Federations, lawyers discuss the issue of refunds of airline passengers in court

The federal government and consumer protection regulators are fighting in court over whether they misled passengers by encouraging passengers to get credit instead of refunds during the pandemic.

In the first months of the COVID-19 outbreak, airlines canceled hundreds of thousands of flights and offered customers company vouchers instead of refunds.

The Canadian Transportation Agency issued a statement on vouchers in March 2020, suggesting that reimbursement would only be mandatory under certain circumstances as provided for in the contract between the customer and the airline.

Gábor Lukács, president of the Air Passenger Rights Group, argues that the regulator has shown bias by misinforming travelers about their legal rights to refunds for services not provided.

The group wants the Federal Court of Appeal to order the withdrawal of the voucher statement along with the amendment.

In response, the government said in a statement that it reiterated that the vouchers were a means of compensation and that the advocacy group believed its instructions were erroneous and the case should be dismissed.