA have been applying
this consistently as a nonrefundable
item.
Helena Maxwell, Kenya
Airways area manager
Southern Africa, Angola and
Indian Ocean Islands, says
the airline’s non-refundable
tickets receive a refund on
all other taxes except YR
and the base fare. “YR is a
carrier-imposed surcharge
and makes up part of the
passenger airfare and
therefore belongs to the
airline and can be refunded
if the rules allow for the
same.”
“Unfortunately the code
provided to the Industry,
YR or YQ, is the code to
identify the so-called fuel
surcharges but in fact they
are ‘carrier imposed fees’,”
agrees Tlali. “This often
leads to clients feeling that
the ‘fuel’ element should be
refunded.”
British Airways also points
out that for partially used
tickets not all the taxes may
be refundable as some may
be considered used. For
example, if a UK departure
has taken place before
the ticket is presented for
refund, any tax relating to the
UK departure will have been
used.
However, Jonathan Gerber,
director of TAG, says, by
refusing to refund the fuel
surcharge or carrier-imposed
surcharge, airlines are
contradicting themselves,
and points out that if the
charge is not a refundable
government tax, it should
originally form part of the
base fare. TAG says it has
noticed Arik Air, Kenya
Airways and Emirates also
not refunding these ‘carrierimposed’
charges.
There is a paradox in the
way airlines handle this
surcharge, agrees Franz
von Wielligh, gm of Flight
Specials. He says even
though fuel surcharges
should form part of the cost
of operations, airlines have
never wanted to include this
in the base fare.
There is an ongoing
discussion in the industry
on the ‘non-refundability’ of
goods and services. See a
future issue of TNW for more
on this topic.
