Air Canada Vacations' new President Lucie Guillemette said in a call on Tuesday, that Air Canada's refund policy goes beyond what the federal government asked.
"This is by choice," she said. "For bookings made between Feb. 1, 2020 and April 12, 2021, we will be refunding customers who choose to select a refund whether the cancellation was made by Air Canada or if the cancellation was made by our customers. There is a subset of cancellations made by customers after March 22, 2020 for those customers who voluntarily cancelled. Within the agreement we were not obligated to refund this subset but we recognize how difficult, how confusing and stressful the period was for our customers, so we elected to process with those refunds as well. So it's slightly beyond what was announced Monday."
Guillemette repeated again that Air Canada will not be recalling commissions from agents. Nino Montagnese, Vice President at Air Canada Vacations, made the same pledge for package bookings.
Guillemette said Air Canada will hold another special session for agents on April 19.
Refunds began being processed at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, and there are more than two million cases to be considered, she said.
"Our entire team is mobilized and ready to support you," she said to advisors on the call. "We want to make it as easy as possible."
In addition to the expanded refund policy announced today, Air Canada customers will continue to have the option of accepting a fully transferrable Air Canada Travel Voucher (ACTV) with no expiry date or converting the value of their ticket to Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus. Customers who have already accepted an ACTV or Aeroplan points will have the option to exchange these for a refund to the original form of payment, including for the unused portion of any ACTV issued or in cases where a partial refund was provided.
Since March 2020, Air Canada has refunded more than $1.2 billion to customers holding refundable tickets. With today's announcement, Air Canada is extending a refund option to all eligible customers with tickets for travel dates on or after February 1, 2020 and who purchased their ticket before April 13, 2021. Refunds are available to those customers whose flight was cancelled or who voluntarily cancelled their flight for any reason, and who wish to submit a request for a refund to their original form of payment. Customers can request a refund online at www.aircanada.com/refund until June 12, 2021. The policy also applies to Air Canada Vacations packages.
Lisa Pierce, Air Canada's Vice President Canad and USA sales, said she hopes the new three-hour cancellation policy will boost consumer confidence.
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