The Air Travel Advisory Body is leading a law suit to get refunds of Air Passenger Duty (APD) for travellers who cancelled their flights.
If passengers don’t fly, they are entitled to a refund of APD, as the airline only pays it if a passenger travels.
Some airlines have treated the government tax “as an additional revenue stream”, making it overly difficult or expensive to get a refund, according to Tony White, ATAB’s chairman.
“It is truly shocking, we’ve found some airlines that will charge an “administration fee” greater than the value of the refund,” he said.
“This is a complete rip-off and it’s our intention to put an end to it. If you have booked an airline ticket out of the UK anytime since 1994, and not flown, then we want to hear from you.”
Since the tax was first introduced in 1994, some airlines have withheld “literally tens of millions of pounds from the customers”, White estimated.
The ATAB has teamed up with London law firm Barker Gillette to take the airlines to court to get refunds.
The advisory body is asking travellers to fill out a form on its website with details of the flights they should have taken. If enough people do so, it plans to instruct the lawyers to start proceedings.