Many airlines have been trying to avoid issuing refunds for flights changed or cancelled due to coronavirus.
While asking for a supervisor might help, other airlines are flat-out refusing refunds or saying to ask for a refund in a year from now.
United and El Al have been particularly resistant to giving refunds.
Air Canada though notes that while they are not generally offering refunds, they will where local consumer regulations calls for it.
Specifically, they mention that flights to or from Israel qualify for refunds:
Presumably that’s referring to the Israeli Aviation Services Law that requires a refund within 21 days for cancelled flights.
So why is only Air Canada making it clear that tickets to/from Israel are eligible for refunds?
I guess the Canadians don’t have the “sue me” attitude that the Americans, Europeans and Israelis have?
But if your flight to/from Israel have been changed or cancelled you should be eligible for a refund. If you purchased your ticket with a credit card you can dispute the charge, but remember that if you purchased your ticket from a travel agent that they will be the ones hurt by a dispute.
Have you been able to get a refund for your cancelled flight?
HT: chff
Hi, i have a flight from tlv to lhr which was cancelled by the airline but due to the virus the agent has closed the office until further notice. what should i do as i dont want to dispute it as that will hurt the agent?
They are no longer offering refunds at this time unless your original fare type allowed for that. They are only offering a 24 month credit for a single itinerary, where you would lose any remaining balance if the new fare is less than your original purchase price. Very frustrating!!
I contacted Air Canada Customer Service about my cancelled flight and asked for a refund based on the Israeli law, but they did not answer. How do I go about getting this refund?
http://www.tourism-law.co.il/pdf/AviationServicesLawENG.pdf
My son was on a ELAL return flight from TLV that was cancelled. Could’nt get through to ELAL so I disputed the charge on my credit card and refunded 1/2 of the ticket. Quick and easy
If I booked my son a round trip ticket from isreal to the us and returning to isreal after pesach. He took the one way flight and he’s home now. Do you think they’ll give a credit for the other half the flight going back to isreal
Had flight via British Airways from Tel Aviv to BWI via Heathrow. Got voucher for full amount paid to be used within one year from original date which was April 6th.
I bought a ticket on Azerbaijan from TLV to JFK for April 5, with Citibank “thank you” points. I cannot take the flight because, due to responses to the coronavirus, I wound up not going to Israel. Azerbaijan says they will not refund me because they are still flying as scheduled, and it’s not their fault I can’t get to the flight. Citibank says they can’t do anything without Azerbaijan’s approval. Does this law you reference apply here? Do you have any suggestions?
How do you suggest getting El Al to refund a ticket which had its flights canceled? Any help would be appreciated.
Who cares about Priceline??????? Just put in a dispute along with letters to their HQ and Virgin
Hi, can you post deals for peasach.. houseware, appliances. mant ppl have to make peasch this yr. or at least prepare for it b4 moshiach comes. thanks.
Where do I find this AC waiver list displayed above? Can’t find anything on their website.
My ac flight yyz-lhr for April was rescheduled on March 14. Cancelling didn’t work online. Phone Wait times were approx. 2 hours. I eventually waited it out today for 2 hours. The agent told me that effective of March 19 no full refunds. I quoted the law that requires a full refund anyone affected should read the following web page https://airpassengerrights.ca/en/covid19/coronavirus-how-to-get-a-refund.
The agent told me that she is unfamiliar with the law but that is the policy I can email customer relations…
I then tried a different track before just disputing the charge. I explained that had I been able to contact them before March 19 I would have got the refund, however there call wait times were extremely long and they even requested not to call if your flight is more than 48 hours away so they could take care of the immediate flights. I have screenshot of attempting cancel then.
She put me on a long hold, then informed me that the ticketing department told her that actually the new policy only applies to schedule changes the airline made from March 19, and I got my refund.
So, anyone in a similar situation: if your flight changed/cancelled before March 19 you CAN still get a full refund. Otherwise read the laws provided in the above link and follow that advice you are entitled to a full refund.
Can you post a link to the page with the policy on Air Canada website?
Dan, are you sure?
When I book through my local agent the charge is ultimately put through by the airline, he is just providing my info to the airline. I think the airline is affected by a charge back.
The airline might try to penalize him in other ways.
They are not answering the phone. Do you recommend another way to contact them?
It is impossible to get a hold of them. Is there another form of contact other than calling you recommend
Does this include flights from YYZ to Mexico canceled by AC? Online they gave us a option for tax back or a AC credit even after they cancelled our Pesach to the Cancun area.
I bought united ticket for Passover directly from their web site for my daughter and paid with my sapphire reserve card. Do you think reserve will refund me the money? As it’s flight 85 from Newark, they might still fly it.
So if they fly have go on it.
Not yet. Waiting on AC. My agent submitted it and said, “give it a week”.
Data point. I just called United to cancel my flight to Israel tomorrow night and they redeposited the points without penalty. My friend who is booked on the same flight booked through Lifemiles, yesterday the refused to refund without penalty and today their phone lines are simply not working. any suggestions is helpful.
“but remember that if you purchased your ticket from a travel agent that they will be the ones hurt by a dispute.”
Is that a possible reason to book directly through websites in general?
If you book directly with “airline websites” You can be stick trying to get through to them. And that applies to other OTA’s as well. If you book through an agency, no hold times and they advocate on your behalf..
No hold times? The current wait time for Priceline is over 2,000 hours!
Read again:
“If you book through an agency, no hold times and they advocate on your behalf..”
Thats exactly my point!! Priceline is an OTA… I am referring to booking with (small) agencies.
When will Israel’s airline match this?
I had an Elal flight that was supposed to leave to Toronto on the 26th and was cancelled. Travel agent said we’ll get a full refund.