Air passenger rights advocate shares tips on what to do if airline doesn’t offer refund

After having cancelled vacations at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, WestJet gave passengers refunds in the form of WestJet dollars.

However, some passengers saw their WestJet dollars expire before they were able to use them.

WestJet says it extended its WestJet dollars expiration for impacted WestJet Vacations guests, so they could be used for up to 24 months.

“These were subsequently extended two additional times for those guests who required extra time to use their WestJet dollars as travel restrictions lifted and advisories evolved,” the airline said in an email. “A communication was sent out at the beginning of December 2022 to all guests with outstanding WestJet dollars available as a result of a WestJet vacations cancellation.”

Even though passengers may feel frustrated their WestJet dollars expired, air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs says they shouldn’t have been given WestJet dollars in the first place.

“WestJet was required (all along) to give passengers a refund (in the original form of payment),” Lukacs said. “If WestJet is still being difficult now, then passengers may proceed under the provincial consumer protection laws by way of statutory chargeback.”

According to Lukacs, a statutory chargeback differs from an ordinary credit card chargeback.

In a regular chargeback, the individual is asking the credit card company to reverse the charges based on their judgment, whereas the goal of a statutory chargeback is to ask the credit card company to reverse the charges to comply with the law, he says.

Lukacs says a statutory chargeback must be done in writing.

“The first step is (providing) a notice to the company of the cancellation of the contract because services were not delivered. The next step is (providing) a notice to the card issuer that service were not rendered and the merchant refused to give back the money,” Lukacs said. “Then the card issuer has a given amount of time to put back the money in the cardholder’s account.”

If passengers didn’t pay with a credit card, Lukacs says they’re still entitled to a full refund.

“(They) can still cancel the contract and force a refund,” he said. “(They) first give a notice of cancellation of the contract to WestJet and then if (WestJet doesn’t provide them with a refund), they take the airline to small claims court under Saskatchewan’s consumer protection legislation because it’s required to provide a refund.”