Islanders are now being urged to check their flight history in case the have wrongly had Air Passenger Duty added to the cost of their flights.
Retired civil servant Juliette White has recouped £52 after pursuing a claim that she had unfairly been charged the duty, which she believed was due to a fault in the airline’s online booking system – a fault that has now been corrected.
She is now pursuing further claims against BA and the UK tax authorities have advised any Jersey customers with queries about APD to get in contact with the airline via the BA website.
In a letter to the JEP, Mrs White outlined how she discovered BA’s website had incorrectly applied the charge having treated her as a domestic customer rather than as an international customer due to her being a Jersey resident.
Her claim relates to journeys back to the Island on the second leg of connected international flights.
Under HMRC rules, domestic customers are not charged APD if their second leg return flight leaves within six hours of their arrival at a UK airport, but for international customers, such as Jersey residents, the exemption period is 24 hours.
Mrs White said that she was incorrectly charged APD for a number of return flights to Jersey that left between six and 24 hours after arriving back at a UK airport.
‘The British Airways system seemed to have been applying APD on departures to Jersey connecting from an international flight through the UK using domestic flight rules,’ she said
‘That is APD [being] applied if the connection through the UK is over six hours and not using international flight rules – duty [should be] applied only if connection through the UK is over 24 hours.
‘HMRC guidelines require Jersey to be classified as an international destination for APD purposes.’
Mrs White is pursuing further claims against the airline, having sent them a number of screenshots, after being refunded for mischarged APD for the flight that initially roused her suspicion.
She said she was told by the airline that they changed their online booking system in April 2018 and had to make corrections to it in January 2020.
‘It seems there was indeed a system error in the area of their programme that applies APD. The implication being that their system has been incorrectly charging Jersey residents APD for some time,’ she said.
‘Regular international travellers in Jersey are most probably owed some reimbursement from British Airways for APD incorrectly charged on the London-to-Jersey leg of international connections over 6 hours, but less than 24.’
An HMRC spokeswoman said that passengers should only pay APD once on connected flights providing the tickets ‘cross-reference’ and the ‘time-related rules’ are met.
‘APD is a tax paid by the airline. There is no legal requirement for them to pass APD on to passengers, but many choose to do so and add an amount to the booking to cover the cost of their APD liability,’ the spokeswoman said.
‘This APD equivalent charge is not tax and is a commercial matter between the airline and their passengers.
‘In addition, whilst the APD legislation provides for a number of exemptions, including for connected flights, it is up to airlines whether they claim and whether or not they pass on the benefits of any exemptions to their customers.’
She added that customers with queries about the matter should contact British Airways via their website.
The airline was contacted for comment but did not provide a statement in response.
