Chargeback is probably the only real option

As has been pointed out upthread, class actions take a long time, but Evolink is working purely on contingency, so there's little downside to any of AC's customers in them pursuing this.

It may have been "evident" to you, but the exact extent and consequences were not "evident" to many. Nor are your comments at all relevant to those who purchased tickets before then who now can't get refunds. No one can blame AC for selling me a YYC-NAS ticket for Easter 2020 last August, or a bunch of YYC-YVR trips for Q2/Q3 in December.

No, that's not how it works. If the customer has a right to get a refund from an intermediary, e.g. credit card issuer or travel agent, the consumer doesn't have a claim, the intermediary would have a claim, and that would be subject to the terms of whatever agreement exist between the intermediary (or any further intermediaries) and AC, which may or may not be unsecured.

Furthermore, any tickets/credits that are honoured don't become claims against AC in an insolvency, because AC has fulfilled (or will fulfill) its obligation.

No one can say for sure what would happen to travel credits in an insolvency. It would depend in part on the scope of the problem. If it's relatively small, compared to the other liabilities, they may simply be left untouched rather than having to go through the potentially significant hassle of appointing representation for the holders and dealing with their rights, as well as thorny questions such as whether a haircut should be imposed on amounts charged to cover true 3rd party charges - AIFs, GST, UK APD, etc. It may be less costly to the parties involved to simply leave the travel credits in place.

I generally agree with you. And with settlements like Red Bull and DRAM, sure. But the big difference here is that the harm is relatively identifiable and recent. The DRAM one, in contrast, took place over something like a decade, had an unclear impact on each individual consumer, and given the length of time, it was difficult to calculate what losses had been incurred by any given party. In this case, the amounts are generally much larger, and tickets are sold at most 12 months out (and typically much shorter), so most customers should have pretty good records. And the remedy is pretty clear - AC can simply refund us all our money.

Conserving cash is important, but advance ticket sales aren't nearly as meaningful to AC's balance sheet as you think. At December 31, 2019, AC had $6 billion of cash and $2.94 billion of advance ticket sales. I've already done a more detailed analysis elsewhere.

Write to your MP. Write to Garneau. Write to the CTA. That's what I've done, and have encouraged my non-FT friends to do when they've run in to this issue. The government isn't going to respond to us .....ing on FT, but if enough people start making a stink about this, they might do something. (Which would hopefully ensure that the CTA doesn't allow airlines to file tariffs that don't contain reasonable refund provisions).

Sorry, it turns out the Canadian Transportation Agency has already ruled that airlines do not need to provide cash refunds for flight cancellations, effective 25 March. https://onemileatatime.com/canada-re...ght-cancelled/

But unlike in the US, where the DOT is the end of all issues, the CTA and its "statements" (I do not see the word "ruling" anywhere) are not legally binding. It just means you won't win in CTA arbitration. It doesn't mean you won't win in court.

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I thought AC only received the money when the flight was actually flown. I read (somewhere, quite possible on this forum) that the CC company keeps the money until then.

Anyhow I echo others' comments (and my own) that a credit would be 'OK' if it could be used like a gift card. Today I ate the $600 non-refundable portion of a May flight to get most ($3600) of my money back exactly for this reason. I have no idea if I'll be flying within the next year on a flight that costs at least $4200 and didn't want to take that risk

That isn't exactly what they said. They implied it, but on a careful reading, they simply said that vouchers "could" be an acceptable option. They did not say explicitly that refunds were absolutely not required. It was very soft overall, and not at all a "ruling" binding anyone.

Actually, CTA hasn't even been that definitive. They said they would examine things case-by-case, but indicated they might be predisposed to consider a 24-month credit to be appropriate.

No. See this post for some explanation of that topic.

The proposition that AC should allow the credits to be used to rebook same origin and destination with no fare difference or ADCOL applicable won't work, because then everybody will want to rebook their flights during peak periods such as Christmas, spring break and summer.

The problem with gift cards is that you're pretty much last-in-line if they go bankrupt. You're making an interest-free loan to a very risky business.

That's an oft-repeated fallacy around here. The situation is far more nuanced. See, for example, this post not very far up this thread, where I discussed some of the particulars of insolvency.

To me, the major issue if credits were consolidated to a gift card or some other similar payment form is the loss of credit card travel insurance. There is no easy or perfect solution to this situation folks, unless AC decides to unilaterally refund, which is something I don't see happening at this point.

how expensive is it to buy standalone travel insurance or trip cancellation/interruption insurance ?

What are you trying to protect from ? If it's about the risk of having to cancel a trip , you just pay $100-$200 cancellation fee to the airline and the trip cost will be put back in a travel voucher or gift card.

emergency healthcare during a trip ? Most credit card emergency health policies don't require you to have paid with the same card be covered, just need to be a cardholder of a card that provides such coverage.

So I received this email aa well. One day after I had opted for the 24 month voucher offered when my flight was cancelled by AC. The trip was booked for May, and I took the voucher because I want to take the same trip (was flying to connect with the Rocky Mountaineer train Vancouver to Banff) next May.
I kept my original cancellation confirmation with the 24 month validity which came immediately upon selecting the voucher option vs the partial refund. I am ignoring this one.
But what's up with this?
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Why should I have to buy a standalone insurance when I already paid for coverage through my credit card?

As for the protections, here's what you get from an Amex Platinum card (copied straight from amex.com, apologies for the poor formatting). You'll notice that most require that you charge travel arrangements to the card.

I'm not exactly willing to give those up.

Here's my speculation, assuming AC survives.

They'll refund all these credits to the original form of payment after the crisis is over and there's no longer a liquidity crunch.

This class action will be a massive waste of money, since it won't see the inside of a courtroom by then.