How long for fully refundable fare refund processing?
 

Tried to find the answer: for cancellation on a fully refundable fare, how long does it take to get the refund back to the credit card used
thanks in advance

Personal experience (Domestic comfort fares only), it has been within 1 business day.

Once the agent agrees, it has typically been almost instant (credit email) from AC. Sometimes the agent has offered to stay on the line to make sure I get it. Credit on my CC has taken up to 48 hrs.

I had a refundable tx with a penalty (P fare) during Covid that required quite the process to get a refund. Hence my language in the previous para. The agent did not do what I requested in this instance and the tapes backed me up. Be sure to note time/date of call and agent’s name.

I have a flight cancelled from last week - instant refund email/pdf - no credit yet
I have a flight leg that got cancelled last night and made other arrangements home - instant refund email/pdf - obviously no credit yet for that one

...both were Economy Standard

I cancelled a flight on Dec. 21. Received Aeroplan points back immediately but am still waiting for the taxes etc. to be refunded. Hopefully soon.

That is unusual. Usually it takes 3 or 4 business days. Also, they credit the taxes back on the day you booked it, so if you booked it August 15th, that is the date of the tax being credited back (so it may not show up when you are just looking on line at charges on your current statement)

All my Latitude full fare revenue tickets that I cancel , show on my credit card as refunded within a maximum of 4 business days, Maximum.

Latitude fare refunds
 

Can someone confirm how long it is taking these days for AC to complete the refund process when one cancels a latitude fare booking? Also, I assume that the my cc will automatically be credited?

Thanks!

Cancelled a Comfort booking YYZ-TPA-YYZ yesterday due to the oncoming hurricane, credit showed up on my Amex this afternoon. I would expect no different for a Latitude fare.

Searched the forum in the hope of avoiding a new thread/post, but couldn't find anything recent. Figured this thread made sense.

Does anyone know how long cc refunds are taking these days? Booked $25k of flights last week, now need to cancel about $10k of those and rebook because of new origin/destination. All latitude fares. Wondering how long it will likely take for refunds to be credited to my card as I'd rather not end up with a $35k statement balance due.

Not sure why cancellation refunds take any longer, even one second longer, than it takes for charges to post.

Moderator note: moved to a thread that's more recent than the 2011-vintage thread where this was originally posted.

It shouldn't take more than a few days most of the time, and if you do happen to cross a statement date, it should almost certainly post in time for it to be credited before you have to pay. See first-hand experiences in the thread above.

Having worked in the credit card business for a while, it's complicated, but you're not wrong, in principle, that it should work that way. It also depends on what card you're using. In recent times, I've found refunds show up on my CIBC Visa about as quick as charges do.

Usually around 3 days, but definitely less than a week.

Thanks. Sorry for the trouble. I hadn't found this thread and the title of the other one seemed equally luminous re the question (I'd seen some more recent ones but the thread title was vague).



thanks. The confirmation email says one should allow a minimum of three weeks. That said, it no longer really matters since although you'd expect if it posted after the statement date but before the balance is due, it would reduce the balance due, according to Amex *it doesn't for credit cards*, only for charge cards. Got two confirmations from different Amex reps on this and my deciphering of the T&C for the Amex reserve suggests the same.

Two recent datapoints of trips booked and cancelled within hours of booking.
1. The original charge and the refund both hit my card the same day - Sat 29th of April. Card is a corporate US Bank (Canada) visa card.
2. On May 2nd I charged a flight to my TD Visa Aeroplan. I cancelled a few hours later and received the refund email before ending the call with AC. But the refund hasn't yet been posted.
I wonder how much of the delay belongs to TD and not to AC.
--
13F

Datapoint.
I made changes to a reward ticket on Apr 30th. New charge (taxes and fee) was posted to TD Visa on May 3rd. However, the refund of taxes hasn't been posted yet.

I recently canceled a Comfort fare booking (domestic so refundable). The charges to the credit card were back on the account within 72 hours. A week later, the Air Canada GiftGard that was partly used has not yet been restored. I've found that takes the balance of a month.

I refunded a comfort fare last Saturday to my Canadian amex card, I checked my amex app last night (Wednesday) and the refund had posted.

Intl B fare cancelled May 8 (Monday). Refund posted to credit card on May 10 (Wednesday).

It's always between 48 and 96 hours

Refund not processed after > 2 months… anything I can do?
 

Hi,

I booked a YUL - YYZ round trip with a refundable fare on May 25th for June 8th-9th.

I cancelled the fare the same day as I realized Inhad messed up the dates and received the traditional confirmation e-mail “Your booking has been cancelled, please allow a minimum of three weeks… you’ll receive an e-mail confirmation once it’s been processed…”

One June 8th and 9th, I received e-mail telling me to check-in. Obviously the PNR didn’t work anymore but I still found it weird.

On June 28th, I still hadn’t received a refund or confirmation e-mail so I used a form on AC website Customer Care section and requested a follow-up.

On July 26th, I finally received an answer saying “Sorry, it wasn’t processed, I’ll put in a request, please wait another two months.” I asked to escalate and speed things up and haven’t received an answer.

At this point, it’s already been > 2 months since the flight was cancelled and I already find it unacceptable.

What’s my best course of action to NOT wait for my money for another 2 months?

I’m 50k on my way to 75k and the only way I can think of at this point is to open a case with my credit card for the amount which wouldn’t be ideal I assume for my status with AC…

Any thoughts welcome!

I assume that you are 100% that it was charged to your card. Just odd as when I’ve cancelled within 24 hours in the past the charge never even showed up on the card. I would have followed up immediately after the charge appeared if it was cancelled the same day it was made.

You said you have the original email from when it was cancelled, you should ensure you keep that. Oddly later in your post you said you hadn’t received a confirmation email, but I assume you mean after the initial confirmation.

I would have certainly followed up when you got the email to check in. You say that the PNR didn’t work, but you did verify to make sure the trip still didn’t show up in your my bookings?

Also at no point have you called? With time being of the essence starting with the web form probably wasn’t the best course of action.

I would call them and lay out the story and see what they can verify from their end.

Thanks and sorry for any confusion caused by wording on my original message.

Yes, I confirmed the charges showed up on my card!

I received the confirmation my booking was cancelled and I should expect a refund. I’ve never received the second e-mail stating the refund had been processed.

PNR didn’t show in my bookings.

My experience with calling AC for anything isn’t great so I figured I’d use the e-mail route as I’ve gotten better, and less time consuming, results this way. I’ll give them a call and see.

Cheers,

If you paid with a TD credit card, TD likes to backdate AC refunds to the purchase date. I don't know why but I've missed them when they've posted because they were not dated to the current date.

Thanks for the tip, used an Amex though! I’ve taken a look at the original booking date just in case but I really don’t see it. Amex is pretty thorough as well, going as far as displaying the itinerary and ticket number on the statement so there’s no mistaking it!

I'd just call them. If it was a refundable booking that hasn't been refunded, they can process it instantly on the phone.

I agree. Had an issue that was somewhat similar. Complained after 6 weeks. The lead got it done manually with credit appearing less than 24 hrs later. Explanation, “sitting on someone’s desk”.

fyi, Amex has become much less helpful with these sorts of things.

Well, this got sorted out over the phone, not without frustration…

The first agent I spoke to told me “There’s nothing I can do, and even speaking to a supervisor won’t help” so I hung up and called back.

The second agent I spoke had the issue fixed within 10minutes. Didn’t understand what had happened but saw that the refund wasn’t processed and called ticketing who processed the refund on the spot. I didn’t see it on my card yet but I did receive the e-mail confirming it was processed.

Thanks for the pointers everyone!

That pretty much matches my experience. I even had a personal email from the lead the next day assuring me it was done (from his personal email). Great service.