Air Transat is currently only partially refunding cancelled bookings, with the carrier saying it is only legally required to offer refunds on the UK to Canada part of the journey and not on the return Canada-UK flight, where it is offering a “travel credit”.
Paul Buskell, owner of Travel Action in Brighton, has two affected bookings with Air Transat worth a total of £2,600, where refunds have only been offered on the outbound leg of the journeys.
In one of these cases, his clients who were booked to travel from Gatwick to Vancouver with Air Transat were offered an alternative flight to Toronto – on the other side of Canada.
“Obviously I told them this change was not accepted and to cancel the booking and refund,” said Buskell. “They have refused and said they will only refund the outbound flight.”
Another agent facing the same problem is Anuj Bahri, from London-based Trayvale Travel, who had a wedding party of 15 people booked to travel to Canada last year.
“It’s approaching up to a year now and they’ve not changed their policies,” he said. “How can Air Transat justify not giving refunds?
“Our clients understand our position and have accepted the credit notes but ultimately they will be asking for refunds.”
Diane Coleman, from Tickets Travel, is also waiting for a full refund of a cancelled booking for a client who had been due to fly with Air Transat in July 2020.
She told TTG that her consolidator, JTA, had raised an official dispute with Air Transat and hoped to receive a full refund for her client imminently.
Air Transat, which is due to be taken over by rival Air Canada later this year, said it was not required to offer refunds for Canada to UK flights under EU261 rules.
“We are providing refunds for cancelled outbound flights that were due to operate from the UK to Canada,” said a spokesperson. “As the circumstances are totally beyond our control, we consider it reasonable to offer a travel credit for the return sector from Canada to the UK.
“Our interpretation of Regulation (EC) 261/2004 is that we are obliged to provide refunds for flights that would have departed from member states, but not from airports located outside the EU.
“We have also increased the flexibility of our travel credit policy so that all tickets are now fully transferable and have no expiry date.”
The CAA has stated in correspondence with one agent that clients are entitled to refunds of both outbound and inbound flights from Air Transat under the EU261 rules.
The authority said it was “taking on” complaints about Air Transat on this issue but added that it did not have the legal powers to enforce payment and suggested affected passengers “may wish to consider court action”.
Travel Action’s Paul Buskell, who has already refunded his affected clients from his company’s own funds, said he was prepared to take court action against Air Transat if necessary.
“If the airline is not refunding fully then I’m going to have to take them to court,” he added. “I’m not giving up, it’s the principle. As a small agent, they might think I will just go away but I won’t.”
