While booking an Aeroplan ticket last night, I noticed a green banner on the top of the Air Canada website warning of an approaching refund deadline. If your flight was cancelled due to the pandemic, you must request a refund by Monday, July 12, 2021 or face being stuck with a voucher rather than refund to your original form of payment.
Air Canada Refund Deadline Is July 12, 2021 For Pandemic Tickets
Air Canada is requiring passengers whose flight was canceled between February 1, 2020 and April 13, 2021 to make their refund request before July 12, 2021 at 11:59PM EDT or forfeit the opportunity for a refund to original form of payment.
If your flight was cancelled before April 13, 2021, please make sure to request your refund before July 12, 2021 at 11:59PM EDT, in order for your refund to be processed to the original form of payment. After this date, you can request your remaining ticket value to be transferred to an Air Canada Travel Voucher or converted to Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus.
Note that this refund opportunity was a condition of bailout by the Canadian government and applies to all tickets booked during that period, whether Air Canada cancelled the flight or your voluntarily cancelled the itinerary.
If you canceled your trip for any reason during this period, you can receive a full refund, as long as you request it by July 12th.
If your flight was canceled by Air Canada on April 13, 2021 or later, you can continue to request a refund beyond the July 12th deadline. Do note that tickets booked on or after April 13, 2021 and voluntarily cancelled are only eligible for refund according to the fare rules, meaning most tickets will remain flexible, but non-refundable.
I find it absolutely amazing (and somewhat pathetic) that Air Canada dragged its feet for months (indeed, over a year) on issuing refunds to passengers whose travel plans were interrupted and now Air Canada is placing a short-term deadline on refund requests. I think Air Canada should proactively issue refunds…
Nevertheless, do note you have less than a week left if you have not yet requested your refund.
CONCLUSION
Air Canada is issuing refunds on all cancelled tickets between February 1, 2020 and April 13, 2021, but you have to request it. If this applies to you, be sure to put in your request ahead of the deadline next Monday.
I applied for a refund around the start of the period and received said refund within 2 weeks of my application.