Mission Accomplished

As you have probably heard, the government announced on November 8th that airlines will be obligated to provide refunds for flights cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being considered for any form of taxpayer bailout.

So congratulations to you, and to all of the other 16,615 individuals who took the time to sign and support this petition. It has been a long road, but finally the government has listened and responded to our voices. The petition was initiated on March 28th and formally presented to parliament on May 12th. While several other groups also played a significant role in lobbying the government, it is worth noting that our petition was the first to be formally tabled in parliament and responded to by the government - and the only one to specifically demand that refunds be provided before bailouts.

It is still not clear exactly how this will work out - and especially whether refunds will be provided for flight cancellations initiated by the passenger in addition to those cancelled by the airline - so do keep tuned for further updates in the media. And do not expect the airlines to just process the refunds automatically or quickly. More likely some will still try to wriggle out of it by persuading passengers to accept vouchers, or to delay providing refunds as long as possible.

Thank you again for your support on this important issue.

Bob