We recently cancelled a holiday to Ireland owing to serious illness. When we claimed the flight tax refund from Flybe, as advised by our insurance company, it charged administration fees of £100 – and refunded a miserly balance of £7.54. We feel most miffed, but is it correct in this deduction? – Colin and Sheila Harris, Solihull

Times travel expert, Julia Brookes, responds: Flybe charges an administration fee of £25pp “per sector” for tax refunds so this deduction, for a party of four, was correct, but you could hardly be blamed for thinking that the fee appears to bear no relation to the cost of processing the refund. Many airlines have agreed to refund the taxes, fees and charges on nonrefundable tickets, but there is no law forcing them to do so, or anything to prevent them from charging an administration fee – which can be so high that you could end up owing the airline money if you claimed the tax back. Flybe is one of the worst offenders, but few airlines offer the whole of the tax back – Air France, Alitalia and TAP Air Portugal are three.

Find out more information about tax refunds from the Air Transport Users Council (www.caa.org.uk/auc) which is campaigning to get airlines to scrap the administration fees or at least reduce them.

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