BrettS

I booked a trip for my wife and I on Monday the 5th. The base fare was $462.12 per person and the taxes were $102.18 per person. (This is all domestic travel). I just checked the same itinerary today to see if the prices had gone down and I was a bit surprised at what I found. The base fare was exactly the same, but the taxes are now only $72.18 per person. This is for the exact same itinerary (I double and triple checked the dates, flight numbers, and times), and on the same USAir reservations web page that I originally purchased the tickets at.

I called the reservations department and they were no help at all. Does anyone have any thoughts on why the taxes would have gone down by $30 per person? Any idea if I can get that money refunded?

Thanks,
Brett

sbtinme

If every single thing is precisely the same on the two flight plans, then I suggest you call reservations again and layout your concern.

If the res agent is unable/unwilling to assist you, then you should ask (politely please) to speak with a supervisor. Most US res supervisors are quite good and empowered to make some on-the-spot-decisions.

My best advice is to appeal to the common sense side of this issue and I'm betting that you'll end up with some assistance here.

If that, for some reason, gets you nowhere then you have no choice but to call US Customer Service and plead your case .... or you could consider filing an objection with your credit card company explaining that there appears to have been a faulty calculation in the taxes and fees on your tickets and, despite communicating with US about it, US seems unwilling to assist you.

BrettS

Thanks for the reply. I'm quite certain that everything is the same, and I did even wind up speaking with a supervisor. She had a couple of interesting responses, including

well... the taxes are controlled by the government and who are we to figure out what they will charge. If they want to charge more one day and less another then we can't stop them.

Or... apparently the web site is making a calculation error. If we charge people the wrong tax amount today we'll just have to eat the difference.

I dunno... Maybe I'll try customer service and see if I can get anywhere with them.

Thanks,
Brett

Jenniferpa

If you do the dummy booking, that last page will give you the tax breakdown - can you maybe track it from there? Having looked at a similarly price fare on itasoftware.com, $72 seems more accurate. Transportation tax is around 7.4% plus $15 facility charge + 9/11 security fee $10 + Flight segment tax $13.60 (does that vary?)

From the usairways web site

U.S. Domestic Segment Tax - $3.40 per flight segment, per passenger. A segment is defined as one takeoff and landing.
U.S. Security - September 11th Security Fee - $2.50 per flight segment. A segment is defined as one takeoff and landing.
Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) - Local airports assess Passenger Facility Charges of $3 to $18 per passenger. This amount varies by airport.
Alaska/Hawaii - $7.30 per flight segment, per passenger on certain segments beginning or ending in Alaska or Hawaii.