Heads up for Americans waiting to buy tickets

[Luv2Phuket]

Okay - here's the latest (as far as I can tell):

 

After saying on Friday that those travelers who flew during the "no tax" window but paid taxes because they bought the ticket beforehand would be eligible to seek a refund on the taxes paid, the IRS has now reversed itself and says NO refunds will be available. Instead, they are not going to retroactively tax those travelers who purchased tickets during the "no tax" window.

 

So, if you flew to LOS (or anywhere) during the FAA shutdown, you are out of luck -- you paid taxes that presumably will never be collected. If, however, you were able to snag a ticket during the "no tax" period, you're in luck and they are not going to come back and try to hit you up for the extra money at the airport. While that SEEMS to make sense, it ignores the fact that most airlines raised fares during the "no tax" period to account for the money they were no longer collecting, so few people actually experienced much savings.

 

Here's the article: http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/08/irs-no-tax-refunds-for-fliers-after-all/414030/1

 

 

As noted in the article, airlines must resume charging the ticket taxes by 12:01 a.m., Aug. 8 (though my guess is all are already charging them again). If you can find a good fare with no tax, you might still be in luck (but that sounds like a needle-in-a-haystack situation to me)