Are you due a tax refund on your summer holiday?

Are you looking forward to a summer holiday with the kids this year? If you were one of thousands of organised families that booked before May but are yet to take your holiday you could be owed money by your airline.

In the Budget earlier this year chancellor George Osborne scrapped the tax on economy flights – known as 'air passenger duty' - where the passenger is under 12 years old. The duty charged on young passengers, which is between £12 and £71 depending on the distance travelled, was removed in May but there are many families who will have paid it if they booked their flights before that date who are now due a refund.

Not all airlines will refund you automatically unfortunately and if you want to get your money back you're going to have to ask for a refund.

Travel insurance how you want it

If you are flying to sunnier climes this summer with the following airlines then you should be refunded automatically: Aer Lingus, BMI Regional, British Airways, Emirates, KLM, Monarch, Thomas Cook, Thomson and Virgin Atlantic.

Budget airlines

When it comes to the UK's biggest budget airlines, the rules are a little more hazy. Easyjet said a refund would only be triggered when a customer inputs advance passenger information online - this is where you are required to enter all passenger details before getting to the airport, including children's ages. If you haven't done that then Easyjet can do a manual refund.

Ryanair customers, who are used to paying extra for everything with this airline, are in for a rare treat. Although Ryanair is not automatically refunding the tax and requests you fill out an online refund form it did scrap the tax earlier than most. It removed the duty just after the Budget on 27 March so those flying after March will be due a refund, not just those flying after May.

Polish airline WizzAir is not offering refunds on all its flights because it says that the duty is not broken out into a separate cost and that promotion flights cost less than the applicable APD and in those cases it will not be refunded.

With summer just around the corner the opportunity to put another few pounds in the kitty for ice-cream should not be overlooked. Make sure you contact your airline to receive a refund if it hasn't been done automatically and check your bank statements to ensure any automatic refunds due have been paid.

Bon voyage!

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