Dusseldorf.
It’s annoying enough when you miss your plane through your own fault. It gets even more annoying when you leave the airline with more money than you should.
Anyone who misses their flight through their own fault or cancels their ticket at short notice does not necessarily have to write off the entire costs.
Even if a free cancellation or rebooking should be excluded in the selected tariff – taxes and fees can be reclaimed under German law, according to the consumer advice center North Rhine-Westphalia (VZ NRW). You should also try your luck when booking with foreign airlines. The legal situation could be different here.
According to consumer advocates, personal taxes and fees only apply once the flight has actually taken off. Especially with early bookings and saver fares, their share can be higher than the actual transport price.
Refunds are often only given upon request
But: Travelers often have to take action themselves. As a rule, taxes and fees are not refunded automatically, but often only on request, explains VZ travel law expert Jan Philipp Stupnanek. Both items should be shown when showing the final flight price. If they are not, you should ask the airline how high the respective proportion is.
If you don’t get the taxes and fees reimbursed automatically, you should immediately assert the claims with the airline – and this should be verifiable. The easiest way to do this is by email. Advice from Stupnanek: Better not to use “expensive hotlines” for this. Otherwise you might end up making more calls than you get back later.
The free Flugärger app from VZ NRW, for example, can help when checking claims. The European Consumer Center offers a self-help tool for flight problems online. (dpa)
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