JohnnyColombia

This is answered in Coolcoil's post immediately above yours

Forrest Bump

Since does not seem to be common practice by all airlines to not add the tax for trips below 60 days, I was specifically asking about UA.

JohnnyColombia

This depends where your itinerary originates. If it originates in Colombia then the tax will be added. If it originates elsewhere then it will not be added. In terms of including the tax in your ticket or not the 60 days thing is not relevant.

Forrest Bump

It originates in Europe.
I don't find the airline fare breakdown, but from what you say there's little doubt.
Thank you.

TravelinSperry

My taxes for a UA flight out of Colombia back to the US. I will be in Colombia a total of 2 weeks (<60 days):

U.S. Customs User Fee: 5.50
U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 5.00
U.S. Federal Transportation Tax: 17.70
September 11th Security Fee: 5.60
Colombia Airport Tax: 37.00
Columbia Resident Exit Tax : 35.00
Colombia International Sales Tax: 119.00
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge: 4.50

Guess I better get to the airport early so I can get back my $35.

coolcoil

Just remember that you won't get USD, but COP in cash. There is some discussion early in this thread about your options for disposing of the cash at the airport.

Forrest Bump

Found in my booking EUR 27.81CO
Must be the same tax, with the old conversion rate.

coolcoil

I suspect that is the airport tax, which everybody pays.

TravelinSperry

I bought a one way UA ticket and all fees were automatically included. I was only in Colombia for 2 weeks so it makes sense (not sure how UA would know how long I was there)

Getting my Pesos back was very easy. The office is right across from UA/JetBlue. They give you a special stamp and when you walk over to UA they give you back Pesos. However, they only gave me back 74,000 Pesos which as of yesterday was worth only $30 USD (not $35). I argued with them and they said this is the amount of refund they provide.

There is a money exchanger inside which I found had excellent conversion rates and just changed my money back to USD there. All in all very easy to get this fee back.

On a side note - the VAT refund office would not give me tax back for a pair of sunglasses I bought. Apparently this is not an approved item

JohnnyColombia

UA did not know how long you were there for, that's how come they charged you all the taxes and gave you your exit tax back when you qualified for an exemption

coolcoil

I think you and the OP were on the same page. I interpreted the parenthesis to mean, "Of course there was no way UA could have known how long I was there, so it made sense for them to charge me the tax."

That said, I'm 99% sure that their procedure is to charge the tax for any itinerary originating in Colombia, even if they did know.

EtoileFilante

This thread is focused on leaving Colombia from BOG, but I'm actually leaving from CTG.

To get to Colombia, I am flying from ORD-->MIA-->BOG on AA miles. Only paid $20, so I'm sure there's no refund here.

However, for the flight back, I'm using United miles (flying CTG-->PTY-->ORD), and here are how the taxes are being broken down:
Fare Breakdown
Airfare: 0.00 USD
Panama Airport Security Fee: 2.50
Panama Departure Tax: 40.00
Colombia Airport Tax: 39.00
Columbia Resident Exit Tax : 28.20
U.S. Customs User Fee: 5.50
U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 5.00
Per Person Total: 127.20
USD

I imagine that I'm eligible to get the Exit Tax back (and the Panama Departure tax, but that's a post for a different form).

How do I go about this in CTG? Where do I need to go exactly?

Thanks to anyone who can help!

JohnnyColombia

Yes there must be a DIAN office at CTG, If nobody tells you exactly how to find it then I am going in 10 days and will have a look for you.

Kacee

Go to the booth where they will give you an "exempt" stamp. CM will then give you a cash refund at check-in.

And it's "Colombia."

As you face check-in, it's along the wall at the far left end of the international check-in area.

JohnnyColombia

To be fair to EtoileFilante, it's the United website isn't it or whoever loaded that data up wherever it exists that does not know how to spell Colombia?

Thanks