Airline ticket tax: Transavia to charge passengers extra on seats already purchased

Transavia France customers will have to reach for their wallets to be able to travel. The airline will ask people who have already purchased a ticket and are traveling from March 3 to pay a supplement corresponding to a tax increase , it said in a press release on Monday, February 24. This solidarity tax on airline tickets (TSBA) has in fact been revised upwards by the 2025 finance law: it goes from 2.63 euros to 7.40 euros per passenger in economy class for a flight in France or Europe, and from 7.51 euros to 15 euros for an international flight. This tax only applies to departures from France.

The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Air France-KLM, "has chosen to collect the entire amount of this tax for trips scheduled from March 3, 2025." If customers who purchased their ticket from February 19 did indeed purchase it at the correct TSBA scale, the others will therefore have to pay the difference. Transavia France has already sent emails to the travelers concerned explaining the tax increase and inviting them to click on a link to "finalize the payment."

Customers have no other option than to pay back the money. "In the event of non-payment, the customer will not be able to check in online and thus obtain their boarding pass," the company warns. "It will then be necessary to go to the check-in counter to pay the additional tax before being issued with the boarding pass," specifies the company, which "reserves the right to refuse travel" otherwise.

Some travelers, on the other hand, paid too much TSBA compared to the scale chosen by parliamentarians. Between October 28 and December 6, during the first discussions on the budget and before the censure, Transavia France had chosen to pass on in advance the tax increase proposed by the government on the price of its tickets. But the scale finally adopted is lower than this first proposal. In this case, customers can obtain a refund of the difference, assures Transavia France. But they will have to make the request themselves.