Refunds due to COVID-19

Swoop is providing refunds to original form of payment to eligible travellers with transborder and international flight bookings that were cancelled by Swoop, and domestic flights that were cancelled without an alternate flight option.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic travel within Canada has not been restricted and, in the cases where Swoop cancelled a domestic flight, we have often been able to offer another option.

This means that if your flight was cancelled by Swoop, and we offered you another option, your flight is not eligible to receive a refund. With that said, we understand that travel may not be possible in these extenuating circumstances and have accordingly offered travellers a credit, valid for 24 months from the date of cancellation.

If Swoop cancelled your flight, and there was no other option available to you, we will offer you a refund. If you have a credit for the flight that was cancelled, and it has not been used, that credit will be reversed into a refund. 

It’s not quite as simple as ‘just a click of a button’. We’ve worked hard to streamline the refund process, but each refund requires manual review and processing by one of our agents.

Some of the criteria that need to be validated before processing are: 

1. Was the flight transborder, international or domestic?

2. Was the flight cancelled by Swoop, or was the cancellation initiated by the traveller?

3. Were alternative flight options offered by Swoop?

4. Has a credit already been issued, used or partially used?   

You may have heard us call the team ‘small but mighty’ and it’s never been truer. Our airline, like many others has undergone significant workforce reductions. To maintain a viable business, and keep our fleet in the air, we had to regrettably say goodbye to more than 50% of our team. Although not ideal, many industries and businesses have had to undertake similar workforce reductions. Today, our traveller support team works around the clock to ensure we continue to deliver on the travel obligations we have to millions of Canadians. We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through the backlog of eligible refunds as quickly as we can.

The earliest cancellations were transborder and international flights cancelled at the onset of the pandemic in March and April 2020 – which also accounts for the highest number of eligible refunds. Once that backlog is complete, we will immediately transition to providing refunds for eligible domestic flights that were cancelled without another flight option available. We will again be working in chronological order and ask travellers to wait to be contacted.

Travellers with eligible bookings will be contacted by email to verify their details before we can process the refund. Once you complete the requested information, you will be placed in the processing queue and receive regular updates.

Refunds to original form of payment must follow a specific workflow for validating and processing. It is important that travellers wait to be contacted directly by email. Unfortunately, our traveller support agents are unable to initiate or process refunds over social media. We sincerely appreciate your patience.

Travellers who booked through a third-party will be contacted using the on-file email associated with the account. If you booked a Swoop Getaway package that includes an eligible flight, you will be contacted by email. For information on hotel cancellations please contact Expedia directly.

If your flight was cancelled by Swoop and is eligible for a refund, you will receive the full value of your flight, including the base fare, taxes and any extras (like baggage and seat fees).

If your flight was cancelled by Swoop, but there was another flight option, your travel credit will include the full value of your flight, any taxes, and any extras you added. The credit is valid for 24 months from the date of cancellation.

If your flight was cancelled by Swoop, and there were no other flight options available, your flight was given a credit to your account. If you have not used your credit, we will still offer you a refund when you are contacted by email.

If you were given a credit for a flight that was cancelled by Swoop, and there was another flight option available to you, we are unable to reverse your credit into a refund.