Attorney seeks wider suit over airline fees

Airlines are bilking passengers and the government out of more than $50 million a year by keeping fees and taxes that they should be refunding, alleges a Framingham attorney who hopes to press a class-action lawsuit against 15 airlines.

Evans J. Carter, who currently represents 14 frequent fliers from across the country, claims that major carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and British Airways, pocket unprocessed fees and taxes collected on certain tickets that are nonrefundable and valid only for the day, time, and flight for which they were sold.

"This has become a little treasure trove for the airlines," Carter said.

"Why should the airlines keep the money that they are not entitled to? Some of it should go to the government, but the majority should go back to the person who purchased the ticket."

In November, Carter filed a suit in Middlesex Superior Court on behalf of Framingham businessman Robert Harrington and others. Harrington, the lead plaintiff, travels up to three times in a week; he said he started questioning the airlines' practices after he missed a few flights but got no refunds on fees and taxes.

This month, the case was transferred to US District Court in Boston, at the airlines' request.

Carter is seeking to have the federal court certify the suit as a class action that would seek refunds for customers of 15 airlines.

Boston attorney Kevin C. Caine, who is representing many of the airlines, declined to discuss the case.

Reached individually, several airlines that were named as defendants called the suit frivolous.

"We're confident that we've acted appropriately in regards to the collection, remittance, and refunding of passenger taxes and fees," said Ned Raynolds, a spokesman for American Airlines. "We consider this lawsuit meritless."

American would not provide further refund policy details.

Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines, said that customers can always apply the payments that were made on unused tickets to future flights. The airline has had a longstanding practice of reimbursing fees when passengers request it, she said.

Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Tanya Dunne said taxes and fees are immediately turned over to the federal government and to the appropriate airports.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the government and the airlines raised fees and taxes to pay for extra security.

Dozens of other fees and taxes, according to the US Department of Transportation, are levied on airline tickets for a variety of reasons, to help pay for everything from landing fees to inspections of produce and plants.

Fees and taxes account for a significant part of a ticket's cost, say industry experts. For example, a $300 domestic round-trip ticket includes about $40 in fees and taxes, according to the Air Transport Association, a trade group.

The government imposes a 7.5 percent passenger tax, plus a $2.50 federal security surcharge and $3.20 per leg of the flight. Most airports also require everyone who boards a plane to pay a "passenger facility charge," which is used to improve everything from runways to safety equipment. Logan International Airport, for example, levies a passenger facility charge of $3 per leg and has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to allow it to increase that fee to $4.50 per leg.

Refund policies vary from carrier to carrier and can change because airlines alter ticket prices and policies as they jockey for a competitive advantage.

But unlike the return policies at many stores, which usually allow customers to get their money back or apply what they've spent toward future purchases, airline policies may bar a passenger who does not make a flight from recouping any money -- particularly if it's a discounted ticket or one bought online.

In such cases, "You're getting a cheap ticket because you're taking on all the risk," said Robert Mann, an industry consultant in Port Washington, N.Y.

"The risk transfer is what is involved in the price. If you really play that to the hilt, there is no refundability at all. It's like a theater ticket. You use it or lose it."

In Carter's nine-page complaint, though, he accuses the airlines of committing a "civil conspiracy to unjustly enrich themselves" by illegally withholding fees from the government on nonrefundable tickets while failing to return the money to passengers.

"There's just not a basis for them to do that," Carter said. "It's another form of small subsidy the government is giving them."

Franco Ordoez can be reached at fordonez@globe.com.