Decision No. 11-C-A-2023

[1] On October 29, 2020, the applicants purchased tickets to travel with Swoop from Edmonton, Alberta, to Abbotsford, British Columbia, on November 10, 2020, and return on November 13, 2020, to visit family. The applicants did not travel and seek a refund in their original form of payment or two round-trip tickets from Edmonton to Abbotsford.

[2] In this decision, the role of the Canadian Transportation Agency (Agency) is to decide whether the respondent properly applied its Tariff to the tickets that the applicants purchased.

[3] The applicants state that on November 8, 2020, the province of British Columbia issued an order to not associate with anyone outside your immediate household. The applicants indicate that they contacted the respondent and inquired if they would receive a refund if they cancelled their tickets prior to their departure, but the respondent indicated that their tickets were non-refundable. In light of the advisory, the applicants state that they did not travel.

[4] The respondent states that the applicant’s tickets are not available for a refund in the original form or payment or in the form of a credit after 24 hours of the original booking date. The respondent submits that the flights operated as scheduled and that it was the applicants’ decision to not travel.

[5] The Tariff provides that there is no refund available for flights booked after May 24, 2019, unless the passenger cancels the reservation within 24 hours from the original booking date. In this case, the applicants contacted the respondent to inquire about cancellation after the 24-hour period of the original booking date, such that their tickets were not available for refund or future travel credit at that time.

[6] The Tariff defines “no show” to mean that a passenger has failed to meet the requirements for check-in or boarding. No show segments are non-creditable and non-refundable. While the applicants acted responsibly by complying with the provincial order, they did not travel and were considered “no show”. The Agency therefore finds that the respondent properly applied its Tariff when it did not provide the applicants with a refund or future travel credit.

[7] In light of the above, the Agency dismisses the application.