Ryanair has sent me an email saying the Spanish government has raised departure tax, and I may have to pay more — even though I paid in full for my flight months ago. Can you enlighten me? — Martin Wood
The new Spanish government is, as you know, desperate to reduce the nation’s deficit. One of the measures included in the budget just agreed is to remove what are seen as subsidies to overseas holidaymakers.
Most Spanish airports are state-run, and passenger charges have long been held well below prevailing levels elsewhere in Europe to stimulate tourism. In an economic crisis, this was seen as an obvious target.
Charges at the nation’s airports have already increased. The average rise is around €1.50, representing a surcharge of around €6, or roughly a fiver, for a family of four. At Girona, one of the places Ryanair describes as “Barcelona”, it is only €0.42, but at the “real” Barcelona and Madrid airports the increase is around €9.
Airlines reserve the right to surcharge travellers if a government increases fees. Ryanair, which flies more Brits to Spain than any other carrier, says: “All airlines are obliged, with effect from July 1 onwards, to collect increased Spanish airport departure taxes from all passengers booked on flights after that date.”
It has emailed passengers saying they could cancel and get a refund but that option expired last Friday.
In any event, cancellation would be an unappetising option since any replacement flights will cost much more.
The airline will debit the card that was used to buy the ticket — though doubtless there will be numerous problems involving cards that have expired between booking the flight and the date of travel.
Email your queries to s@hols.tv
