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UPDATE: On Nov. 26, 2020 a judge ruled that the proposed COVID-19 Canadian airline ticket refund class action lawsuit is outside the Federal Court’s jurisdiction. Even though air travel is reportedly within the scope of federal responsibility, the court struck the Plaintiff’s statement of claim out without leave to amend. The court however, did not weigh in on the COVID-19 flight refund issue itself.
The defendants argued that “it is plain and obvious that the Federal Court has no jurisdiction in this matter.” The judge agreed, ruling that the claim was more of a contractual dispute. This means the proposed class action lawsuit will need to be heard in provincial courts to, potentially, be certified.
Top Class Actions will continue to update this COVID-19 Canadian airline ticket refund class action lawsuit as updates become available. Click on the “Follow Article” at the top of this page to get the latest updates about this proposed class action lawsuit by using your free Top Class Actions account. For the latest updates, keep checking ca.TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter.
Five Canadian airlines have been hit with a class action lawsuit seeking refunds on behalf of passengers who can no longer use the airline tickets they purchased due to COVID-19 travel advisories imposed by the Canadian government.
Plaintiff Janet Donaldson filed the COVID-19 plane ticket refund class action lawsuit against Swoop Inc., WestJet Airlines Ltd., Air Canada, Air Transat A.T. Inc., and Sunwing Airlines Inc.
“This is a consumer protection class action seeking to enforce each passengers’ rights to a refund for monies paid for their air tickets, when they are not able to travel for reasons outside of the control of the passengers,” the Canadian airline ticket refund class action lawsuit states.
Janet says she used Expedia in January to book a round-trip ticket with WestJet to travel from Vancouver to New York on April 17 and return on April 23. She says she paid $361.39 for the flight, at which time she entered into a Contract of Carriage with WestJet.
According to the COVID-19 Canadian airline refund class action lawsuit, the Class Members all entered into a Contract of Carriage with one of the airline defendants that included an express and/or implied term providing the right to a refund in circumstances outside of the Class Members’ control.
On March 11, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic due to the highly contagious nature of the virus. Two days later, the Government of Canada issued a travel advisory against non-essential travel outside of Canada and restricting the entry of foreign nationals into Canada. Individuals were also advised to stay home unless it is absolutely necessary to leave.
Janet says she, along with the other potential Class Members, complied with the Government of Canada’s guidance and did not embark on their airline travel plans that they booked before March 11.
Airlines also took initiative and cancelled and/or suspended numerous flights to account for the much lower demand for air travel, the COVID-19 airline ticket refund class action lawsuit alleges.
“Regardless whether the flights were cancelled/suspended by the Defendants, or the Class Members adhering to the Declaration to not commence their itineraries, all of the Defendants failed to provide the Class Members with refunds of the monies they paid to a Defendant under their respective Contracts of Carriage,” according to the COVID-19 Canadian airline ticket refund class action lawsuit.
Janet alleges the defendants implemented new policies that would allow them to keep Class Members’ money and offer travel credits instead of a refund. She says the airlines are essentially forcing Class Members to “forego their fundamental right to a refund” and instead spend their money to purchase future travel with the same airline, even though the Class Members may not wish to book a trip with that airline in the future.
Janet filed the Canadian airline ticket refund lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed Class consisting of anyone who entered into a Contract of Carriage with any of the airline defendants for travel on a flight scheduled between March 13, 2020 and the date the Government of Canada withdraws its COVID-19 travel advisories, and who has not received a refund.
The COVID-19 airline ticket refund lawsuit also seeks to represent a subclass of Class Members whose flights were cancelled and/or suspended in response to the COVID-19 crisis from March 13, 2020 until May 31, 2020 for Westjet and Swoop and April 30, 2020 for Sunwing, Air Transat and Air Canada. Janet notes that these dates may be changed if the court decides to do so.
Last week, the Canadian Transportation Agency posted a “Statement on Vouchers” on its website. According to the statement, some airlines have contracts that provide for refunds in certain circumstances, “but many have clauses that airlines believe relieve them of such obligations in force majeure situations.”
The CTA concluded that it is appropriate for air carriers “to provide affected passengers with vouchers or credits for future travel, as long as these vouchers or credits do not expire in an unreasonably short period of time.”
Attorney Simon Lin notes that this CTA statement is meant to provide guidance about how to handle an unprecedented situation and is not legally binding.
The Canadian airlines ticket refund class action lawsuit is an important step toward helping travelers get refunds for their flights, but it won’t provide any immediate relief. Consumer advocates recommend contacting the airline directly to demand a refund based on the terms of the contract. If the airline fails to issue the refund, consumers may be able to dispute the charge on their credit card.
Did you buy a plane ticket that you now cannot use due to the COVID-19 travel advisories? Tell us your story in the comment section below!
Janet is represented by Me. Jérémie John Martin and Me. Sébastien A. Paquette of Champlain Avocats and Simon Lin of Evolink Law Group.
The COVID-19 Canadian Airline Ticket Class Action Lawsuit is Janet Donaldson v. Swoop Inc., et al., Case No. T-428-20, in Ontario Federal Court, Canada.
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52 thoughts onCanadian Airlines Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over COVID-19 Cancellations
Pointless to describe the very similar story as others… My family tickets were purchased from Air Canada through Flighthub, took enormous effort to convert the flights cancelled due to Covid into credit, since nobody wanted to be responsible. Now the credit has too many limitations on it, timewise and direction wise. The service was not performed, contract was frustrated, I think they owe us a refund. Same question as in previous comment – how to join the class action suit?
My wife and I were to take our 3 married children and 8 grandchildren to Jamaica in March 2020 to celebrate my being in cancer remission. Total cost of flights and a weeks holiday was $48000. We received the resort costs back from Sandals but are still owed $16,772 through West-jet. After numerous conversations with WestJet representatives they advise us to complain to the Cdn Transport Agency. The same group who gave them the credit option . The same agency with toothless regulations to support Canadians rather than airlines. Pathetic. It’s sad to observe we received better support from a business in another country than a Canadian business sucking our blood callously. How can we sign up for this class action lawsuit?
We are family of 5 who purchased trip to Dominican republic during spring break of 2019 with Expedia.
We had to cancel our trip due to government travel advisory and did not fly. Airtransat had cancelled flight to Punta Cana anyway a few days later. We are seeking to get our money back as we can’t see our family spending any more money on family vacation any time soon.
Two Air Canada Tickets YYZ/LIS – 10-21 June 2020;
Air Canada cancels flights due to Covid19 – offers future Travel Voucher;
Several Tele plus emails to Air Canada requesting ‘Full Refund’ indicating documented reasons/conditions offer of Credit Voucher is NOT acceptable either current or future;
All ‘Air Canada Customer Service’ replies indicate the airlines’s position on refunds remains the same;
My PC Mastercard Charge Back application denied;
CTA File opened/pending(?)..
We purchased tickets with sunwing a year before everything happened planned a destination wedding, to leave on April 21st of 2020 paid over $13000 for my family to fly and stay. We’ve tried to get our money back and only received a voucher. This makes me nervous because I was diagnosed with covid at end of November. Although I’m not contagious I’m not allowed to fly any time soon. For most people covid can stay in your system 3-8 months, so if I were to pay the $150 per person ($750) for the family to get tested here in Alberta. I most likely will test positive again, there for not being able to fly. My voucher will most likely expire before I can use it.
As of right now Jan 29th 2021 they just canceled all flights again to sunny destinations.
I booked with Porter on March 7th 2020 for a fought departing March 21st returning March 24th 2020. I ended up cancelling the flight on the 18th of March 2020 because of covid only for porter to go on an indefinite hiatus since. They keep pushing back their operating date to the point where my credit will be void qnd are refusing to refund.
I booked a vacation to the Bahamas during the March Break of 2020. We bought travel insurance just incase. I tried to cancel before the time but Sunwing’s call centre was so busy. I even waited one day for hours as I knew I could still get my money back. So purchasing travel insurance was a huge scam as I was never given my money back as promised if I canceled in time as Sunwing never gave me a chance to. At a time when I really need the money, Sunwing sure didn’t help.
Same here we also bought the travel insurance which said cancel for any reason up to 48 hours before which we did. We never got the phony insurance money back or the cost of the trip. We were offered a refund when we cancelled. Then they back pedalled and offered us $250 each more as a travel credit to keep as a voucher. When we said we wanted a refund instead they came back 2 days later and said they didn’t have to. Not only are we out the Sunwing scam insurance, we also dont get the extra credit anymore and haven’t gotten our refund!
Booked trip Jan 2020 for myself and my two children for a March 17-24 2020 trip to Cuba. I’m a single dad and a frontline health care worker (work as Nurse in ER) so when employer and government advised to do so I cancelled my $3485 trip believing my Travel insurance would lead to reimbursement. After months of haranguing Sunwing I was offered l a travel voucher good until June 2021. My cash didn’t have such limitations on where it when I could spend it- so why should my refund? $3485 was hard earned and saved money for a single parent and it just made the loss of the trip even further infuriating and bitter. Especially as I work the front line, I will not have an opportunity to use such a voucher anytime soon during this ongoing pandemic. I seek to be part of the class action to recover my full refund in cash and if possible seek to address damages incurred due to this blatant stealing of money without a lack of services rendered. If you paid me money for my services to the same amount, would you be happy with a coupon with an expiry date that you know you have no chance of exercising/ using? No- you would take your cash and go elsewhere!
We purchased an all inclusive trip for November 2020 to St. Maarten through Westjet Vacation at the beginning of Feburary 2020. Thankfully we only put $500 deposit. When the remaining amount was due in September we refused to pay as we could see there was no way we would be able to go. Westjet refused to reimburse the $500 we had initially put down.
On March 8th I purchased 5 round trip tickets from the US to Brazil and travel insurance. On March 15th I lost my job. I have 3 kids, 2 with special needs. It’s been months and I can’t work anymore because my kids schools are online and I need to be here to help them. My unemployment benefits will run out this month. I need a refund, I spent $5,000 on airline tickets and am digging a hole of debt to pay medical bills. On top of it, the travel insurance company refused to give me a refund as well for the travel insurance.
How do I get into this class action? I booked my trip to Chicago with Air Canada ,which was canceled due to COVID, no refund.