Travel

Class Action Against Airlines Over Vouchers Instead of Refunds

ByMatt

It did not take long for the lawsuits to come in. We wrote a post a few days ago about the Canadian Transportation Agency saying that airlines are not required to refund passengers. This has become a heated topic because there is a legal argument to be made that airlines should be refunding passengers for cancelled flights. 

Legal Issues

For the purposes of this post, I think it’s best to keep it short with regards to the legal rights of each side. In short, passengers are arguing that the law entitles them to a full refund for a cancelled trip not under their control. While airlines are arguing that the cancelled trip was not in their control either, so they should not have to offer a refund, but a voucher for future travel or waive rebooking fees.

New Domestic Air and Rail Screening Measures

ByMatt

Seems like things change on a daily basis. Sometimes, it even feels hour by hour. Starting tomorrow, new measures are being taken by airlines and trains to screen people before they are able to travel. At the end of last week, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau announced that there will be no more domestic travel by plane or train for those showing coronavirus symptoms. So now airlines and trains have to increase their screening process, which would prevent people showing signs of the virus (e.g. cough, fever and difficulty breathing) from boarding. 

CTA Says Airlines Not Required to Refund Passengers

ByMatt

Yesterday, CBC reported that the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) said that “airlines are not required to refund passengers for flights cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other reasons outside an airline’s control.”

So there we have it. It will be up to the airlines to decide whether they want to refund passengers or not for a cancelled flight. I thought I’d share my pros and cons from each perspective and offer a possible compromise solution.

Beware of CBSA Scammers Posing as Employees

ByMatt

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is currently under a lot of pressure to work harder at the Canadian borders. 

Currently, they are enforcing a new directive to inform people to isolate themselves for 14 consecutive days after arriving from abroad. Symptoms include: fever, cough or difficulty breathing. 

Unfortunately, during this time, there are those are are posing as CBSA employees.

Ways to Prevent Spread of Coronavirus when Travelling

ByMatt

Today’s post was triggered when I read about a Canadian confirmed with coronavirus on a cruise ship. As of today, over 900 deaths and 40,000 confirmed cases, which probably means there are more that we do not know about. It really feels like this is spiking at an accelerated rate. So I thought I’d put together a post on how to protected ourselves.

Keep in mind that we already wrote a post about checking your flights to China, as they are most likely cancelled by now.

Note that most of the content below is gathered from the Canadian Government’s website (stay up to date here too), but I thought I’d provide a cheat sheet as there is so much information to sort through. 

ALERT: Cancelled Flights to China due to Coronavirus

ByMatt

You have probably read about the coronavirus outbreak from China and it being spread around the world. Due to this risk, many flights to China have been cancelled, so you will want to check your flights if you are affected. Most airlines are allowing waiving the fees for rebooking your flights. 

Below is a list of airlines that offer direct flights to and from China. For the purposes of this post, I have included Hong Kong, as some of those flights are affected too, though maybe less hard than mainland China flights.