If you were planning a vacation in April, May or June, there’s bad news ahead. On Monday, it was announced that Air Canada is extending their international flight suspensions, meaning that almost all of their flights will be cancelled until at least June. Air Canada’s flight cancellations are expected to affect more than 160 routes. On Monday afternoon, Air Canada confirmed that they would be extending their international flight suspensions for at least another month, due to a collapse in business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the airline will continue to repatriate Canadians that are stuck aboard, as well as transport cargo, they will not be providing non-essential international flights in the coming weeks. Initially, the airline had cancelled almost all international flights until the beginning of May, but this has now been extended by at least another month. According to The Canadian Press, Air Transat and Sunwing cancellations have also been extended, until May 31 at the earliest. Air Canada has yet to confirm an official date to resume flights in June. NEW - Air Canada is suspending most international flights until June, while Air Transat and Sunwing Airlines are cancelling all trips until May 31 due to the #COVID19 pandemic.— Richard Southern (@richard680news) April 13, 2020 As it stands, Air Canada, Air Transat and Sunwing are only offering travel credits to those who have had trips cancelled due to the novel coronavirus. While a monetary refund is not available, these credits can be used for future flights or vacations with the same airline. View this post on Instagram We’ve extended our change and cancellation policy for travellers in need. Now, flights booked before April 15 can be cancelled with no cancellation fee, for a full credit towards travel completed before April 30, 2021. . . Nous avons prolongé l’étendue de notre politique de modification et d’annulation pour les voyageurs dans le besoin. Désormais, les vols réservés avant le 15 avril peuvent être annulés sans frais contre un crédit intégral applicable à un voyage effectué avant le 30 avril 2021. A post shared by Air Canada (@aircanada) on Mar 31, 2020 at 9:11am PDT Since cancelling both domestic and international flights due to COVID-19, Canadian airlines have faced criticism from their customers for failing to commit to monetary refunds for those who had trips cancelled. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against WestJet, Air Canada, Swoop, Sunwing and Air Transat, for failing to offer cash refunds to passengers who’ve been forced to cancel their flights. Filing the proposed suit on behalf of Canadian travellers, a B.C. woman is calling for full refunds from all airlines, rather than just travel credits. Closed borders and diminishing demand for travel have had an unprecedented impact on the aviation industry. Last week, one WestJet pilot said the airline would be "devastated within weeks" if the Canadian Government failed to bail them out. More to come …
