emcampbe

thanks. I’m going on 2+ weeks, and nothing yet.

zeer0

Flex fare, so not usually refundable but this was because of when it was booked/supposed to be flown, during covid. I filled out the form AC sent out requesting the refund and that's as far as I've gotten. I think something got lost along the way because people I know that filled out the same form months later have gotten refunded without issue.

zkzkz

I cancelled a couple flights and have vouchers now. No complaints, I booked these flights after the rules were clear and the flights were never cancelled.

But now I'm wondering what the rules are.

Can I use two vouchers on a single flight or just one per booking?

If they're more than I need do I get a voucher with the balance?

If I cancel a flight booked with a voucher do I get another voucher today?

What happens if Air Canada cancels a flight I booked with a voucher and I'm due a refund? I assume I don't get cash...

seawolf

Any reason why this was just not disputed with credit card? Drop a DOT complaint if you haven’t don so already.

Adam Smith

They basically work the same as gift cards/eCoupons.

You can use a maximum of two forms of payment for any booking with AC. One voucher is one form of payment.

No, the residual balance stays on the voucher.

If the option to cancel in exchange for a voucher stays in place, yes.

Refund to original form of payment, i.e. the voucher you used to book that flight.

SKYEG

I had to cancel a booking yesterday and the travel voucher was provided today(one night turnaround). A few months ago, it took over a month to get the code. Happy to see it's coming quite fast now. IIRC, it still says it will take weeks for the voucher to arrive when you go to cancel.

Rebooked and used the credits already

emcampbe

Glad to hear some are getting these quickly. I canceled my flight on Sept. 10 (a few hours prior to departure)...nothing yet. I sent a Twitter DM on the weekend, didn't hear back, followed up yesterday, and this morning finally got a response confirming my request was made, but that it takes 30 days.

I of course understand that credit card refunds can take a couple of weeks, but have no idea why a simple cancelation can take up to 30 days to generate an internal credit. UA cancelations, the credit is available instantly (though to be fair, I suppose those are just value in PNR, vs. a voucher, ie gift card).

mountainboy

Yes, good question. I'm told to wait 30-60 days more days for the funds to land for a refund they finally issued last week -- which was 3 weeks short of a year since request (demand?). Obviously I am an outlier, you'll probably be serviced quicker. One starts to wonder why the fund release delays are inserted into every step of the process, and why noone with oversight steps in and says enough is enough. We didn't sign up to be their bank, right? Government oversight is very lacking, many airlines are doing this, but this specific airline is apparently completely above the law (consumer related laws) far beyond any other I am reading about on news or FT. On the other hand, AC isn't as busted as TP. Maybe specific governments are light on regulating "their airlines" to avoid having to "fix them" in a major way. So if you aren't visiting breadlines, hold tight

zeer0

Already tried both.

Citi denied the dispute for being too long ago and DOT hasn't done anything except sending me an email that my complaint has been acknowledged and added to their statistics.

emcampbe

An update...finally.

This morning, 3 and a half weeks after cancelation, I finally got two emails: one with the voucher code, and another with the PIN. Great, right? Well...with Air Canada there is always more.

As part of the voucher email, the following:

Seriously. It took almost 4 weeks for [essentially] a credit only to use on AC, and then they need another 3 days for the value to appear? True to form, I used the online tool to check the voucher balance, and get this:

Seems pretty ridiculous to me.

On another note, if the value does properly loaded, can someone help with a currency question? Since my fare was booked through the US site, on a US-Canada OW itinerary, the value I have is in USD (or is supposed to be). Does that mean I need to use it on a flight originating in the US? Or can I use it, on, say, a YYZ-YVR flight somehow?

canadiancow

You can use it on anything.

You can book on the US version of AC.com and then you pay exactly what it says, or you can book on the CA version, and it will do some conversion for you.

It's basically no different than having a USD credit card. AC doesn't care what currency it's in. They're going to charge you some amount in some currency and the "bank" (in this case, the GC operator) will do the conversion.

emcampbe

Thanks,

capedreamer

Have been waiting for a refund for a flight cancelled on August 24. Was a company-paid trip so I need it to close out an expense report.

Initially, an AC rep told me it could take up to 7 days for the refund to reach my credit card. AC wouldn't even send me a refund confirmation or receipt; I just had to take their word for it. When 7 days passed, they changed it to 2 weeks. Then 6 weeks. When nothing happened after 6 weeks, I followed up again, and was thanked for my patience and understanding but that they could not provide an ETA.

Quite annoyed at this point, I replied with a reference to this article. Immediately, the Concierge agent I'd been corresponding with changed their tune and said they would follow up again with the refund team. One day later, I receive a refund confirmation notifying me it's been processed and that funds will reach my account "within 2 billing cycles".

So:
1. AC did nothing between August 24 and October 7 while various agents repeatedly assured me the refund had been processed and funds were on their way.
2. Despite the refund not even having been processed, various agents made up random ETAs just to get me off their case.
3. When the final made up ETA came and went, AC tried to tell me to just keep waiting indefinitely.
4. Only after seeing an article that refers to a lawsuit did AC suddenly spring into action. If I hadn't done that, how much longer would I have waited? 3 months? 6 months? 12 months?
5. Even now, I could apparently still be waiting up to "2 billing cycles" (so 2 months)...

Great job, AC! What a classy way to treat your customers.

Adam Smith

Not looking to excuse AC's crappy behaviour in the rest of this incident, but I wouldn't worry about this one too much, as long as you've gotten the refund notice via e-mail. Once you've received that, it should only be a few days before it shows up on your card.

The "two billing cycles" thing is mostly for people who don't check their cards between statements. If they issue the refund just after a statement has closed, that person wouldn't see it on their next statement, but on the following one.

DL and UA have also used the same language on bookings I've refunded in the not too distant past, so AC is not out of line in that respect.

capedreamer

Yeah, I'm also not worried about this part.

Tbh, the most frustrating part is AC's initial refusal to issue a confirmation of cancellation and generating a refund receipt (basically what I got today, but 6+ weeks ago when the cancellation actually happened). Every other company I do business with can manage this. Why does it need to be like pulling teeth with AC (and perhaps other airlines)?