AirAsia Forced to Refund $500,000 due to Kids’ Tax Glitch

3rd Nov 2017

Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Bhd found itself having to refund at least half a million US dollars in refunds due to a tax glitch. The airline wrongfully charged departure tax for child passengers on some of its flights since 2010.

Namely, since 2010, AirAsia has been applying the Passenger Movement Charge on overseas flights from Australia. Although children under 12 should be exempt from this tax under Australian law, the Malaysian carrier still applied the charge to them as well.

It is believed that as many as 9,700 customers were overcharged this way.

AirAsia said on its Facebook page that it made the mistake adding the levy on some flights between 2010 and September 2017, but has now fixed the problem.

The airline apologized, saying:

We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your support and patience.

AirAsia emailed its customers and anyone believing they were overcharged in this period should visit the carrier’s support page.

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) also informed affected customers that they could ask for a refund if they were charged this fee of up to $60 on tickets for kids less than 12 years old.

AirAsia Wins Gold at Putra Brand Awards

In the meantime, Asia’s leading low-cost airline took its eight successive gold for Transport Travel and Tourism category at the Putra Brand awards held yesterday.

In a statement, AirAsia Bhd Chief Executive Officer Aireen Omar said:

These achievements had fully manifested the airline’s continuous commitment to striving for excellence in services and also a great encouragement to motivate it to attain even better performance.

AirAsia Partners with Tourism Malaysia Again

The Malaysian carrier once again finds itself partnering with Tourism Malaysia. This time, the two will be promoting the travel fair in Hyderabad, India together. The fair itself should promote tourism between Malaysia and India.

During the fair, the airline will cut ticket prices for flights from Kuala Lumpur to Bhubaneshwar, Bangalore, Kolkata, Cochin, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trichy and Vishakhapatnam 20% off. The promotional tickets can be booked from 3^rd to 5^th November this year and used for travel between 6^th November, 2017 and 30^th April, 2018.