Update on Air Canada Refunds for UBC

The onset of COVID-19 in 2020 changed travel plans for many members of the UBC community, and users have had a variety of guidelines and policies to navigate in order to gather credits or refunds.

Earlier this year Air Canada revised their COVID-19 refund policy, and announced that eligible customers who purchased a non-refundable ticket for travel on or after February 1, 2020, but who did not fly, can obtain a refund from the carrier by submitting a request online or with their travel agent. The revised policy covers tickets and vacation packages purchased between February 1, 2020, and April 13, 2021 for flights cancelled by the airline or the customer for any reason.

As UBC is a corporate account holder with Air Canada, the university is centralizing this refund for members of our community who booked through the UBC Travel Program.

What do I need to do?

Users who booked through UBC’s Travel Program

If you or your department booked flights or travel packages with Air Canada through UBC’s SAP-Concur portal and/or our travel agents Direct/Vision Travel, you do not need to take any action.

UBC is coordinating a request this month with Air Canada for a consolidated refund on all AC tickets booked with the UBC corporate travel program, regardless of the method of payment.

This process eliminates the need for each traveller to reconcile their individual refund and fees in Workday, and also reduces the potential of lost credits due to the use of personal credit cards, Air Canada credits, etc.

Users who booked outside of UBC’s Travel Program

If you or your department booked Air Canada flights or travel directly (i.e. outside of UBC’s SAP-Concur portal and/or our travel agents Direct/Vision Travel), please note that the refund must be requested by the traveller through the original vendor where the ticket was booked and paid for, regardless of the method of payment (including UBC American Express cards). Air Canada has set a deadline for refund submissions of July 12, 2021, at 11:59PM EDT.

For all other airlines booked outside of the UBC Travel Program please contact the original vendor with whom the ticket was purchased for updates on potential refunds and/or credit status.

It is important to note that for bookings made outside of the UBC Travel program that have been deemed eligible for refund by any airline (including Air Canada), the ticket value will be returned to the original form of payment. If the traveler used a personal credit card and the ticket was already reimbursed by UBC, the refund must be repaid by the traveller to their department. If the method of payment was a UBC American Express card, the refund will be automatically returned to a central UBC AMEX account and the Financial Operations team will reconcile the refund back to faculties and units as necessary.

If you have any questions, please contact UBC’s Travel Program Manager Judith Fograscher at judith.fograscher@ubc.ca.