Why can a fully refundable TAP fare still show a refund service fee?

Refundable describes the fare’s treatment, not necessarily the absence of an assisted-processing charge. TAP publishes a service fee for Contact Center or sales-desk refund requests, including the footnote attached to its fully refundable Top fares. Check whether your quote contains a fare penalty, a channel fee or both before challenging the amount.

What this answer depends on

  • A voluntary TAP refund requested through its Contact Center or sales desk; distinguish fare penalty from processing channel.
  • Contact Center and TAP sales-desk refund requests carry a service fee of EUR 40, USD 50 or CAD 60 per ticket.
  • The fully refundable Top Prime and Top Executive entries retain the assisted-service-fee footnote.
  • Online refund requests are restricted to tickets purchased directly from TAP.

Important exceptions

  • The listed currencies are alternatives in TAP’s published schedule, not an exchange-rate conversion. This article does not guarantee that a particular ticket can be processed online or that a waiver applies. Agency fees, fare penalties and disrupted-flight remedies require separate assessment.

What to do next

  1. Identify the exact fare and the channel handling the request. A fully refundable label should not be used to identify how the refund was submitted.

  2. Ask the issuer to label each deduction and its unit. A service charge per ticket is different from a fare penalty that may follow another unit.

  3. For a direct purchase, review whether the online path supports your request before asking an agent to process it. Do not submit duplicate requests through both channels.

  4. Save the selected channel, quote and settlement. When disputing a fee, explain why its channel or ticket application appears incorrect rather than relying only on the refundable fare label.

  5. Fare name, ticket count, seller, refund-processing channel and itemized quote in the transaction currency.

More booking questions

Is the service fee necessarily a fare cancellation penalty?

No. TAP describes a separate assisted-request service fee.

Checked againstTAP refunds

Does an agency ticket qualify for TAP’s ordinary online refund route?

The cited online route is for direct TAP purchases.

Checked againstTAP refunds

Sources and last checked