I was prompted to write this as I hear a lot of passengers are being denied refunds to their original forms of payment when their flights are either cancelled or they cannot travel due to the closure of borders at their destinations.
And two things have made it worse:
1. TICO has issued a statement that has not legal backing.
CTA has also done this i.e. made a statement and is trying to mislead the public “deliberately and knowingly”
It is being now being “portrayed” by many airlines as legally binding but it’s not.
The statement by CTA below has no legal backing and there are no signatories on it who have approved that statement.
2. Bloggers in the US who command a large following while writing about policies of large American carriers like United, American Airlines, Delta, Jet Blue etc. are also writing about Canadian airlines and stating that similar to policies in the US, CTA in Canada has mandated that passengers are not owed refund back to the original form of payment but only future travel banks. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The only part thats true is that you are not owed compensation i.e. additional monies that you would be due in the event of a cancelled flight.
And the worst part is that the airlines are using these statements and posts to deny refunds.
So, what should you do to get a refund?
Step 1: Keep a detailed record of all emails, record conversations with the travel agent/airline and keep screenshots of cancellations on the websites.
Please read this document re any questions you may have on recording conversations.
Step 2: Keep an eye on your flight(s). If any flight in your itinerary is cancelled, call or email your travel agent/airline and demand a refund.
You can follow the steps outlined in this guide.
Step 3: If they refuse, proceed to initiate a chargeback with your credit card citing grounds that the services you paid for were not rendered.
You can follow the guide here.
A big shout out and thanks to Air Passengers Rights advocate Dr. Gabor Lukacs for putting these documents together and helping put money back in their pockets. I understand there are quite a number of successful cases where passengers have obtained a refund by following his steps.
I would strongly recommend demanding a full refund due to the following reasons:
a. You could not take the flight as booked so its service not delivered as per original contract.
b. You are not sure when you can probably take a vacation (even though some credit banks are valid till December 2021.)
c. The price of a flight might be higher than the credit bank when you decide to book so you will be out of pocket.
d. The price of a flight might be lower than the credit bank when you decide to book, but you will not be able to get the difference back so you are still losing that difference.
e. You are locked in with one airline as the fares might be cheaper with another airline.
f. You may not need to travel again as this trip was for a specific reason e.g. wedding, reunion etc.
g. You may not need the return portion as you are already back home in Canada.
h. In view of the current situation, you would rather have the cash in your hand for meeting expenses such as rent, mortgage or paying other bills.
So, Demand Your Refund.
Written by Dominic Fernandes aka CanadaPointsGuy
Image Photo by Niels Steeman from Unsplash.com