COVID-19: Canadian Transportation Agency decides on credits

With COVID-19, the situation is changing rapidly on the airline side.

Initially, they offered reimbursement with particularly generous rules. But little by little, faced with the extent of the situation, the airlines have changed their terms and conditions and offer, for the most part, a credit to be used for a future plane ticket.

This is the case forAir Canada, for example.

We had written an article introducing you to the legal rules that would allow you to get a refund instead of a credit.

Then we presented you the different ways chosen by the airlines (some of them offering a “refundable credit“).

Now, the Canadian Transportation Agency has issued a message regarding the credits to reveal its position on the subject.

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) supports the airlines’ position of offering vouchers or credits for future flights instead of refunding tickets.

First, the CTA recalls the exceptional nature of the extraordinary situation the world is facing today:

The various legislative, regulatory and tariff provisions were written for relatively localized short-term disruptions. None have been considered for the types of massive worldwide flight cancellations that have occurred in recent weeks as a result of the pandemic. It is important to consider how we will need to strike a balance that is fair and rational between measures to protect passengers and the operational realities of airlines in these extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances.

Office des Transports du Canada - 25 mars 2020

As we mentioned in this article, airlines are facing the equivalent of a“banking panic“, with cancellations by the hundreds of thousands, which could send them straight to bankruptcy.

But on the other hand, their customers are also facing economic difficulties. This is a real vicious circle that the CTA recognizes:

On the one hand, passengers who are unable to complete their planned itinerary with the assistance of an airline should not have to incur expenses for cancelled flights. On the other hand, airlines that are seeing their passenger volumes and revenues decline dramatically cannot be expected to take actions that would threaten their economic viability.

Office des Transports du Canada - 25 mars 2020

Thus, the CTA approves as a suitable solution the credits offered by the airlines in lieu of refunds, but under certain conditions:

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) will consider the merits of each specific situation presented to it, but generally believes that a solution that would appropriate in the current context would be for airlines to provide affected passengers with vouchers or credits for future flights that will not expire in an unreasonably short period of time (24 months would be considered reasonable in most cases).

Office des Transports du Canada - 25 mars 2020

It is therefore likely that the airlines will soon align their policies following this message from the CTA, especially on the validity of the credits, extended to 24 months (while some only offer credits valid until the end of 2020).

We would have liked the CTA to take a more customer-friendly position by allowing, for example, the refundable credit note proposed by certain airlines such as Air France or United:

If your flight has been canceled, you can complete this form to obtain a refund in the form of a credit note valid for one year on all Air France, KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic flights. This credit is refundable after one year if it is not used.

Air France