If you have an unused nonrefundable ticket and have no way of using it, what happens to the "taxes" portion of the ticket? The taxes on tickets to Europe can ve very high and if the ticket goes unused (The rules for using the value of the ticket on a different date/routing are more restrictive than domestic tickets), does the airline pay the taxes anyway, or pocket it? Should the airlines be required to at least refund the tax portion that you paid?

[This message has been edited by Tango (edited 04-11-2000).]

Tango:
Are you really sure that the ticket is worthless? I had a low fare ($286 RT) non- refundable NW ticket EWR-LGW-EWR that I wasn't able to use in January due to illness in the family. Fearing the worst, I called NW and was told I could apply full value towards a new ticket for up to a year, provided that the new ticket was worth at least $1 more than the original ticket.
All may not be lost.

[This message has been edited by Vulcan (edited 04-11-2000).]

Tango, ditto above. If your ticket was purchased as a "published fare" (not a consolidator or bulk ticket) it has value. Rules vary with the fare and airline with respect to amount of value, length of value, etc. (Special rules on consolidators' if there is any value). Sometimes a change fee of $75, $150 is required, sometimes not. Call the airline with the fare basis and or ticket number.

The ticket in question is a published fare on American in M class from SFO to LIS--AA to LHR and BA onwards to LIS. I was unable to take the trip due to work conflicts. American has told me (from several different people) the ticket can only be used for that routing and travel must be completed no later than one year from original date of issue. The tax on this is around $80.00. I figure if I am going to loose the amount of the ticket, what is going to happen to all of that tax I paid?

Not knowing about the ticket tax, but thinking logically, if you buy something(non-specific) and with the purchase, pay a sales tax, but then, do not use what you bought, then, I would not think you would be entitled to a tax refund anymore than you would be entitled to a total refund.

But what they failed to tell you is the ticket can be reissued for another routing, paying a penalty, and then the taxes will be "refunded" and then "charged" on the new routing. You can't get any $ back, but I doubt the penalty will be more than $100. However, they are right that you can use that particular TICKET on that specific routing. You need an REN (refund/exchange)

Aubie: I agree that if I buy a physical item and do not use it I should not get the tax back, but in this case I bought a service that was never provided. When I found I could not go, I cancelled the reservation thus freeing up the seat for American to resell. Some of the taxes (PFC's) and airport user taxes were for airports I never used. My original question is what is American going to do with these taxes? If they forwaded them on to the appropiate government and airport tax authorities, fine I can buy that. If American puts it torwards their bottom line, I think it is wrong.

American has stated several times that I can't use the value of the ticket for anything except for a future trip(within one year of issue) on the same routing!! In other words I can't pay the change fee ($150) and apply the difference torwards a brand new ticket.

Going back to the tax issue, If someone buys a fully refundable ticket and does not use it, they get back the cost of the ticket and the taxes. I purchased a non-refundable ticket and am aware of the risks of not using the ticket, but if the tax portion is refundable on a full fare ticket, I think they should be refunadble on the nonrefunable tickets. There is a clear distinction between taxes and base fare.

Tango please include your email address in your profile. I might have a solution to your problem. Depending on the fare basis and how the ticket was issued I may be able to bail you out of this situation. My enail is [email protected]

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Tango,

Twice I have had similar situations such as yours. I had purchased a non-refundable ticket from LAX to LHR, and also from LAX to Canada. I had to cancel my flights, but since it was non-refundable, I couldn't get my money back. I had to go to the local CTO (it is definately to your advantage to develop a good relationship with your local CTO for times like this ) where they sorted out the situation.

Because of the fare class, for the unused LAX to LHR ticket, I was only able to apply the value of the ticket to a higher priced fare class, and the value was only good for one year from the date of purchase. I had to pay a $75 change fee.

For the LAX to Canada, for a $75 change fee, I was able to apply the unused ticket's value towards any other ticket. Any remaining would be returned to me in the form of a voucher. Please note, as with any cash value voucher, the voucher can be used for any ticket(does not have to be your ticket). I was then able to use this voucher to purchase a ticket for my wife.

A key item to note about the taxes is that the voucher is for funds, TAXES ALREADY PAID. The CTO agent was very good and she caught onto this (a little extra work on her part to make it all work). For my wife's ticket, we did not have to pay any additional excise taxes, and in fact her ticket was cheaper than mine (for the exact same itenerary!) because of the lack of excise taxes.

To make my long story short, how you can use your unused ticket depends entirely upon the fare class in which it was booked. Also, don't let the airline charge you for excise taxes twice on the same funds.