Flighthub terms on canceling flight with refund due to potential terror threat?

My girlfriend has purchased a ticket via Flighthub.ca in March.

The flight route is Toronto -> Istanbul -> Tirana.

Due to yesterday's terror attack on Istanbul's airport, Ataturk, my girlfriend doesn't feel safe to go to Tirana via Turkey anymore due to potential risk. The flight is scheduled for August.

I tried reading Flighthub's terms, but it doesn't mention anything regarding this issue. The underlying tickets purchased via Flighthub are from Turkish Airlines.

Is there a way to cancel this flight with a full refund or at least change the route without additional payment? This is a matter of security, so could this be considered?

EDIT

This is the purchase summary

Purchase Summary Airfare: $771.06 CAD Taxes & Fees: $503.14 CAD

If she completely cancels her flight, can she get those taxes back? How long does a tax refund take?

Best Answer

I had a somewhat similar experience, specifically with FlightHub, a couple of years ago. I bought a ticket on a small Russian airline from Russia to Israel, and that flight was later cancelled by the airline due to security concerns (rocket attacks from the Gaza strip). According to the airline website, they were issuing refunds. I expected a refund right away, but I was wrong.

FlightHub did absolutely nothing to issue the refund proactively. Whenever I called (often with over 30 minute wait times), they tried to call the airline with me on the line (more wait time), unsuccessfully every time. They seemed completely unwilling to do anything "offline" - they were only trying to deal with the issue when I was on the phone (despite promising to do so), forgetting about it as soon as I hung up. Out of all the callbacks promised to me, I was called back exactly zero times. I tried calling the airline myself, but the airline could only issue a refund at the request of FlightHub and not to me directly.

I finally decided I've had enough and filed a credit card chargeback, attaching all relevant information including a screenshot of the airline website (stating clearly that refunds would be issued for cancelled flights). This was quickly resolved in my favor.

Thus, when dealing with FlightHub refunds (assuming that you're actually entitled to a refund according to the airline rules), I would advise calling them a couple of times and giving them the chance to do the right thing, but if it doesn't help - don't waste your time and use the credit card route (or complain to industry associations, etc., if you didn't use a credit card).