Originally Posted by seawolf

IMO, it's not that DOT is holding AC to a lower standard (as it is questionable as to whether there is a binding standard in force to begin with); it's more that other airlines (especially US) know this is not a battle worth fighting US DoT over. Bad for business long term provoking DoT to lay down explicit regulations concerning refunding non-refundable over what essentially is a temporarily liquidity issue. Relatively easy to add regulations but difficult in getting it removed.

AA/DL never attempted to "reinterpret" their end of the CoC concerning refund on schedule changes for tickets already issued. UA did try to reinterpret (eg weasel their way out) the CoC retroactively for a couple of months but since backtracked. I can only speculate US airlines deciding to refund is not/no longer a concern after shoring up their liquidity positions via loans and assistance from Uncle Sam as well as adapting operations to the new normal.

Is Ottawa not providing assistance to AC? Just claim we'll lay off this many employees if you don't.

I don't see much you can do to force a refund because the ticket was essentially paid by Chase (thru your points) and not you so the chargeback route is not available.