Air Canada and Montreal-based Hopper have partnered to offer passengers the option to add Cancel for Any Reason protection on flights. By paying for this service, passengers can receive up to a 100% refund of a non-refundable fare, if canceled up to 24 hours before the flight’s scheduled departure.
While this option has appeared on the Canadian version of the Air Canada website since earlier this year, today’s announcement makes the partnership official.
Air Canada and Hopper Partner to Offer Cancel for Any Reason
Air Canada and Hopper have officially announced a partnership, through which passengers can add Cancel for Any Reason protection to a non-refundable flight booking for a fee.
For Air Canada flights, Cancel for Any Reason is only available on the Canadian version of the website or app, and only on a certain subset of non-refundable fares, including:
- Economy (Standard)
- Economy (Flex)
- Premium Economy (Lowest)
- Business Class (Lowest)
Cancel for Any Reason is not available on Economy (Basic) fares, nor is it applicable to Aeroplan bookings.
Refundable fares, including Economy (Comfort), Economy (Latitude), Premium Economy (Flexible), and Business Class (Flexible) are also excluded, since they’re already refundable.
During the process of booking an Air Canada flight, the option to add Cancel for Any Reason protection appears after selecting a fare. There’s a cheaper option, which will give you 80% of your fare back, or a more expensive option, which will refund the entire cost of your flight.
If you opt for Cancel for Any Reason protection, you must purchase it for all passengers on the same booking. It may only be added at the time of booking, and may not be added after the fact.
The Cancel for Any Reason fee is non-refundable, except if you cancel the flight within 24 hours of booking. If Air Canada cancels any flights on your itinerary, the fee is still non-refundable, as per the terms and conditions.
By choosing to exercise Cancel for Any Reason on any flight in a booking, all flights on the booking will be cancelled.
Should you wish to make a voluntary change to your booking that changes the departure date, Cancel for Any Reason protection will still apply; however, it will expire either at the original cancellation deadline (24 hours prior to the scheduled departure time of your original flight), or 24 hours prior to the newly scheduled departure time for the first flight on your itinerary, whichever comes first.
In other words, if you change your flight to a later date, you’ll still need to cancel prior to 24 hours before the original flight’s departure time, otherwise you’ll lose the protection.
Furthermore, you’re only covered for the original amount of your ticket, and not for any additional charges you may have incurred.
Cancel for Any Reason is not insurance coverage. Rather, it’s an opt-in service that allows you to choose to cancel your booking for any reason up to 24 hours prior to departure, and receive up to a 100% refund.
How Does Cancel for Any Reason Work?
During the process of making a booking with Air Canada, you may see an option to add Cancel for Any Reason coverage after you’ve selected a fare from the search results. It’s worth noting that Cancel for Any Reason may not be available on all flights.
You can choose to have either 80% or 100% of the flight cost covered, with the latter costing a bit more. You can also choose to not add this optional protection to your booking.
If you choose Cancel for Any Reason, the cost is then added to your booking, and displayed further down the page.
If you’ve added the coverage and need to cancel your flight, you must do so in the “My Bookings” section of the Air Canada website at least 24 hours prior to the departure time of your original flight.You don’t need to provide any reason for cancellation, and your refund should occur within 10 business days.
It’s worth noting that neither Air Canada nor Hopper process the refund for Cancel for Any Reason bookings. Rather, it’s done separately through PayPal’s Hyperwallet payment services.
Therefore, you’ll need to adhere to all of Hyperwallet’s requirements to receive your refund.
Is Cancel for Any Reason a Good Deal?
Whenever you’re shopping for fares, it’s important to consider what kind of flexibility you need if your travel plans change.
One option is to pay for a refundable fare to begin with, which is more expensive than non-refundable fares.
For example, a flight from Vancouver to Montreal has the following breakdown of fares:
- Economy (Standard): $424 (CAD)
- Economy (Flex): $503 (CAD)
- Economy (Comfort): $592 (CAD)
Adding Cancel for Any Reason protection to either the Economy (Standard) or Economy (Flex) fare would incur the following costs:
- Economy (Standard): $51 (CAD) for an 80% refund
- Economy (Standard): $72 (CAD) for a 100% refund
- Economy (Flex): $60 (CAD) for an 80% refund
- Economy (Flex): $86 (CAD) for a 100% refund
In the above example, you’d wind up coming out ahead using Cancel for Any Reason on the Economy (Standard) booking, versus paying for a refundable Economy (Comfort) fare to begin with.
However, it’s worth paying extra for the Economy (Comfort) fare if you’d purchase an Economy (Flex) fare, since the price difference between the upgrade to Economy (Comfort) and Cancel for Any Reason protection is negligible.
You’ll also want to consider the different inclusions that come with each fare level, including seat selection fees, change fees, and the accumulation of Aeroplan points and Status Qualifying Miles.
In other words, you’ll need to weigh out the price difference between paying for a refundable fare and Cancel for Any Reason protection, since there are so many factors to consider.
However, if your plans might change but you don’t want to splurge on a refundable fare, it’s good to have Cancel for Any Reason as an option.
Conclusion
Air Canada and Hopper have officially announced a partnership to offer Cancel for Any Reason protection for Air Canada bookings. By opting for this paid add-on service, passengers can receive up to a 100% refund if they need to cancel their flight for any reason up to 24 hours prior to departure.
Cancel for Any Reason appears as an option during the booking process on the Canadian version of the Air Canada website and app, and can’t be added once a booking is already complete.
You should also compare the price difference for refundable Air Canada fares to begin with, since higher fares also come with additional features that may be important and valuable to you.
