ADVICE: Any experience of xONEx tax errors??
Aug 28, 2007 | 2:24 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
ADVICE: Any experience of xONEx tax errors??
Yesterday I sent my first ex-NRT DONE4 off to Dublin to be taxed and they came back within the hour with a quote of 796,320 yen, implying taxes of $US450. Sounded good.
But then I realised I had two LHR stopovers when one should've been a transit. To avoid the 80GBP APD, I changed my second LHR to a thru-connection, and sent it back to Dublin for the discount. (The only other thing to change was a CNS-SYD sector which I moved one day earlier.)
Silly me.
Now the itinerary has been priced at 11,560 yen more -- i.e. almost exactly $US100. I got the rate desk here in the USA to double-check it twice, and they said the new figure is correct. The agent, who seemed clueless about taxes, didn't/couldn't/wouldn't explain why the new fare with one APD, was more than the old one, which had 2 APDs.
I can understand that maybe they made a mistake the first time round and I shoulda grabbed it when I could. But I can't understand why a change to a non-american BA sector would result in an increase by a nice round USD figure like $100. Any idea, or do they just kinda make this stuff up?
The other oddity was that they quoted me a base pre-tax price of 744,200 yen. It's supposed to be 743,200. That's just spare change, but does anyone know why there'd be an extra thousand yen tacked on? Is it normal for AA offices to add a small issuance fee or something...?
Question: in your experience how often does the rate desk get it wrong -- should I change the itinerary back to what it was and send it back to be repriced, or was the original price too low to be correct anyway and it ain't worth the hassle?
But then I realised I had two LHR stopovers when one should've been a transit. To avoid the 80GBP APD, I changed my second LHR to a thru-connection, and sent it back to Dublin for the discount. (The only other thing to change was a CNS-SYD sector which I moved one day earlier.)
Silly me.
Now the itinerary has been priced at 11,560 yen more -- i.e. almost exactly $US100. I got the rate desk here in the USA to double-check it twice, and they said the new figure is correct. The agent, who seemed clueless about taxes, didn't/couldn't/wouldn't explain why the new fare with one APD, was more than the old one, which had 2 APDs.
I can understand that maybe they made a mistake the first time round and I shoulda grabbed it when I could. But I can't understand why a change to a non-american BA sector would result in an increase by a nice round USD figure like $100. Any idea, or do they just kinda make this stuff up?
The other oddity was that they quoted me a base pre-tax price of 744,200 yen. It's supposed to be 743,200. That's just spare change, but does anyone know why there'd be an extra thousand yen tacked on? Is it normal for AA offices to add a small issuance fee or something...?
Question: in your experience how often does the rate desk get it wrong -- should I change the itinerary back to what it was and send it back to be repriced, or was the original price too low to be correct anyway and it ain't worth the hassle?
Aug 28, 2007 | 4:56 pm
#3
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Madrid, Spain & Santiago, Chile
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 3,181
Hardly worth the hassle, and no guarantee you are not going to get hit with *another* hike. The archive is full of posts about the same itinerary getting two and even three pricings in a matter of days or hours, each one "positive", "supervisor checked", etc. Tax calculation by AA Dublin is a bad joke.
Aug 28, 2007 | 4:57 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA EXP & 1MM, SkyTeam Gold, *A Gold, Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold, mother's favorite son
Posts: 333
Wow, I never cease to be amazed by the level of expertise on this site!
Yes Bukhara, you're absolutely right, I have two HKG departures. It beats me why HKG would insert its taxes into the base fare instead of treating it as a surcharge like everywhere else, but I'll take your word on it.
And you may be right that the hundred buck tax hike is some kinda YQ/YR... but if so then it shoulda shown up the first time round. I'll get a breakdown and check it out.
Thanks!
Yes Bukhara, you're absolutely right, I have two HKG departures. It beats me why HKG would insert its taxes into the base fare instead of treating it as a surcharge like everywhere else, but I'll take your word on it.
And you may be right that the hundred buck tax hike is some kinda YQ/YR... but if so then it shoulda shown up the first time round. I'll get a breakdown and check it out.
Thanks!