Senkal Ozturkler had great memories of a trip to her native Turkey two years ago.
She has bad memories about what appeared to be $450 in taxes on her plane ticket
" I noticed a special tax , outrageous," said Ozturkler to CTV News. "I was so mad. I was furious. Government should do something about it."
In a class action lawsuit filed against British Airways, North Vancouver lawyer Jim Poyner of the law firm Poyner Baxter alleged most of the "taxes" never went to any government at all .
"We say they misrepresent it as taxes but they keep it themselves," Poyner said. "It doesn't go to any governmental authority."
When Senkal heard the taxes may not in fact go to government, she says she was "surprised and so mad."
"We say this is deceptive and misleading, " Poyner said.
The law firm has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of British Columbians like Senkal, based on what Poyner sees as strong consumer laws in B.C.
If the suit is successful, the bill to an airline like British Airways could be in the millions of dollars.
"We'd like to recover these payments people have been making for the past several years," Poyner said for hundreds of passengers a day going back six years.
British Airways has not responded to to requests from CTV News for comment on the suit. The allegations have yet to be proven in court.
Poyner Baxter is also preparing class action suits against Air Canada and Lufthansa. For more information visit the Poyner Baxter website.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen
