Lawsuit against airlines over collection of Mexican tourism tax

And, the "others" might not be recognized by the corporate names but they are:

Aerovias (Aeromexico)
Concesionaria vuela compania de Aviacion (Volaris)
ABC Aerolinea (Interjet)

For anyone who follows this type of case: It is filed in the federal district court in the Georgia southern district;
Case #2-15-cv-00033-LGW-RSB; filed 3-10-2015 and just starting to heat up.
Alamanza, et.al. vs. United Airlines, et. al.

Pacer.gov gives you access to the filed documents.

There have been other similar cases filed and as far as I know, only one resulted in the plaintiff (Pro Per) getting anything substantial from the airlines (American and Delta). This started in state court (California) and was removed to the USDC, Central District of California. The plaintiff beat the removal and the case was remanded to state court.

Most cases are bounced due to the ADA (airline Deregulation Act). I don't see this one surviving a Motion to Dismiss.

Just my opinion.

The class action is well founded. All those who are residents, either permanent or temporary as well as citizens are not liable for the tax and yet the airlines routinely include the fee on all tickets to Mexico. Air Canada and Westjet are also parties to this phony overcharge. Westjet will refund the fee but one must be prepared to insist and explain that you are not a "tourist" when you hold a residency card.  Alaska Airlines are the one airline that is upfront and readily
refunds the charge when one provides the card number etc.  If all "residents" would make a point of claiming the refund of the fee chareged on the southbound tickets we may force a change to this old "rip off "policy . (it would nicely offset the the new baggage fees)

How do you claim the refund?

how does one become a member of this class action suit and be kept apprised of its' progress

Just send me $25 USD and I'll sign you up..........jajaja.

asesor wrote:The class action is well founded.

Two prior C.A. actions that I know of personally, never made it to the pleading stage as they were chanllenged on the basis of the Airline Deregulation act that took away almost all recourse of passengers to the courts for anything relating to "rates, routes and serviced."

As i said above,one was started in the state court, removed by the airline to federal court and the plaintiff got it remanded to the state court and the airlines (AA and Delta) settled.

The other was kicked by the USDC.

I don't know if the current action has even been certified as a class action yet.

Carry Bean wrote:How do you claim the refund?  

You send a letter to the airline stating your reason w/photocopy of the "proof," and hope for a refund. Some airlines will refund, and some will ignore you.

A workaround is if you check "Mexican" on your online reservation.

And before you think of doing a charge-back on your cc, it won't work. Trust me, on this one, I am not clueless.

Vandre wrote:how does one become a member of this class action suit and be kept apprised of its' progress

You can contact one of the several firms involved (they are in several states) and say you want to "Opt in," if that is permitted. If you ope-in, you may be updated and/or get copies of all the pleadings filed. These can be hundreds of pages.

If the matter is certified as a class action, you don't have to do anything to get a piece of any settlement. These cases rarely go to trial, they usually settle with the attorneys getting millions and you hopefully will get a refund, but you will need to have detailed of your flights and some proof. You may be able to claim a certain amount of flights w/o proof, but more than usually 3-4 will require proof. Usually you can claim a piece of the settlement online.

Got it. 3-4 flights/yr @ (maybe $24USD/ea) x 10 years brings me to MAX $800USD claim. After legal firm %cut of award - looking at minimal award and lots of paperwork/research. Have learned it's not worth it from going thru this with US Stocks Class Action Suits. Se La Vie.

When booking your flight tell them that you are a legal resident of Mexico....usually that is enough to get them to override the tax.
Another thing one can do, is to email the airline's refund department...send them your reservation code and a copy of your Permanente card, explaining that you are entitled to have a refund of this departure tax.
This have been a dirty little income secret of the airlines for years.
Good luck!

WillieRae wrote:When booking your flight tell them that you are a legal resident of Mexico....usually that is enough to get them to override the tax.
Another thing one can do, is to email the airline's refund department...send them your reservation code and a copy of your Permanente card, explaining that you are entitled to have a refund of this departure tax.
This have been a dirty little income secret of the airlines for years.
Good luck!

There is very little "work" to get your piece of a class action settlement. You need to simply give the dates, flights, etc. (n other words, some details) and the C.A. Administrator does the rest (usually).

As for simply writing the airline; sometimes that works, sometimes not. It's a waste of time for Volaris, but Alaska will work w/you.

On the online part, simply put "Mexican" as yur nationality on the drop down menu and if it asks your passport, you can also put Mexican.

As to it being a "dirty little secret" for years, not really. Most ppl knew/know about it but didn't know there was anything they could do.

Booked a flight recently on Volaris and prior to calculating the fare, I was asked to check a box indicating I am a Mexican citizen. Don't remember seeing that question in past bookings. No option for residente temporal or permanente.

Fairly simple to get a refund of the Tourist Tax from Air Canada. Just go to the link below and fill out the details and attach a scan of your Resident Temporal or Resident Permanente card to the submission.

The request goes to the Refund Services Department and you will get an automated reply with a case#. In about 3-4 weeks you will see the refund on your credit card statement (of the card you used to make the booking).

https://aircanadarefunds.business.xerox.com/Refunds/Create

Select ‘Passenger’, then ‘Other’ to get the correct Refunds Submission screen.

Just send a email with corroborating info attached between your going and coming flights. Ask for confirmation of receipt. Print htat out. When you go to the airport to finish your flight show the original email, paperwork and the confirmation of receipt to the agent at the desk. They then back out the charges and refund them. Make it easy to give you what you want.

asesor wrote:The class action is well founded. All those who are residents, either permanent or temporary as well as citizens are not liable for the tax and yet the airlines routinely include the fee on all tickets to Mexico. Air Canada and Westjet are also parties to this phony overcharge. Westjet will refund the fee but one must be prepared to insist and explain that you are not a "tourist" when you hold a residency card.  Alaska Airlines are the one airline that is upfront and readily
refunds the charge when one provides the card number etc.  If all "residents" would make a point of claiming the refund of the fee chareged on the southbound tickets we may force a change to this old "rip off "policy . (it would nicely offset the the new baggage fees)

You're ignoring the ADA that effectively blocks any court challenge relating to "Rates, routs and fees." or something like that. The exact same claim was put into a Class Action in 2006 in California and it was kicked.

errata.

n my above post, I meant "Rates, Routes and Services."

Sorry.

Here is one case that got shot down.

Why black out the plaintiff's name?

Lady Otter Latté wrote:Why black out the plaintiff's name?

The Same reason I haven't posted a current picture of you that was sent me: Common courtesy in respecting a persons privacy.

And before you ask; NO, I am not the plaintiff.

Lady O, you must have me on some kind of program that notifies you whenever I make a post;

you never miss the opportunity to make comments on what I post. Enjoy.

I didn't make a comment. I asked a question.
Why protect the "privacy" of someone whose lawsuit is a matter of public record?

Lady Otter Latté wrote:I didn't make a comment. I asked a question.
Why protect the "privacy" of someone whose lawsuit is a matter of public record?

Please see my PM, no point in cluttering up the thread with personal things.

I asked you a simple, straight-forward question which you not only do not want to answer but which caused an irrational attack of some sort. I have zero desire to read PMs from you and will delete unread whatever you vomited up.

Xena, check out the last page of the lawsuit. It states "McMullen v Delta Airlines".