No refund for travelers who canceled a flight already canceled by the airline: regulator

Four years later, controversy over whether airlines should refund passengers after canceling hundreds of thousands of flights during the pandemic continues to simmer, made worse by a slow and opaque complaints process.

During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, grounded planes and reduced schedules prompted most carriers to issue travel credits to passengers. The airlines said they were not obligated to refund customers, citing a March 2020 statement from the Canadian Transportation Agency.

Today, even after regulatory changes requiring refunds for flights canceled for a reason beyond the airlines’ control – whether it’s a pandemic or a snowstorm – some Canadians still face the rejection of long-standing refund requests.

A recent ruling from the regulator found a couple were not entitled to a refund because they chose to cancel their booking for 2020 – for a flight the airline had already canceled.

In a confidential ruling obtained by The Canadian Press, an agency complaints resolution officer said the two passengers were only entitled to a voucher because they canceled their reservation with WestJet. The officer pointed out the conditions of their ticket.

“Although WestJet has announced a suspension of the route, this does not change the terms and conditions of the ticket when the passenger first initiates the cancellation,” the agent wrote on December 28.

But those terms – set out in the company’s policies and posted on its website – stipulated that in the event of flight disruptions beyond the carrier’s control, the customer “will be refunded” to the original payment method if they refuse another travel route. .

Additionally, WestJet’s then-CEO Ed Sims had announced a day before the couple canceled their late March trip that the airline would cancel all flights for at least 30 days starting March 22, 2020, due to reasons related to COVID-19.

The couple, who asked to remain anonymous due to legal concerns — any decision by the agency’s complaints officers is confidential unless both parties agree to its release — described the situation as a “nightmare.”

The story continues

“How do I cancel a flight that has been canceled? » » was asked.

They still have about $4,000 left out of pocket, they said. “For us, that’s not a small amount.”

WestJet did not respond to questions about this matter.

A lengthy complaints process added to travelers’ frustrations.

The couple filed their complaint with the regulator in March 2022 and said they received the decision in January this year – a 22-month wait.

The backlog of complaints at the transit agency stood at about 71,000 at the end of April, its highest figure yet.

Withholding refunds was common during the first year or so of the pandemic, a move that drew backlash from customers. It is difficult to determine how many battles are still underway on this issue, as the regulator’s decisions on complaints are not public, advocates say.

“It creates a chilling effect, with people afraid to speak out,” said Gabor Lukacs, president of the air passengers’ rights group.

He also accused the agency and the airline of ignoring the facts surrounding the couple’s case.

Refund obligations at the time came down to the conditions attached to the ticket, since airlines were not required to refund in the event of force majeure until an update to the Passenger Bill of Rights in 2022, a indicated the spokesperson for the transport agency, Jadrino Huot.

At the start of the pandemic, the regulations “only require that the airline ensure that passengers can complete their itinerary,” states an agency article from March 25, 2020. “Some airlines’ fares provide for refunds in certain cases, but may include clauses according to which airlines believe they are relieved of these obligations in the event of force majeure.

Several older decisions by the federal agency itself appear to contravene this publication, with at least three decisions since 2013 affirming the right of air travelers to a refund regardless of fare conditions or if a flight cancellation escapes under the control of the airline.

A 2013 decision regarding Porter Airlines concluded that “it is unreasonable for Porter to refuse to refund the fare paid by a passenger due to the cancellation of a flight, even if the cause is an event beyond the control of To carry “. This conclusion came despite the fact that Porter’s tariff – the airline-passenger contract – stipulated a no-refund policy for delays and cancellations due to force majeure.

“Violating these decisions would amount to contempt of court,” Lukacs said. In any case, WestJet’s tariff included no such provision, he said.

The Public Interest Advocacy Center said in April 2020 that it had received “numerous complaints from consumers regarding future canceled flights and the lack of refunds for those flights.”

Keeping millions of dollars in tariffs amounted to foreclosure, argued John Lawford, who heads the consumer rights organization.

“When airlines take large amounts of money from consumers for future flights and do not put those funds in trust but instead use them as operating funds, they have effectively taken consumers’ money for nothing,” he said. written in 2020.

The vouchers are not a refund, he added. Lawford noted that older Canadians are unlikely to use store credit “for health or financial reasons, or simply because of the uncertainty of future air travel.”

After holding out for more than a year, most airlines began offering refunds for flights canceled due to the pandemic as a condition of federal aid.

“As the situation evolved, we opened refunds to travelers who received credit due to COVID, whether the reservation was canceled by us or by the passenger,” said Andréan Gagné, spokesperson. word of Transat AT inc.

WestJet, which has never used federal support, was the first carrier to offer refunds to some passengers in October 2020. But it said those refunds would not apply to customers who canceled their own trips or who were purchasing non-refundable base fares, “in accordance with its regulatory rate and booking conditions which were in place pre-COVID” – and despite court precedent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2024.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press