An advocacy group is asking the
The Air Passenger Rights organization sought leave to appeal Monday a
The CTA said in March that airlines have the right to issue travel credits instead of a refund for cancelled trips in the "current context," though the agency later clarified that the online statement was "not a binding decision."
Canadian airlines have generally offered credit valid for two years or more but avoided offering reimbursement to customers whose flights were called off because of the coronavirus crisis, with carriers citing the agency's stance in response to consumer complaints and analyst questions.
Air Passenger Rights founder
"If people believe they have no right to a refund, they will just not pursue it," he said in an interview.
"This case is about whether a public body can mislead the public without facing some kind of judicial scrutiny."
Some passengers may not be able to fly in the next two years for health or financial reasons, advocates say. Meanwhile, the airfare they paid amounts to a no-interest loan to airlines.
The pandemic has devastated the airline industry, with billions of dollars in losses for Canadian carriers amid grounded flights and tight international borders.
In contrast to Canadian authorities, the
Since February, passengers have filed a handful of proposed class-action lawsuits and three petitions garnering more than 109,000 signatures that call for customer reimbursement.
The CTA did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
In March, the agency said passengers "should not simply be out-of-pocket for the cost of cancelled flights," but also stated that airlines facing a plunge in revenues and customer volumes "should not be expected to take steps that could threaten their economic viability."
"The CTA believes that, generally speaking, an appropriate approach in the current context could be for airlines 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 (24 months would be considered reasonable in most cases)," it said on
The online statement is not an official CTA decision — these are issued periodically on complaints brought before the body — but Lukacs argues it amounts to an unsolicited advance ruling on how the agency will treat passenger complaints, and thus deters them.
Responses by officials in the airline industry and government suggest the post is viewed authoritatively.
On a conference call Friday,
Transport Minister
"
Customer reimbursement for services that were never rendered is a fundamental principle of consumer protection legislation across multiple provinces, Lukacs said.
The CTA's statement touting travel credit as an alternative has served to "undermine" that right, the court submission says, particularly since some credit card and insurance companies have cited the statement as a reason "to deny policy coverage for actual travel disruptions," the court submission says.
The
Air Passenger Rights' leave to appeal relates to the
Air Passenger Rights states that the appeal court's test to determine eligibility for such an injunction is too stringent, and could affect not only interprovincial transportation but all areas of federal law, including immigration and refugees, intellectual property law and Indigenous claims.
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