Adam Smith

No, not quite. A number of European countries are supporting their airlines' desire to not issue refunds, despite the supremacy of EU legislation. Although in some cases, the vouchers are supposed to become refunds when they expire, rather than just being pocketed by the airline.

hoipolloi

some of those individual country initiatives apply only in vacation packages while some apply to flights as well as vacation packages.

The EU Commission could sue the EU countries that violate the EC261 regarding refunds , but I think they have bigger issues to address for now

seawolf

For those with itineraries involving US, do not let AC continue to mislead/discourage you into taking a voucher if you desire a refund for a flight Air Canada cancelled/scheduled changed.

You need to continue to file compliant US DoT if you haven't done so already. The more complaints filed, the harder the US hammer comes down. Examples of US DoT AC enforcement orders against 49 U.S.C. § 41712 which is the "catch all" as not refunding also falls into unfair/deceptive practice.

https://checkthebox.dot.gov/airconsumer/eo-2016-8-29
https://www.transportation.gov/tags/air-canada

Air Canada is just playing a game of "let's stonewall and see how many passengers can we mislead into accepting a voucher so that when US DoT comes calling we can just tell them these passengers voluntarily accepted voucher/credit." KLM's initial position was also voucher only but after US DoT 3 April warning came out, they quietly adjusted their policy and carved out a refund option for US.

The only part that is untested is whether US DoT will enforce all tickets involving a US point or only those purchased from Air Canada US website/US travel agent (denominated in USD). A New Zealand pro-consumer group is reporting all tickets involving US point are covered after they spoke with US DoT about Air New Zealand practices.

France and Netherlands doing the same to protect their airlines but looking the other way and not enforcing EC261/2004.

arshi007

I am wondering what constitutes a "schedule change". Does changing the final destination of a return ticket constitute a schedule change or should it be considered a "flight cancellation". I have a ticket booked with AC which was a to and fro return ticket to Madrid. I now have a "schedule change" notification where they are sending me to Munich instead of Madrid (no flight from Munich to Madrid provided) and yet my return flight is from Madrid. So how am I supposed to go from Munich to Madrid ?

Adam Smith

As I explained upthread (or maybe in the other thread), there are apparently problems at times when AC is trying to exchange tickets that involve other airlines.

It's likely that they cancelled your original YYZ-MAD flight and intended to re-book you YYZ-MUC-MAD, but the MUC-MAD segment failed, even though YYZ-MUC didn't.

If you still want to go to MAD, you can call AC and it should be no problem to add a MUC-MAD segment or re-book you on something like YYZ-FRA/ZRH-MAD.

Or you can cancel the booking and get a 24-month travel credit.

oh101

Do not take AC flight credit or anything else in that matter. If possible try to charge back from your CC.

I tried to swith the flight as it was cancelled by AC in May and all the operating flight in June, July that I'm trying to rebook has a huge fare difference.

When I check other fare available online is much cheaper.

alert

Was anyone successful in getting charge back from your CC? My flights from Sydney Australia to Toronto in June are cancelled by AC. Just trying to see if there is a way to get a refund instead of credit. Thanks

yyz_consulted

Yes, charge back successful with AMEX CA. From initial to dispute to closed file and all money back within 8 days - this was for 2 separate PNRs/transactions.

CanadianMike

What did you have to use as proof / documentation that AC would not offer you a refund?
Just a screenshot of their policy from their website?

yyz_consulted

I PDF'd the cancellation email which stated AC was cancelling my flight and "The full value of what you paid will become a future travel credit valid for 24 months."

Adam Smith

If you have a ticket that's refundable for a cancellation penalty, you can pay the penalty and get back the net amount. Otherwise it's pretty much just the chargeback route that has already been mentioned.

Did Amex actually ask you to attach proof? I've done two chargebacks since coronavirus started screwing up plans, and in both cases, I was asked to justify it in writing, but only given 100 or so characters to type it out. I don't recall being asked to attach any documents, although I may have simply missed it. And neither of my chargebacks was against AC.

yyz_consulted

Agent said that if I had any documentation to support claim it may expedite claim, and I had already PDF'd from my DOT complaint so was very easy to add. She (Plat concierge) emailed me after call with case numbers and upload instructions.

Adam Smith

Ah, okay, you phoned in. I did both online. Quick and easy.

arf04

Were your charge backs with Amex as well? I'm looking at filing one for an airline that is not AC, but booked with Visa.

Adam Smith

Yes, Amex.

I did a chargeback against AC on a Visa card since they seemed to have no plan to ever refund my taxes on an Aeroplan booking. Whereas my Amex chargeback took seconds online, that took over half an hour on the phone. And I still haven't had the credit show up on my account nine days later.