Flying to the U.S.? Here's what Canadians should know about automatic refunds

New U.S. regulations now force airlines to provide swift and automatic refunds for passengers when their flights are either cancelled or significantly delayed.

Passengers in these cases are also entitled to refunds for other fees if their luggage is delayed and if services like inflight entertainment or Wi-Fi do not work when they are supposed to.

Those flying through the U.S. – including Canadians – can get a refund if their domestic flight is delayed for more than three hours or if their international flight is delayed for more than six hours.

This applies to Canadian airlines like Air Canada, WestJet and Porter, who will have to abide by the U.S. Department of Transportation rules.

“It really takes passenger rights to the next level in terms of the resolution of complaints and the issues associated with delays or cancellations,” said John Gradek, a lecturer in aviation management at McGill University.

The mandate states airlines must provide refunds within seven days for credit card and within 20 days for other payment methods.

“There’s nothing you have to do,” says Gradek. “It’s going to be automatically distributed and into your bank account, or credit card, for everybody that’s affected by the cancellation or flight delay.”

Prior to this rule change, which came into effect on Oct. 28, the airlines decided what warranted a refund.

Canada lagging behind

In Canada, it’s up to travellers to know their rights and requires them to go through the compensation process, which can be a long and painful one.

Under federal rules, passengers must be compensated with up to $2,400 if denied boarding because a trip was overbooked, and delays or cancelled flights warrant compensation of up to $1,000.

Travellers in Canada can also receive up to $2,300 for lost or damaged baggage.

“Can we see this? Would we see this? Should we see this in Canada? The answer is, yes,” said Gradek.

“Would we like to see what we see in Europe or in the U.S.? From a passenger standpoint, of course we do. But airlines have been doing this for a while and they know how to work the system,” said Travel Expert Barry Choi.

“If the airlines start getting fined significantly because they are not paying out passengers, that’s when you start to see those refunds come in quickly,” he said.

Gabor Lukacs, who is the president of Air Passenger Rights, says Canadians still have a right to a refund when there are delays or cancellations but says Ottawa has failed to properly consolidate the fundamental right to a refund into one legislation.

“The right still exists,” says Lukacs. “It’s not as easy to show someone the right as it is now in the U.S.”

“We have always been urging the government to do the right thing and incorporate, consolidate the well-recognized fundamental right to a refund into the APPR (Air Passenger Protection Regulations).”

“It’s complicated, and the idea is for smooth interaction between passengers and airlines. The rules have to be very easy to understand, very easy to see, very easy to implement. And unfortunately, that is not what we are seeing happen,” Lukacs said.