ASTA呼吁加拿大航空更改其退款政策
byDaine泰勒/
The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) is calling on Air Canada to reverse its refund policy after the airline claimed that it was not obligated to issue refunds to passengers whose flights were cancelled.
该航空公司在6月26日在美国运输部(DOT)执法部门宣布职位,并表示,如果没有具体的票务规则,则不需要为航空公司取消的航班退款。需要它。
This decision is in opposition of Department of Transportation regulations, requiring carriers to provide passengers with a full refund when the carrier cancels the flight or makes a significant change in the flight schedule, and the passenger chooses not to accept any alternative offered by the carrier.
“Regardless of whether any of Air Canada’s legal arguments will ultimately be found to have merit, ASTA finds its position disputing the DOT’s authority to mandate refunds to be disappointing in terms of fundamental fairness when the situation is viewed from the traveler’s perspective,” ASTA said in a statement.
“As the DOT notes, the question is ‘not on whether the flight disruptions are within or outside the carrier’s control, but rather on the fact that the cancellation is through no fault of the passenger.’”
While the DOT maintains that these regulations apply to foreign carriers as well as domestic when the flights were scheduled to travel to the U.S., Air Canada argues that the DOT’s Enforcement Notice is not legally binding and any attempt by the DOT to enforce it would constitute “an unwarranted extraterritorial application of U.S. law.”
“Air Canada’s recently revised cancellation and rebooking policies are not, as written, unfair when the impacted consumer is amenable to receiving a voucher for future travel, and in most respects, they do align with the best practice recommendations of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA),” ASTA said. “However, in our view it works a substantial injustice for consumers that justifiably relied upon the DOT refund regulation and Air Canada’s previous policy which reflected its adherence to it.”
该组织还称赞了航空公司通过自由向受影响客户退款的退款来回应危机的工作,理由是这些灵活的政策将为消费者对行业的信心提供急需的增强。
“我们赞扬那些承运人,尽管情况很困难,但仍根据该点的任务履行了对乘客的义务,并呼吁加拿大航空立即通过扭转其当前退款的立场来立即做同样的事情。通过为受影响的乘客做正确的事情,遵守已建立的规则,并在要求时立即为取消航班提供退款,加拿大航空可以维持代理商社区和整个公众的信任和信心。”