Lynx customers in N.L. struggle to secure refunds after budget airline tanks

Lynx Air customers like Amelia Del Rizzo are out hundreds of dollars after the budget airline collapsed last month. (Submitted by Amelia Del Rizzo)

Lynx Air customers in Newfoundland and Labrador are frustrated as their attempts to secure refunds for cancelled flights have been complicated by confusing directions from banks, credit card companies and the recently folded airline itself.

Budget airline Lynx abruptly ended operations on Feb. 26, notifying customers by email that it wouldn't be issuing refunds. The airline advised its customers to contact their credit card companies instead.

Frequent traveller Amelia Del Rizzo of St. John's was looking forward to her Lynx flight to Montreal in April, which she initially bought at an affordable price. Now she's paying significantly more than she'd planned for her short-haul trip — and she's also yet to receive a refund from TD Bank.

"The process has been absolutely brutal," said Del Rizzo, describing her five attempts to call the number on her TD Bank-issued credit card.

Each time, she says, she was left on hold for two to three hours without a response.

Del Rizzo's round trip with Lynx cost her around $250, and now she's paying $730 for new flights with Air Canada, including the cost of travel insurance.

Michelle Wheeler of St. John's also faced hurdles getting a refund from Scotiabank. She had a ticket booked to Toronto in July for a wedding.

"[Lynx] was the most affordable option," she said. Wheeler and her husband paid $850 for their round-trip flights with Lynx.

Michelle Wheeler and her family eventually got their money back for their cancelled Lynx flights. (Submitted by Michelle Wheeler)

After an hour on the phone, Scotiabank told her to contact Lynx first for a refund, leaving Wheeler stumped.

"Obviously [Lynx] wouldn't refund," she said. "It was stressful.… I was afraid I wouldn't get the money back."

Eventually, Wheeler received the family's airfare back from her bank, but to do so, she had to make three phone calls and email the bank with a copy of the reservation and proof that the flight had been cancelled.

Wheeler bought new tickets through WestJet, which offered a 25 per cent discount for Lynx passengers whose flights had been cancelled. With the discount, the family's new tickets cost nearly $1,100 in total.

Wheeler's brother-in-law, who is travelling to the same wedding, also booked his flight with Lynx. He says CIBC told him he can't file a dispute and begin the refund process until after the date of his trip.

CIBC spokesperson Josh Burleton, however, told CBC News that customers don't have to wait until the date of their flight to start a dispute.

No hope for compensation

Some customers who've been waiting for other forms of compensation haven't yet heard from Lynx.

Melanie Cole visited Toronto from St. John's with her mom last June. Their flight was delayed by more than three hours, she said, for a reason that was within the airline's control.

According to Canada's air passenger protection laws, Cole should have received $125 for the disruption, she said.

The airline initially told them they would receive their money in 30 days. However, Cole never received the compensation, despite contacting the airline every month since.

"I'm disappointed," she said. "I wish there would have been more transparency, instead of just sending [me] generic emails. I would have liked an actual human response."

Sky-high costs

Cole doesn't expect to receive the refund now that Lynx has folded.

Nor does she take the loss of one budget airline in Newfoundland and Labrador lightly.

"To get off this island is so extraordinarily expensive," said Cole. "It was a breath of fresh air to get a ticket under $200 to go to the mainland."

Del Rizzo is similarly disappointed.

"Lynx gave a really good option for Canadians who want to travel domestically and not pay an arm and a leg to do so," she said.

Budget airline Flair, a relatively new addition to the pool of airlines with routes to Newfoundland, continues to serve St. John's.

But Vincent Bodwell, an aviation business student at Mount Allison University and host of an aviation-themed radio show, says the nature of the industry may be dooming these airlines from the outset.

Vincent Bodwell, right, says budget airlines need frequent sold-out flights in order to keep the company afloat. (Submitted by Vincent Bodwell)

"The biggest problem with low-cost carriers, especially in Canada, is that their profit margins are razor-thin, and [Lynx] expanded very quickly," said Bodwell, who is from Newfoundland.

"The ultra-low-cost carrier model depends on frequent and full flights."

Newfoundland and Labrador, with its sparse population, presents an immediate hurdle for smaller companies trying to turn a profit here. It also raises the price of tickets on larger airlines, he said.

"We are an island, and there are not many other ways to get to the mainland, so [airlines] are able to charge more, simply because they're the only option," said Bodwell.

In its press release last month, Lynx explained it "faced a number of significant headwinds including rising operating costs, high fuel prices, exchange rates, increasing airport charges and a difficult economic and regulatory environment."

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