Frogger27

I made a reward booking for 4 economy seats using MileagePlus on AC last year, TPA-YYZ-YWG. I paid US$266 in taxes and fees. There was a schedule change that no longer worked for us. I called in and changed to UA flights TPA-DEN-YWG. In my experience fees are far less on UA than AC. I never received a refund for the difference.

I called MP and they say they just apply the taxes and fees to the new route. I explained that when I make a change and the taxes/fees are higher, I pay the difference. Can they keep it when the $$ are in their favor?

Those taxes and fees are payable to AC and YYZ (and the govt for all I know). UA is just the middle man. I also expect those fees are not paid out when I buy the ticket(/award), but when I fly. So now, UA has money I paid to a 3rd party that they will never remit to that party. Can they just keep it?

Customer service was no help and advised me to request a refund online. Is it a waste of my time?

What are my rights here and do others have experience with this?

NotAFan

channa

They can refare the ticket or even exchange it. Generally, they even exchange it in schedule changes. This sometimes works out to your advantage if they give you a higher taxed routes. Sometimes it does not.

In this case, I wouldn't bother.

TPA-DEN-YWG OW should be $5.60 in taxes
TPA-YYZ-YWG OW should be $9.10 in taxes

So $3.50/ticket x 4 pax = $14. I wouldn't bother pursuing this.

Kacee

Since both sets of tickets were booked through Mileage Plus, taxes and fees would be essentially the same regardless of operating carrier (UA or AC). The bulk of the fees are government imposed charges for the Canada departure.

dordal

FWIW they do refund the taxes if they go down. I changed an ex-LHR ticket to ex-CDG, and CDG doesn't have that nasty U.K. departure tax.

Refunds for $116 showed up on my CC about a week and a half later. Agent said it would take 'a day or two' and it took more than a week, but they did show up without me having to call and bother them about it.

aacharya

It seems the OP is confusing AC's fees via Aeroplan vs. UA's fees via MileagePlus. Not sure what the issue is when fees are literally identical (besides the TSA aspects as channa noted) within the same FF plan.

Kacee

Yes and they've always refunded automatically for me, without the need for any request. This happens frequently when you're dealing with Europe awards, since every country has its own taxation scheme.

Yes that was my reaction, too.

No fuel surcharges on any Mileage Plus award, regardless of operating carrier.

sbm12

There is a $19.30 Toronto Airport Improvement Fee (essentially a PFC) which should probably be converted into the $4.50 PFC for DEN and $2ish in Canadian sales tax which would not apply (numbers from ITA details).

It is unclear to me how the OP got to $60+ per ticket unless there is also a return trip involved as that would incur the usual USICS fees.

mduell

Was part of the $266 topping up your mileage balance?

DWFI

Fairly sure it is illegal for UA to keep taxes that do not actually get paid to the government. I'd think they would have a pretty good system for dealing with that.

iluv2fly

Bolding mine.

Yes, keeping the money.

emcampbe

If the OP was simply connecting in YYZ, your AIF figure is way off. Sounds like you converted the $25 YYZ AIF into USD which is pretty accurate, however, that is for departing passengers - connecting passengers pay way less. $4 CAD according to the official Pearson airport website, so that would probably be closer to $3. So actually less then the DEN PFC. If your tax difference is accurate, it's possible that the new and old taxes/fees number might be very similar - PFC goes up by $1.50 and other taxes go down by "$2ish". So that would be my guess.

And my guess on the $266 number is based on a round-trip. Earlier this year, fees for a RT to YYZ on an award ticket were about $57 on a nonstop AC flight booked through MP. Given a bit of extra cost due to the connection, and that YWG has the same AIF as YYZ - those numbers sound like they make sense for a RT.

Kacee

Almost certainly.

I got fees of $62 for the RT when I did a dummy booking. Times four and that's $248, so only a $16 difference, which could be exchange rate or routing.

notquiteaff

Not for me. A schedule change killed a LHR connection and UA rebooked me without going through the UK. The UK tax remained on the ticket. I eventually emailed UA and requested refund, which was given without further ado.

sbm12

I pulled the numbers straight from ITA's pricing breakdown. It says the full AIF is charged on that connection.

emcampbe

If it's a connection (I presume 4 hours or less, but who knows), this shouldn't be the case. Maybe you were looking at a fare on an itinerary with a stopover vs. a connection?

Pearson Airport website with AIF into is here: http://www.torontopearson.com/en/gtaa/about-the-gtaa/Airport_Improvement_Fees/#. ACs site shows the same numbers.