ramalama8

SO here's a question

What happens to government taxes/fees when one cancels a nonrefundable airline ticket? I know most ticket policies allow you to use the amount paid (minus change fee) for one year from date of booking, but if that goes unused and expires, what then happens to the gov't taxes and fees? Do the airlines just keep them? Do they remit them to the gov't? I assume the airline just keeps them, but I can't possibly see the justification for that -- the money isn't theirs!

Anyone know?

Often1

As is stated in the numerous other threads asking the exact same question and presuming that you are referring to US government-imposed taxes and not those of foreign governments, the answer is that the taxes in the US are remitted directly and relatively immediately by the carrier to the Treasury. The fact that you choose not to use a ticket's value does not change the fact that you made a purchase and chose not to use the service.

Not sure what you are referring to for the "fees" portion of your question because I'm not aware of any fees payable on domestic US tickets. If there are any, that would be a matter of what the carrier's contract provides.

ramalama8

Thx for the reply. I wasn’t aware of the other threads that discuss this. The fees I refer to are US govt imposed fees when traveling internationally. For the purposes of this discussion, I think they can be treated equally as taxes.

My question is aimed more at the refundable nature of taxes/fees. When you purchase a refundable ticket, you are refunded all taxes/fees, even though I’ve decided to “not use the service.” Why does a private company’s designation of something as non-refundable affect money paid to the govt? Shouldn’t the designation of refundable/non-refundable be tax neutral if the item is allowed to go back into inventory? In other industries, any time inventory is placed back into circulation, taxes are refunded. But not with airlines. Why are they operating under different rules? If they sell a seat after its already been bought and canceled, they will be essentially collecting taxes twice on the same item of inventory.

53flyer

Several years ago I had a non-refundable ticket that I had t abandon due to a change in plans. Prior to the date of the flight I was able to request, and received, a refund for the government taxes and fees. This was a Delta ticket. Things might have changed since then, but you could always call and ask.

ramalama8

I've never thought of asking for a refund of just the taxes and fees. I imagine the customer service agent would have no idea what to do. But worth a shot I guess.

I'm still curious as to how an airline would remit taxes twice on the same item of inventory. Anyone?