We know the airline business is suffering.
But should airlines be able to keep a customer’s money if the booked travel can’t actually happen because the government has closed the border because of the coronavirus?
Gabriel Eisner and his fiance Jordana Reich, both of Bedminster, made plans to visit Banff National Park in Canada from July 3 to July 11.
Eisner booked the trip with Expedia, paying $1,474.76 for non-stop flights.
He surprised Reich with the trip for two reasons: to celebrate her 30th birthday and to celebrate her completion of a rigorous and “very stressful” neurological residency program for her job as a physical therapist.
“Our plans are very much in the air due to the virus,” Eisner said. “We were planning on going on this great trip, however things have changed, obviously.”
They both work with COVID patients, so they said they’re not necessarily nervous about travel but “we just want everyone else to be safe when traveling and obey the appropriate precautions,” Eisner said.
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First, Air Canada made substantial changes to the flights. The departing flight was to leave Newark and arrive in Calgary, but the airline changed their tickets to a flight with a layover in Toronto, and they would arrive more than seven hours later than initially planned. Similar changes were made to the return flight.
And until June 1, the national park was fully closed. Now it’s only partially open with many roads, trails and amenities still shut down.
But even if the park was open, the border between the U.S. and Canada remains shut down to almost all non-essential travel until at least July 21.
Canada also requires a 14-day quarantine for anyone coming into the country, so even if the border was open, the couple would have to pay for a place to stay for two weeks before heading to the park or anywhere else in the country.
“The cancellation is just a big mess. We were initially told by Expedia that we could be offered a credit, but wait to see if the policy changes with the U.S.-Canada border,” Eisner said. “We wanted a refund for the trip because it is such a large sum of money, and we really don’t know when/if we would be able to go back to Banff.”
They were given three choices: to keep the reservation open to see if Air Canada would later allow a refund, to try to get a refund directly from Air Canada — which basically said no — or to accept a travel voucher.
The couple is also on hold with their wedding, planned for October, so having all that money out there hurts their wallets.
They reached out to Bamboozled for help.
ASKING FOR HELP
The U.S. Department of Transportation says if an airline cancels a flight, the passenger is entitled to a refund.
And if there is a “significant delay,” the passenger is also entitled to a refund.
But if the passenger is the one who cancels, the rules are different.
“Passengers who purchase a non-refundable ticket on a flight to, within, or from the United States that is still being operated without a significant change, but would like to change or cancel their reservation, are generally not entitled to a refund or a travel voucher for future use on the airline,” it said. “This is true even if the passenger wishes to change or cancel due to concerns related to the COVID-19 public health emergency.”
Both domestic and overseas carriers are subject to the rules, DOT said.
It also said airline obligations do “not cease when the flight disruptions are outside of the carrier’s control (e.g., a result of government restrictions).”
The Air Canada website says if a ticket was purchased through a third-party seller — Expedia in this case — any refund requests must be processed through them.
So we started with Expedia, which checked with Air Canada. It would not refund the fares.
“They advised they only provide refunds when they cancel the flight and fail to provide an alternate option – in this case they offered a few alternatives so their policy is to provide a flight credit instead,” an Expedia spokeswoman said. “We’re sorry we couldn’t do more for this customer.”
She was right about Air Canada’s refund policy.
It allows customers with tickets purchased before June 30, 2020 for travel from March 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 to choose a different flight, get a voucher that never expires for future travel or to convert the ticket into miles with the airline’s travel program.
Air Canada didn’t respond to multiple inquiries, so the couple is stuck.
Gabriel Eisner said they did file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation.
We will be fine financially, but I would rather not tie up almost $1,500 for two years,” Eisner said. “I’m sure that there are plenty of people in this world that this has happened to. I just hope none of them really need the money.”
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
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