On xONEx reissue, no tax give-back?
 

I've long had the sense that rate desks are sure to add taxes and fees for new segments upon xONEx reissue, but aren't likely to give credit for taxes that were originally applied to the ticket for segments no longer being flown.

Usually it's been paper tickets, the taxes and fees are effectively encrypted in the calc line, and taken one at a time aren't worth losing a lot of sleep over even if one could decrypt the line.

But I just got off the phone having changed a premium departure LHR-HKG to CDG-HKG. London was a stop and presumable attracted GBP80+ for the privilege; PAR likely won't let me fly away for free, but since no one has been screaming about it, is likely a much more modest fee. Yet the agent merely said "send $125". I had hopes for "where shall we send your check?"

BTW, the rate desk had considerable heartburn over the fact that Cathay wouldn't confirm the HKG-CMB segment, and at first weren't going to reissue the ticket (electronic, AA). They ended up (the agent said) writing it HKG-BKK, BKK-CMB OPN. Didn't bust any rules since I had the stop and segment available, but probably will cost me another $125 if I decide to in fact use a "real" asian stop.

I dunno... I did a reissue last week in which I deleted 3 flights and added 9 new ones (originally a 14 seg e-ticket, now 20 paper) through AA. Due to a communications goofup I had to stay on the phone on hold with the RTW desk while the rates desk did the tax calcs in real time, during which the RTW rep came back on the line from time to time and advised me on how things were progressing.

At one point she said, "They're deducting the Canadian taxes you've been charged and replacing them with the new US taxes," [for some of the new segs] and also commented on how I was sliding on UK APT and they were crediting something re a FCO-MAD trip I wasn't going to be taking now.

So it sounded like they were indeed doing debits and credits on all the applicable old and new segments. That said, the final tally was that I owed them $100 for additional taxes and fees, which was an awfully round-sounding number.

Not that I'm complaining. The old route was NRT-LAX//YVR-JFK//SEA-DFW-ANC-DFW-SEA-ORD-FCO-MAD-JNB-HKG-SIN-HKG-CTS and the new one is NRT-LAX//SEA-DFW-ANC-DFW-SEA-ORD-LAX-xLHR-IST-xLHR-TLV-MAD-JNB//CPT-JNB-MRU-JNB-HKG-SIN-xHKG-NRT, so that's a lot of new T/Os and landings for a hundred bucks in new taxes.

(BTW, the $100 brought the total taxes/fees amount to US$512 for a DONE4, or roughly 8.4% of the ex-Japan ticket price. I'm sure I avoided a bunch of fuel fines that would have accrued if it hadn't been sold by AA.)

Apparently when a ticket is reissued, the airline involved may issue you a MCO for the taxes that is being refunded but you may only claim the taxes from the original issuing airline/office.

CX once reissued a RTW ticket for me, and issued a MCO with a difference to return about $100 in taxes but they advised me that I can only get the money back from AA in CAI (then) as they were the ones who issued the original ticket.

On a related but slightly different tack to this thread, am I correct that any XONEX reissue that adds flights in the USA and in Europe should attract new taxes, as well as the $125 change fee?

I just reissued a LONE3 (over the phone, AA RTW desk) to add 4 US sectors and 2 European ones, as was charged just the flat $125. Nice, but I am thinking if I do any further reissues someone may catch that taxes are due...

Yes and yes.

Speaking from observation and not real knowledge, it seems that U.S. airports typically do not apply a per-passenger fee of the kind that the airlines are free to add to your ticket price. I'm not sure why the small per-segment federal security charge doesn't get passed down, but my experience has also been that re-issues that add US segments do end up with a $125 total charge. Perhaps you got lucky and picked flights through benevolent European airports as well.

As for future changes, don't get gray worrying about that one. The rate desks seem anxious to do as little as necessary to get you out of their hair, so it's unlikely they'll give any thought to what you've paid or not paid.

On the other side, I have had two occasions (on AA flights out of Central American stations) where the check-in agent had been trained to scan the tax line and add-collect for an unpaid tax.

Gardyloo, it seems you were lucky (not to mention Jerry_Maguire).

Why?

Well, my interpretation was that taxes are not refunded and if you change your segments you have to pay the new taxes on top of what you already paid.
But I could of course be wrong

Well I don't know... I'm just heading to the airport to pick up my re-issued DONE4 that's now a DONE5 and I can assure you they added the extra continent charge, as well as the applicable new taxes. Now how they came up with the net number for taxes (flights added, flights deducted etc.) - well, that's where the Dark Arts come in to the picture. I'm convinced that each airline's revenue management department has a Slytherin Desk where someone looks at the PNRs, hauls out a wand and shouts, "Crucio!"

Maybe yes, maybe not, but my take is that the rule you posted refers to fares, not taxes.

It doesn't say that . It says that if the new routing results in a higher fare ( e.g. DONE4 changes to become a DONE5 ) that the higher fare will be charged but that if the change would have resulted in a lower fare ( e.g. a continent is removed and drops from a DONE4 to DONE3 ) that there will be no refund in the fare

It makes no mention of taxes

Dave

Dave Noble is correct, the rule refers to an increase in continents [and]/[or] extra flight segments (i.e. when buying additional segments for being over a continent's limit). There is no mention of taxes.

So if you change from a DONE5 to a DONE4 or go from 5 EUR segments (for which the additional segment collection* has peen paid) to 4 EUR segments there will be no refund. e.g. you will not get the USD400* refunded if you bought an additional segment on a DONEx.

Interestingly, the rules as published on the oneworld web site gives an example to make this clearer: *Additional segments are USD400.00 / AUD500.00 / GBP200.00 / HKD3200 / EUR300 for DONEx's

As Guy Betsy wrote, we can get refund tax already paid.

In my experience, ex-NRT DONEWC3 was re-issued which decreased total number of segments.
I got MCO of about 20,000 JPY.
I made refund procedure at NRT ticket counter after completion of trip.
After this procedure, refund to my credit card acount took approx 3 months.