Delta Air Lines Proactively Refunding Air Passenger Duty Tax for Children Who Traveled From the United Kingdom: Reader Report

A reader of The Gate reported that Delta Air Lines is proactively refunding the Air Passenger Duty tax for children who are younger than the age of 16 and have traveled as passengers in the economy class cabin when they departed from the United Kingdom on or after Friday, May 1, 2015 because the levying of the Air Passenger Duty tax has since been discontinued.

Delta Air Lines Proactively Refunding Air Passenger Duty Tax for Children Who Traveled From the United Kingdom: Reader Report

The reader — who wishes to remain anonymous but is a reliable source — wrote:

I just received an e-mail from Delta saying “In March 2016, the Chancellor of the United Kingdom announced the discontinuation of the Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax for children under the age of 16 who are traveling in Economy class when departing the United Kingdom on or after May 1, 2015. For travel on or after March 1, 2016, children 12 – 15 years of age are exempt. In response to this change, Delta will be proactively refunding the APD tax that has been paid on applicable tickets.” Kudos to Delta for doing this, I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

I am going to monitor this to see if other airlines follow suit since I did buy economy tickets for our children on American Airlines too.

American Airlines does have that policy, according to this statement which is posted at its official web site in the United Kingdom: “Customers who purchased tickets through American Airlines Reservations or via aa.com for travel exiting the U.K. on or after March 1, 2016, will be proactively refunded the APD tax.”

Summary

If you have paid the Air Passenger Duty tax when traveling with a child during the aforementioned period and have not yet received a refund, it is owed to you. Ensure that you contact the airline on which it was collected to find out the status of your refund.

All photographs ©2007 and ©2017 by Brian Cohen.