Decision No. 123-C-A-2022

[1] The applicants purchased non-refundable round-trip tickets from the respondent for travel from Toronto, Ontario, to Venice, Italy, departing on May 16, 2020, and returning on May 30, 2020, at a cost of CAD 1,881.31.

[2] On March 18, 2020, the respondent announced a gradual suspension of its operations due to COVID-19. On April 13, 2020, the respondent cancelled the applicants’ itinerary and provided them with a travel credit. The applicants seek a refund of the amount paid for their tickets.

[3] In this decision, the role of the Canadian Transportation Agency (Agency) is to decide whether the respondent properly applied the rules applicable to the tickets that the applicants purchased, as set out in the respondent’s Tariff, which was in effect at the time that the applicants purchased their tickets.

[4] According to the respondent’s Tariff, when a passenger is impacted by a schedule irregularity, it will provide the option of transporting them to their destination within a reasonable amount of time at no additional cost; transporting them to their point of origin at no additional cost; or, if no reasonable transportation option is available, providing them with a refund or travel credit—a choice which the Tariff expressly states is at the passenger’s discretion. Normally these types of provisions are subject to the fare rules associated with the ticket purchased by the passenger; however, in this instance, Air Transat’s Tariff contains no language limiting the scope of this provision to certain fare classes.

[5] The Agency acknowledges that the respondent intended to review the applicants’ request for a refund upon confirmation that the applicants did not receive a refund from travel insurance or a credit card chargeback; however, the applicants have clearly stated that their request for a credit card chargeback was denied and that they have no pending insurance claim.

[6] In accordance with its Tariff, and assuming that alternative travel arrangements were not possible under the circumstances, the respondent should have given the applicants the option of either a travel credit or a refund. It failed to do so.

[7] The respondent states that the applicants’ itinerary was cancelled because it had suspended all of its operations. It further states that it did so because of state-imposed quarantines, airspace closures and restrictions, advisories against non-essential travel and restrictions to the landing of non-citizens/residents, all resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the respondent, these factors constituted a force majeure. While the Agency recognizes that some of these factors, such as airspace closures, would be a reason outside a carrier’s control that could cause a flight to be cancelled, the respondent has not filed evidence to demonstrate that any of these factors impacted its ability to operate the flights listed on the applicants’ itinerary. The Agency, therefore, is unable to conclude that the cancellation was due to force majeure, rather than a factor that was within its control, such as a decision to cancel flights due to dropping passenger volumes.

[8] In light of the above, the Agency finds that the respondent has failed to properly apply its Tariff in relation to the applicants’ request for a refund following the respondent’s cancellation of their flights.

Order

[9] The Agency orders the respondent to refund the applicants in the amount of CAD 1,881.31, as soon as possible and no later than November 24, 2022.