Giantaxe

The real story here is that this is more Congressional nonsense that has already led to 4000 people being laid off and likely more to come.

http://www.executivetravelmagazine.c...s-faa-spending

E3only

I can open the link at work

- Are domestic flights elibigle?
- How can I check if the fares have any savings? I want to fly in December but want to book now
- Delta has already started processing some refunds. Dont know the details....

Michael

Delta is refunding the fees but other airlines claim they are not collecting fees but just happened to increase the price of the airline ticket by the amount of the fees.

Your December flights will likely not be eligible for a refund since it is likely that the funding bill for the FAA will pass by then (probably a 6-8 week temporary bill like what has been happening since 2007) and the fees will need to paid for those dates (even if you book early).

It is unlikely that a permanent bill will pass since the republicans are demanding that it be made more difficult for airline employees to unionize and they also want to halt funding for certain airports that are in democratic districts ($16 million annually). All of this has caused about 4,000 FAA workers to be laid off as well as 10s of thousands of construction workers at airports. Only critical workers (air traffic controllers) are allowed to remain working.

britishspouse

Yeah.

I am travelling august 24th, booked back in june this year.

I was under the impression that if the base fare has remained the same, but there were certain no taxes being added, it would appear lower now? However it didnt, it showed the same price.

Has the bill been passed yet? If not, and not by august 23rd am I eligible to claim them back yet? Its all a bit confusing for me.

It is a single fare btw. Have read the links but just unsure as to current updates and whether or not its been passed yet etc

Michael

Congress recessed for 5 weeks so a bill will not be passed before you fly so if you are flying with Delta, you will get a refund but with other airlines, you may not get a refund. The government has been putting pressure on the airlines to refund the fees but there currently isn't any law available that can force the airlines to refund the fees.

britishspouse

yep Im going delta

thanks for the info! I know it wont be much, maybe like a $20 refund, but hey every little helps

scrubbedexpat091

The airlines are not currently collecting any taxes, they simply raised their fares to match what the taxes happened to be.


Now if one bought a ticket when taxes were being collected and flying during the time frame when taxes are not being collected, those passengers can apply for a refund.

But any ticket bought after July 23 are not having the taxes collected on them, so nothing to refund.

Michael

Now I am not sure. Delta said they will refund fees if the ticket was purchased before July 23rd but has yet to say whether they will refund the fees after that (they may consider it a fare hike after that date).

britishspouse

yeah booked it before then checked my email, booked july 4th

Michael

Even though the senate was on recess, there are rules in place that allows congress to pass bills without congress being in session. Today the senate passed another short term FAA bill which eliminates the subsidies to specific rural airports. Even though one of the affected airports (Ely Nevada) was in Reid's state, he had previously supported passing the bill but other democrats opposed the bill. The shutdown only cost the government about $500 million in tax revenues instead of the $1.2 billion or more expected so it will only take about 33 years instead of 80 years to make up for the savings for the subsidies. Democrats opposed eliminating the subsidies since they were in democratic districts and the tea party was again using their slash and burn tactics threating to shut down the FAA.

Even though the bill was passed, the transportation secretary (Ray LaHood a republican) can determine that loss of the subsidy can be an extreme hardship on that locality and distribute the subsidy.

The big fight is still to come. The republicans want to make it harder for unions to organize airlines and other transportation services. They want to require a majority and any potential union member not voting to be counted as a no vote. If the same rule was applied to congress, nobody in the house or senate would currently be in office since even during a large turnout election, 40% of the eligible voters don't vote therefore requiring the winner to get the vote of between 80%-100% of the voters that voted.

So if your flight is scheduled to leave after today, you won't be getting a refund.

ljaw2002uk

I have heard that included in the resolution of this issue, was a bill to allow the IRS to retrospecively recover any lost taxes from airfares.

scrubbedexpat091

"They want to require a majority and any potential union member not voting to be counted as a no vote."

And it should require a majority of the employees to bring a union in, I really dont see why this would be an issue for anyone.

Giantaxe

Why is it logical to count someone not voting as a "no" vote? And in what other elections is this the case?

scrubbedexpat091

And I was only replying to the part regarding a majority being required.


Anyhow IRS says no refunds.

Q. If I purchased my ticket before July 23, 2011, and traveled on or after July 23, 2011, during the partial-shutdown of the FAA, am I entitled to a refund for the federal air transportation excise taxes that I paid when I purchased the ticket?

A. If you purchased the tickets before July 23, when the lapse of the excise tax initially occurred, and traveled during the partial-shutdown of the FAA, you are not entitled to a refund because of the retroactive reinstatement of the law.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/...242812,00.html

Giantaxe

Which effectively turns a "none vote" into a "no vote"...