Decision No. 98-C-A-2023

[1] The applicants purchased round-trip tickets with the respondent to travel from Montréal, Quebec, to Cancun, Mexico, departing on June 27, 2020, and returning on July 2, 2020, for one of the applicants and July 4, 2020, for the others.

[2] The applicants claim that their flight was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic and that they received travel vouchers from the respondent, except for one of the applicants who had an individual booking.

[3] The applicants seek a monetary refund of the price of their tickets in the amount of CAD 3,082.16.

Analysis and determination

[4] 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.

[5] If the Agency finds that the respondent failed to properly apply its Tariff, it can direct the respondent to take the corrective measures that it considers appropriate or to pay compensation for any expense incurred by a person adversely affected by its failure.

[6] The respondent’s Tariff provides that if the carrier cancels a flight for reasons within its control, the carrier will offer a refund equal to the fare and charges paid. The refund will be made, at the passenger’s option, in the form of a credit to an e-wallet or to the original form of payment used to purchase the ticket.

[7] The applicants filed a copy of the notification that they received from the respondent indicating that the respondent was providing them with a travel voucher because their flight was unable to depart.

[8] The respondent did not file an answer to the application. Therefore, there is no evidence that demonstrates that the cancellation was outside the carrier’s control or within its control but required for safety. Accordingly, the Agency accepts the applicants’ claim as undisputed. Therefore, the Agency finds that the respondent failed to properly apply its Tariff when it did not provide the applicants with a refund to the original form of payment used to purchase their tickets.

Order

[9] The Agency orders the respondent to provide the applicants with a refund in the amount of CAD 3,082.16 to the original form of payment used to purchase the tickets as soon as possible and no later than July 27, 2023.