MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Lawyers at the 4-5 law firm claim that carriers – including British Airways, Monarch, and Virgin – charge "excessive" administration fees to reclaim their Air Passenger Duty (APD) in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Casehub, a claims firm organizing legal action, calculates that airlines have pocketed the $412 million belonging to passengers in the past six years, according to The Telegraph daily.
"This is an example of the air industry taking advantage of customers' good will. Any responsible company would offer automatic refunds for tax that is owed to customers," consumer campaign group Fairer Finance director James Daley told the newspaper.
Examples provided by the outlet reveal British Airways charging up to 30 pounds to reclaim APD valued at 13 pounds for a short-haul economy flight, and Jet2 charging 40 pounds for the service.
"The airlines do not charge an admin fee to HMRC for transferring the APD. And they are not charging passengers when they were made to refund APD for children. This is not OK, but now passengers have the ability to collectively stand together and sue to get their money back," the firm’s founder Michael Green said.
Casehub’s estimate is based on 2 percent APD charged to short-haul passengers and 0.5 percent to long-haul passengers who miss their flights. The firm adds 2 percent annual interest to the sum.
