Several Airlines Illegally Collect Mexico Tourism Tax, Class Action Says

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A group of airlines was hit with a class action lawsuit in a Georgia federal court, alleging that the airlines charge a tourism tax to those from Mexico.

The tourism tax class action lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs Julian Almanza, Alejandro Davison, Ana Escobar, Nicolas Arroyo, Miguel Orozco, and Aida Perez, who all claim that they are Mexican citizens living in the United States legally, and that they were wrongfully charged a Mexico Tourism Tax when traveling to Mexico varying from $20 to $25 per flight.

The airlines included in the Mexican tourism tax class action lawsuit are Delta, United Airlines, American Airlines, Aeromexico, Volaris, Interjet, and US Airways.

“The Mexico Tourism Tax is a mandatory fee, charged by the Government of Mexico on certain travelers who land within Mexico on flights originating outside of Mexico,” the class action lawsuit states.

However, “[the airlines] are not authorized by the Mexican Government to collect the Mexico Tourism Tax from citizens of Mexico, children under the age of two, and foreigners with resident status in Mexico, among others,” the Mexico Tourism Tax class action lawsuit explains.

“Nonetheless, absent from the face of the tickets, but buried in the details of the costs and fees of each ticket purchased by plaintiffs and the class they represent, is a line item for a Mexico Tourism Tax … that [the airlines] know is not applicable to plaintiffs and the class they represent,” the class action lawsuit continues.

The plaintiffs allege that the conspiracy to collect the Mexico Tourism Tax was a “multi-year, multi-million dollar scheme to swindle the plaintiffs . . . by collecting a Mexico Tourism Tax from exempt travelers when defendants knew the exempt travelers were not subject to the tax, and instead knowingly, in concert with each other and with a co-conspirator Mexican-based organization, retaining the illegally-collected tax which the exempt travelers were not required to pay.

Each of the proposed class members were subject to the same injury, in which they were forced to pay a tax “that they did not owe,” in addition to the cost of air travel. The plaintiffs allege that this illegally-collected money was kept by the airline companies.

They are seeking to represent a class of “Mexican nationals, guardians of children under the age of two at the time of their travel, and foreigners with resident status in Mexico, who purchased airfare for flights from the United States to Mexico between June 30, 1999 and the present, from one or more of the defendants, and whose purchase prices included a Mexico Tourism Tax and whose tax payment was not refunded.”

It was allegedly in June 1999 that the arrangement was made between the airlines named in the class action lawsuit and the government to collect and conceal the tourism tax.

The plaintiffs are charging three counts of violations of the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

They are asking for damages and injunctive relief, preventing the airlines from charging the exempt travelers the Mexico Tourism Tax in the future.

The plaintiffs are represented by Oliver Maner LLP, Williams Kherkher Hart Boundas LLP, Prebeg Faucett & Abbott PLLC, Sommers Schwartz PC, Law Office of Mark E. Lewis, Law Office of Carol S. Butner, and Lovett Bennett Jr.

Counsel information for the airlines was not immediately available.

The Airline Tourism Tax Class Action Lawsuit is Julian Almanza et al. v. United Airlines, Inc. et al., Case No. 2:15-cv-00033 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.