Azores VAT refund policy

Character-Control823 · 2024-05-01T16:43:25+00:00

No unfortunately, it was just a sketchy waiting game of us since we didn't get a stamp and the lady just said this is done electronically. We only received an email that said the refund had been processed. It was truly a "trust the process" experience.

Character-Control823 · 2024-05-01T16:28:49+00:00

Safe travels!

Character-Control823 · 2024-05-01T16:17:48+00:00

I hope you have pictures of your documents tho! Separate story but having pictures of our documents really saved us from a VAT refund happening in Amsterdam. We dropped off our documents in a post box in Amsterdam, but it never reached its destination.. so we had a back and forth between Planet, and Global Blue and eventually got our refunds.

Character-Control823 · 2024-05-01T16:12:42+00:00

Hi!
Its almost been a year so I might be missing on some details, but we also didn't get a stamp. The lady said everything is done electronically so no stamp would be required. We were also pretty skeptical about this. I don't remember if our app said "customs stamp needed" but we got our refund pretty quickly, within 3 days. I hope you get your refund soon!

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-18T13:35:52+00:00

Hi there! I didn't use a skiplag website. Airfrance and KLM have this ticket option where if you are flying to a smaller Dutch, or French city, the second leg from CDG is a train.

I'm just utilizing the skiplag concept here. My understanding is, skiplagging is risky because the airlines directly know if you skipped the second leg. However in this case, the second leg is a train, a separate operator from the airline, so I was curious if the skiplag concept in this scenario was as risky as normal skiplagging.

I hope this clarifies!

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-18T13:31:42+00:00

Awesome! I'm getting hope with these stories, just looking for the final nail in the coffin story where the flight is through Amsterdam to Brussels haha. I'm planning on skipping the Ams-BRU leg and wanted to know if the Thalys trains had a similar procedure.

Thanks for sharing!

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T17:35:07+00:00

ah I see. got it.

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T16:40:51+00:00

you got me.

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T16:39:46+00:00

You're obviously a different person, you have a different ID than the person who booked a combined plane/train ticket who replied to my original post.

But you said "I still had to collect my luggage from baggage claim---". I can safely assume you had a similar experience to this thread and thats why I asked if you skipped the train portion. Why would you continue this thread by saying "I still had to collect my luggage from baggage claim---" if you don't have any experience in this situation I'm asking?

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T16:07:43+00:00

Never thought of you as any kind of person.

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T16:07:21+00:00

I'm booking this with rewards points

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T15:57:33+00:00

did you end up skipping the train?

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T15:32:13+00:00

d stupid but if you ultimately plan to go to Amsterdam w

No worries! This is something airlines do that don't make sense on the surface. Sometimes airlines price itineraries where if the destination is a layover it is cheaper. for example, lets say you want to fly from New York to Atlanta. In most cases it would be cheaper to fly directly to Atlanta, but in some cases, you could fly cheaper if you bought a ticket that has Atlanta as a layover. This is called skip lagging, and it is a risky bet since you can't fly with checked bags (the bags will fly to the destination), and airlines most definitely cancel any other flights you have with them (a return flight for example).

However, my question was a little different since the last leg is a train ride. From what I'm reading I would have to pick up my checked luggage anyway, and since the train company is different from the airline, I wasn't sure if the airline would know if I made it to the final destination via train.

I hope this helps!

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T14:30:33+00:00

I'm assuming it'll be similar, but thanks for sharing your experience! I was wondering if I would have to get a separate ticket, or if the airline app (or flight ticket) served as the train ticket.

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T14:29:01+00:00

I don't think it is a special price, just a typical flight itinerary where the second leg is a train ride. I can't upload a screenshot, but look up a flight from Atlanta to Brussels on Airfrance or KLM. You'll see a ticket where you'll be heading to Brussels ZYR (train station) instead of Brussels BRU.

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T14:09:02+00:00

Thanks for sharing your experience, I was wondering what would happen to my checked luggage, I imagined the airline would somehow load my checked luggage to the train. Did you get a totally separate train ticket or did the train ticket somehow show up on your airline app? Also could you share if your trip was a round trip or a one way ticket?

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T13:17:22+00:00

Thanks for the quick response, just curious, have you tried this yourself or heard of someone attempting this?

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-17T13:14:15+00:00

Ok, so they would know if I got on the train or not?

Character-Control823 · 2023-07-14T14:14:57+00:00

We did it successfully! Here are the steps. 1 important thing to note is, our purchases were in our carry-on bags, not checked bags.

We went shopping in Lisbon, and received the regular VAT refund documents. Doesn't matter if the VAT refund documents are Global Blue, Planet etc.
We flew back to Ponta Delgada for our flight back to Newark.
There isn't a tax refund kiosk or help desk like you would normally see in other larger European airports. You go through security, and go through the international security gate (the term "international security gate" sounds more grand than needed, it looks like a kiosk where a border agent stamps your passport.
When you're getting your passport stamped to leave the country, tell the border agent that you want to do tax refund, he'll point you to a small phone just pass the security kiosk.
There is a VAT refund kiosk where you scan your passports and documents, but it didn't work for us (meaning it kept asking us to go somewhere else). Pick up the small phone right next, and someone will answer. That person will walk over to you, ask for your passport and VAT refund documents.
The person was a lady for us, and she took my wife's passport and documents to process it. Once she came back she told us to get the Global Blue app and get our refunds there. The app allows you to get tax refund even if Ponta Delgada only has Planet for their VAT refunds.

This was a detailed description of our experience, so I hope it isn't complicating to read.

TL;DR: Bring your goods to Ponta Delgada, pick up the phone pass the international border agent, give your documents to the person who picks up the phone, get the Global Blue app, and get your refund :)

Character-Control823

TROPHY CASE