Tripidation: the final chapter

Regular readers will recall a series of columns I wrote in February regarding misadventures my family and I experienced returning from a long weekend ski trip we took to Quebec.

On a snowy evening while waiting for our US Airways flight to leave Dorval Airport in Montreal, I went looking for someone to answer questions about reclaiming the Goods and Services Tax Canada's federal government and two provinces (Quebec and Manitoba) levy on financial transactions, including the cost of hotel stays, as well as purchased goods taken out of the country. The total GSTs totaled 15 percent of our hotel bills, which added up to a healthy rebate.

If we had been leaving the country by car, we could have claimed and collected our tax refund right at the border. Departing air travelers, however, must obtain a form at the airport, then complete and mail it from outside Canada. Problem was, the only forms I could find in the international departure area were in French.

While searching for an English form, I wandered into what turned out to be a restricted area, inadvertently setting off a chain of events that resulted in our being bumped off the last flight out that night, at considerable inconvenience and expense, not to mention editorial embarrassment.

But rather than dwelling on that negative, isolated and now somewhat humorous incident, I want to share the positive outcomes. Despite the trauma of the trip, I was able to decipher the relatively simple French language tax refund form and mailed it back in on Feb. 7 with my receipts. I figured my tax refund should total $218.01 Canadian.

Eleven weeks later, on April 25, I received a refund check from the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency. They had calculated my refund to be $186.43 Canadian, which they had converted into $119.79 U.S. Because the explanations for the calculations were in French, I wasn't able to figure out where I had gone wrong. However, when I called to ask the reason for the difference, a helpful operator was quickly able to check my file and point out that $31.58 of the bills I had submitted had been for nonreimbursable expenses, such as phone calls.

The GST refund process was relatively simple, kind of a thank-you rebate that makes a visit to Canada even more of a bargain. The primary qualifications are that each individual receipt must be for at least $50 in pretax purchases, and the refund claim must total at least $200 in purchases.

Travelers also can use a private company, such as Maple Leaf Tax Refund Service, that do the paperwork in exchange for a fee of 18 percent of the total refund, with a minimum charge of $12 Canadian. That would have taken a significant slice from my simple rebate, but it might have been worthwhile on more complicated claims.

The other positive development was a cordial e-mail message I received several weeks after my columns appeared. Kevin Caron, communications officer for the Montreal Airport Authority, apologized for any inconvenience we had experienced.

He said the confusion that was caused by several different carriers using the same departure gate and flight monitors was a temporary situation that would be resolved by the expansion now underway at Dorval. He also had contacted the Customs and Revenue Agency to make sure visitor tax refund pamphlets would be available in both English and French. Most importantly, airport authorities were investigating the installation of signs advising that the flight of steps I walked down should be used only by passengers coming into Canada.

"Owing to the unavoidable constraints," he concluded, "we realize the difficulty of foreseeing every contingency and satisfying each and every person using our installations. However, do believe that we try hard, and that we will do everything possible to prevent the recurrence of such a situation."

I like that attitude. I thank Caron for his concern and take him at his word. I'd also like to think my experience will help improve your next flight to Montreal.

Hey, isn't that what travel editors are supposed to do?