March 11 Update: Summary of all major Canadian airline flight change waivers – Air Canada & WestJet extend offers to existing bookings

Rewards Canada Team Uncategorized

With Italy being effectively shut down, Air Canada has cancelled all their flights to/from Italy
until April 30. The last flight from Rome to Montreal is operating
today. WestJet has made no mention yet of what is planned for their new
Calgary to Rome route that is slated to launch on May 2. There also
hasn’t been official word on what’s happening with Air Transat’s Italy
flights however they have instituted change policies for travel that was
booked until June 30. And that brings us to more travel updates. This
time we cover the major Canadian airlines and give shouts out to Air Canada and WestJet for expanding their policies for existing bookings for travel in March and April while we find it (not) surprising that Flair Airlines has been totally silent on the matter…..

AIR CANADA

Air Canada has extended a better waiver policy now – this one is good
for those who booked prior to the current ‘book now for travel and we’ll
waive the change fee if you change your plans’ offer that most airlines
have been offering. Here are the details if you have booked travel
prior to March 4 and want to push it back to later this year:

For tickets purchased before March 4, 2020 with an original
travel date on or before April 30, 2020, a one-time change fee waiver
will apply for travel completed before December 31, 2020, provided changes are made at least 24 hours before your departing flight. Kindly note that any fare difference will apply.

 This new waiver came into effect today and you can read more about it here.

And the ‘if you want to book now and then change’ waiver has been
further updated today allowing you to change your flights up to 24 hours
prior to departure:

A one-time change fee waiver will apply to tickets purchased between March 4 and March 31, 2020 provided all travel is completed before December 31, 2020, provided
changes are made at least 24 hours before your departing flight.
Kindly note that any fare difference will apply and any residual value
resulting from a lower fare will be lost. 

Read about the new booking policy here

AIR NORTH

Here is AIR NORTH’s policy that was last updated on March 10. They are only waiving fees on new bookings at this time.

Given the concerns around the novel COVID-19, Air North, Yukon’s
Airline is allowing passengers to shift their travel plans without
incurring a change fee. This goodwill policy will provide a one-time
waive of change fees for travel on all routes, for bookings made between
10 March and 5 April 2020, for travel between 20 March and 15 December
2020. Modifications to itineraries must be made at least 10 days
before scheduled travel date. 

Find out more here.

AIR TRANSAT

At this time Transat is only allowing waivers on new flights booked
between March 4 and 31. No word yet if they will provide some sort of
waiver on existing travel booked prior to March 4.

Book a flight to any destination or a South package between March 4
and 31, and if your travel plans change, no worries, we will waive the
change fees. | You can change your travel dates, hotel or
destination—or all three!—at no charge up to 24 hours before departure.|
You can reschedule your travel for any time within 12 months of
your original travel dates.

Find out more here

Although they now have the following for Italy:

Following this notice, Air Transat has decided to implement a
flexibility policy for its flights to Italy, based on the following
parameters:

  • All customers who have booked a flight to Venice on or before March 2, 2020 for travel between now and June 30, 2020
    are entitled to change their reservation date or destination without
    penalty for travel between now and October 31, 2020. Customers will,
    however, have to pay any difference in price.
  • All customers who have booked a flight to Rome or Lamezia on or before March 9, 2020 for travel between now and June 30, 2020
    are entitled to change their reservation date or destination without
    penalty for travel between now and October 31, 2020. Customers will,
    however, have to pay any difference in price.

    Cancellation requests are subject to the terms and conditions.

Find out more here

CANADIAN NORTH

Has only enacted a change fee waiver
for travellers connecting to/from other airlines to/from International destinations

In order to ensure that our customers are able to book and travel
with confidence, Canadian North will temporarily waive change fees upon
request, for customers travelling to or from international
destinations via connections with other airlines. We will also permit
cancellation of the same reservations upon request for customers
traveling internationally, with the refund to be issued as a travel
credit voucher that will be valid for one year from the date of issue.

This is valid for travel on Canadian North until March 31. Find out more here.

FLAIR AIRLINES

To the best of our knowledge Flair hasn’t stated anything about waivers.

PORTER AIRLINES

At this time Porter
is only allowing waivers on new flights booked between March 6 and 31.
No word yet if they will provide some sort of waiver on existing travel
booked prior to March 6.

Buy a ticket between March 6 and March 31, 2020 | Change your
flight once without a change fee | Change your flight at least 14
days before departure | Travel on your new flight

Find out more here.

SUNWING

At this time Sunwing
is only allowing waivers on new bookings made between March 4 and 19.
No word yet if they will provide some sort of waiver on existing travel
booked prior to March 4.

For new bookings made between March 4th and March 19th, 2020
Sunwing will waive any administration fees associated with the first
change. This applies to all new bookings with a departure date from
now up to and including June 24th, 2020. Any change must be
requested at least 14 days prior to travel or normal conditions will
apply.

Find out more here.

WESTJET

WestJet has followed Air Canada’s lead and not only do they have their
new bookings waiver policy in place they are now providing no fee
changes for March and April flights that were booked prior to March 3. Find out more here.

New Flight policy:

  • All new flight bookings made between March 3, 2020 and March 31, 2020 will be allowed a one-time change fee waiver.
  • The one-time change fee waiver is available for any itinerary change made more than 24 hours from departure.

    To change or cancel a flight booked between the dates above,
    please contact us. If you booked through a travel agent, please contact
    them directly.

Existing Flight policy:

For flights booked before March 3, 2020 for travel in March or April 2020:

  • $0 one-time fee waiver for changes or cancellations
  • Change or cancellation must be requested at least 24 hours prior to departure
  • Value of cancelled flights will be returned as a credit to your Travel Bank
  • If you change your flight, the difference in fare applies

 Title image via Air Canada

Posts since our last update:

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