Easyjet, Ryanair, getting money back

1. I'm sure everyone else is smarter than me about this, but I never realised until recently that even if you miss your flight, you can still claim back the airport tax from your flight.

Since these days at least 2/3rd of the cost of a flight is airport taxes, Easyjet and Ryanair must be making a fortune out of people who didn't make their flight but then didn't bother to claim the airport tax back. Since the tax should only be paid if we actually use the airport, it makes sense that we should be able to claim back the airport tax if we ask nicely.

2. That said, you have to call Easyjet's customer service line at 10p a minute and the first minute consists of listening to how you should call the premium rate 09 numbers if you
a) need phone support to talk you through how to make a booking through the website
b) have lost your baggage on the way to Alicante
c) just feel like spending money.
But on balance, I got to talk to a real person (and it sounded like the call centre was based in the UK) within about 5 minutes and got a refund of airport tax back within 2 mins. I have to say, I was pretty happy with that! I note that even searching the Easyjet website with the words "airport tax" results in zero returns on how to claim airport tax back off Easyjet.

3. Ryanair was a different matter. I spent 10mins on hold on a 10p per minute line and gave up as it didn't sound like I'd get an answer for at least an hour. So on balance, given my flight only cost £10 return, even if I did get an airport tax refund, I would probably have spent the equivalent amount in phone bills just waiting on hold. I suspect the best way of trying to get hold of someone to speak to is to call as soon as the line opens, so that you're more likely to be closer to the front of the queue... Bizarrely enough, at least 50% of the hold music seemed to be Christian contemporary worship music including such classics as "I could sing of your love forever", "I'm coming back to the heart of worship" and a rather upbeat gospel choir classic. First time I've ever heard Christian music being used as hold music - though I suspect if I had reason to be put on hold by Christian organisations, I'd probably hear that more often...