bmi diamond club - Tax Query

hi there,

Just booked some flights with my diamond club points...

OUTWARD
Depart:
09:00 Sun., 6 Dec., 2009
Manchester, England (MAN)

Arrive:
12:00 Sun., 6 Dec., 2009
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty) Meal: Lunch

Flight: CO21
Class: Economy (B)

RETURN
Depart: 21:20 Wed., 9 Dec., 2009
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)

Arrive: 09:25 +1 Day Thu., 10 Dec., 2009
London, England (LHR - Heathrow)
Flight: CO110
Fare Class: Economy (B)

Change Planes.

Depart: 11:35 Thu., 10 Dec., 2009
London, England (LHR - Heathrow)

Arrive: 12:40 Thu., 10 Dec., 2009
Manchester, England (MAN)
Flight: CO8872
Fare Class: Economy (B)

When I price it up on Continental.com, it shows the following:

2 Adults (age 18 to 64) 1,966.00 GBP
1 Infants (under age 2 at time of travel) 87.00 GBP
Additional Taxes/Fees 249.30 GBP
Total Price 2,302.30 GBP

So I was presuming that using 90,000 miles, I would be charged £249.30 (TAXES) and £87 (INFANT) = TOTAL £336.30

Instead, it came to £576.40

I paid it as I had lost patience with the chap on the other end of the line... I have been trying to book all day!

So my query is how much the taxes/charges should have been??

Thanks,

Peter

According to ITA, which is usually pretty reliable, £213.30 tax per adult.

I have no idea about the infant.

It looks like the infant taxes are about double what they should be (I think).

Edit:

According to ITA

Adult

45.00GB 22.90UB 3.30YC 4.30XY 3.00XA 19.60US 1.50AY 111.00YQ 2.70XF EWR4.50

Tax: USDA APHIS Fee $5.00
Tax: US Immigration Fee $7.00
Tax: US Customs Fee $5.50
Tax: United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty £45.00
Tax: US International Arrival Tax $16.10
Tax: United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge £22.90
Tax: CO YQ surcharge £111.00
Tax: US International Departure Tax $16.10
Tax: US September 11th Security Fee $2.50
Tax: US Passenger Facility Charge $4.50

Total: ~£217.80 pp

Infant

12.80UB 3.30YC 4.30XY 3.00XA 19.60US 1.50AY

Tax: USDA APHIS Fee $5.00
Tax: US Immigration Fee $7.00
Tax: US Customs Fee $5.50
Tax: US International Arrival Tax $16.10
Tax: United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge £12.80
Tax: US International Departure Tax $16.10
Tax: US September 11th Security Fee $2.50

Total £44.50

I recently booked to fly one way ICN to FRA to BHX in business using points and cash. The miles each was 26250 and cash each was £180, this was all as I had calculated before I made the call.

The strange thing was that the agent told me that he didn't know how much the tax would be until he had made the booking ? Turns out it was £157 each, more expensive than I had expected. Does this seem about right ?

I recently booked to fly one way ICN to FRA to BHX in business using points and cash. The miles each was 26250 and cash each was £180, this was all as I had calculated before I made the call.

The strange thing was that the agent told me that he didn't know how much the tax would be until he had made the booking ? Turns out it was £157 each, more expensive than I had expected. Does this seem about right ?

Depends on who the airline was for ICN-FRA. If it is LH, then they have a higher level of fuel surcharge. If it is Asiana, then it probably is too high.

What is ITA?

Can I call up and quote these prices and try for a refund?

What is ITA?

Can I call up and quote these prices and try for a refund?

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch

When you call up you need to speak to a supervisor ideally, and ask them to double check what they have quoted you first of all. Then if it still comes back too high, you need to query it. Ask them for a line item breakdown of what they are charging. They'll be evasive and try not to, so you need to be persistent.

They are not immune to making mistakes. For example, last year they mistakenly charged me full adult TG YQ surcharge on an infant ticket, ($243 instead of $24.30), and then most recently they tried to charge me >£200 for an infant on a cash & miles redemption to the US, where they had "mistakenly" tried to charge me the cash element as they would for an adult.

So the best way to do this is to have the figures at hand. If they refuse to budge, then you can still argue the toss with them for a refund it will just take a while.

They are not immune to making mistakes.

There's still most of November and all of December to go, of course, but this has to be a strong contender for understatement of the year.

There's still most of November and all of December to go, of course, but this has to be a strong contender for understatement of the year.

Amen to that :D

Keep us posted - would be interesting to find out how you get on with this.