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Air Canada is now offering Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) insurance via Hopper for an additional fee to travelers booking select flights on the airline's Canadian site. Here are the details:
- CFAR insurance will be offered for purchase at the time of booking, for select Air Canada flights booked on the airline's Canadian site
- When offered, CFAR will be an add-on option to Standard, Flex, Premium Economy Lowest and Business Class Lowest fares (since Comfort, Latitude, and Premium Economy and Business Class Refundable fares are already refundable)
- Passengers can choose an 80% refund or 100% refund, at two difference price points
- Passengers may initiate a refund for any reason until 24 hours before the first flight's scheduled departure
- Air Canada Hopper CFAR terms and conditions apply
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Analysis
In general we're in favor of more consumer options, and we certainly recommend travel insurance to protect your travel investments and to cover potential medical expenses and emergency medical evacuation. That said, on three sample itineraries we attempted to book, Vancouver to Honolulu, Vancouver to Montreal, and Toronto to New York JFK, Hopper CFAR insurance wasn't offered on any of the flights, which makes this of limited utility.
Air Canada also has a poor reputation for customer refunds, and Hopper's customer care reputation is even worse (see Hopper's BBB complaints). The Hopper CFAR coverage may be a decent bet for Canadian residents who can get a refund back to their Canadian bank account, but for U.S. and other non-Canadian travelers, only being able to get a refund via PayPal's Hyperwallet (potentially incurring worse currency conversion rates than a refund back to one's credit card) isn't great. To be fair, the Hopper offering is on the Air Canada Canadian site, so most non-Canadian travelers won't see this offering.
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