Marketplace has heard from many people who were unsatisfied with credit for future travel after their flights were cancelled. Some have sought refunds through a chargeback from their credit card company, but have met with resistance.
As thousands of flights were cancelled amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Canadians were left with limited options for getting their money back.
Marketplace has heard from many people who were unsatisfied with credit for future travel, and some have sought refunds through a chargeback from their credit card company.
A chargeback is a reversal of a charge on your credit card, resulting from a dispute filed with the institution that issued the card — often a bank.
But a Marketplace investigation found the process has been fraught with challenges, with several MasterCard and Visa cardholders saying they’ve met with resistance to opening a dispute and, in some cases, warnings that their airline credit could be cancelled if they proceeded.
Customers say they were also told of policies that exclude cases where a travel credit was offered, or were encouraged to accept a credit rather than pursue a dispute. Some say they were told pandemic-related disputes would not be addressed at all.
All of the banks contacted by Marketplace said the problems experienced by customers came down to a breakdown in customer service.
Bank: Disputes may jeopardize airline credits
When Joanna Banasik booked her vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii in January, she was excited about the prospect of visiting somewhere new.
But then the unexpected happened. First, she broke her leg and was forced to postpone the late-February trip to mid-April. Then, on March 23, she was notified that Air Canada cancelled her flights “due to the impacts of COVID-19, government travel advisories and/or health and safety concerns.”
“I was kind of expecting it at this time,” Banasik said. “But what I didn’t expect was that I wouldn’t get my refund, that I would only get a future travel credit.”
The total cost of the original booking plus the cost of rescheduling was about $3,000 for two non-refundable round trips. Banasik says Air Canada offered her a partial refund over the phone, but she rejected it.
“It’s a lot of money,” she said. “It’s the money that I could use now in this crisis to pay for other stuff.”
Banasik turned to PC Financial, the bank that issued the MasterCard she’d used to pay for the trip. She submitted a dispute request online on March 25 and followed up a few days later by phone. She was surprised by what she heard.
“They said the airline policy is providing me with future travel credit and [that] they need to follow with the airline policies and they cannot open it,” she said. “I didn’t know that they could refuse to open it.”
WATCH | Joanna Banasik explains why she wasn’t satisfied with a travel credit for a cancelled flight:
Joanna Banasik explains why she wants a refund instead of a voucher. 0:18
Weeks later, PC Financial responded to her online request with some unexpected news. She could open a dispute after all, but there was a warning: “Disputing the charge may lead to cancellation of your travel voucher issued by merchant.”
She thinks the bank was trying to intimidate her. “I think some people might be scared to proceed with a dispute if they hear something like that,” she said.
Air Canada, the merchant in