Decision No. 17-C-A-2023

[1] The applicants purchased non-refundable round-trip tickets from the respondent for travel from Toronto, Ontario, to Cancun, Mexico, departing on April 2, 2020, and returning on April 5, 2020.

[2] The applicants submit that they could not travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, they were given a travel voucher. They claim that they do not intend to use the voucher, as they have no intention of travelling at this time, and seek a refund for their flight instead of the voucher that they received.

[3] The respondent did not file an answer. Therefore, the applicants’ claims are uncontested.

[4] In this decision, the role of the Canadian Transportation Agency (Agency) is to decide whether the respondent properly applied the terms and conditions that were applicable to the ticket that the applicants purchased. If the Agency finds that the respondent failed to properly apply its Tariff, it can direct the respondent to take corrective measures that it considers appropriate or to pay compensation for any expense incurred by a person adversely affected by its failure.

[5] The onus is on the applicants to establish, on a balance of probabilities, that the respondent failed to properly apply the rules applicable to their ticket. In this instance, the applicants have not filed any evidence establishing their entitlement to a refund under the Tariff and the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR). No evidence, such as a cancellation notice, was submitted to indicate whether the decision to cancel their reservation was made voluntarily by the applicants or by the respondent.

[6] The evidence shows that the applicants purchased non-refundable tickets. According to the Tariff, a passenger is entitled to a refund of their original form of payment for this type of ticket when the respondent cancels their reservation. In light of this, the Agency finds that the applicants have not met their burden to demonstrate that the respondent failed to properly apply its Tariff and the APPR by providing them with a travel voucher instead of a refund to their original form of payment.

[7] The Agency, therefore, dismisses the application.