COVID-19 resulted in thousands of cancelled flights as Canadians prepped to celebrate their annual Spring/School Break.

Our government ordered Canadians “home” and informed others to cancel non-essential travel.

No one denies this upheaval has been challenging for airlines. For customers who paid for flights, the cost of cancelled prepaid flights is real. The ensuing economic uncertainty resulted in travellers simply asking that their money be returned.

Airlines are disregarding what they are legally required to do. Which is to provide passengers with full refunds and not insist they accept a credit for future travel that comes with an expiry date.

All passengers are entitled to a full refund made to their original form of payment (e.g., credit card). That is the law.

The Canadian government has announced no measures to protect travellers. We need our Federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau to step in immediately to prevent Canadian travellers from suffering irreversible financial loss.

So how can you help? We need your support to coordinate an effective campaign so that getting a refund does not depend on who answers your phone call but on the law.

The Minister of Transport must step in and insist the parties involved abide by the law. That they place the rights of individual Canadians ahead of airlines, which have been bailed out before.

This is a consumer crisis that requires Canadian government intervention. Without support, Canadians will never receive the refund they have a legal right to or will wait for months to learn if they will be reimbursed.