Yesterday Air Canada concluded an agreement with the federal government to receive a financial support package of up to $5.89 billion. To receive the financing from the government Air Canada had to agree to refund tickets to consumers who had flights cancelled by Air Canada or had themselves proactively cancel flights due to the pandemic.
Now over a year since the crisis started Air Canada will provide refunds to those eligible people, which should be most flights as previously Air Canada had refunded tickets that met conditions for refunds (ie refundable fares) and some others such as travel out of Europe.
Air Canada said that eligible customers who purchased a non-refundable ticket for travel on or after February 1, 2020 but did not fly can now obtain a refund from the carrier by submitting a request online or with their travel agent. The revised COVID-19 refund policy covers tickets and Air Canada Vacations packages purchased before April 13, 2021 for flights cancelled either by the airline or by the customer for any reason.
"Air Canada will be offering refunds to all eligible customers whether they cancelled their ticket or if their flight was cancelled by the airline. Customers can now submit refund requests online or through their travel agent and we are committed to processing refunds as fast as possible," said Lucie Guillemette, Executive Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer at Air Canada.
"In addition, Air Canada has revised its booking policies for all future travel. Starting today, in cases where a customer's flight is cancelled or rescheduled by more than three hours, we will now offer all customers the choice of receiving a refund, an Air Canada Travel Voucher or the equivalent value in Aeroplan Points with a 65% bonus. This new policy will provide more certainty and flexibility, so customers can book their future travel with greater confidence and we look forward to welcoming you back on board."
In addition to the expanded refund policy announced today, Air Canada customers will continue to have the option of accepting a fully transferrable Air Canada Travel Voucher (ACTV) with no expiry date or converting the value of their ticket to Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus. Customers who have already accepted an ACTV or Aeroplan points will have the option to exchange these for a refund to the original form of payment, including for the unused portion of any ACTV issued or in cases where a partial refund was provided.
The refund is available to anyone affected including those people who had already accepted vouchers or Aeroplan points when they had those flights canceled. Customers simply need to go to www.aircanada.com/refund to start the process. You'll presented with the following and you'll simply need to choose from one of the two options:
After you select you'll be presented with an online form that you will need to fill out which includes passenger information and your booking reference. It looks like you may have to complete the form for each individual traveller if you have a booking for multiple travellers. Once completed you should get a refund to your originally form of payment within 1 to 3 months. If you booked via a travel agent you will have to contact that travel agent to process the refund for you.
On top of this Air Canada has revised their policy for tickets going forward in that if they as the airline cancel your flight or reschedule it by more than 3 hours customers will have the option to have it fully refunded to their original form of payment or to receive a voucher or to receive Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus.
This has been a long time coming but we finally see the light for those travellers who have desperately needed this cash back and for others whose future travels are unknown and in limbo. Hopefully the refund process goes without any hitches for those looking to get their money back as we know there have been a few hiccups from Canada's other major airline with their full refund process. Also the updated policy going forward is a welcome addition for those travellers booking travel that may be affected by the currently changing situation due to the pandemic.
Images via Air Canada
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