Air Canada to pay over $800 to customer for chatbot giving wrong information

A customer will get hundreds of Canadian dollars from Air Canada in connection to its online chatbot’s “misrepresentation” of a fare discount policy, a civil resolution tribunal (CRT) decision said.

British Columbia’s CRT gave Air Canada an order to dole out a total of $812 CAD, including damages, prejudgment interest and fees, to customer Jake Moffatt in the decision released Feb. 14. The airline has up to two weeks to comply, according to the document.

The payment arose out of a legal dispute against Air Canada in which Moffatt claimed a chatbot on the airline’s website inaccurately stated he could retroactively seek “bereavement fares” for tickets he purchased in November 2022 in the wake of his grandmother’s death. 

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The two tickets he bought were for a Vancouver to Toronto flight and a Toronto to Vancouver flight, the decision said.

An Air Canada airplane is towed from a gate at Pearson International Airport on Feb. 6, 2024, in Toronto. (Gary Hershorn / Getty Images)

While the chatbot apparently told him he had 90 days after the fact to apply for reduced airfare, the bereavement policy as described on Air Canada’s webpage said it “does not allow refunds for travel that has already happened.”

An Air Canada plane parked at a gate at San Francisco International Airport on June 30, 2020. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

The customer “relied upon the chatbot to provide accurate information” and “would not have flown last-minute if they knew they would have to pay the full fare,” the CRT decision said.

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In the legal dispute with Moffatt, Air Canada tried to suggest it “cannot be held liable for information provided by one of its agents, servants, or representatives – including a chatbot,” according to the tribunal decision. It said the carrier also tried to make the case it housed accurate information about the bereavement travel policy elsewhere on its website and Moffatt could easily locate that.

Air Canada planes lined up at Toronto’s Pearson Airport. (Thomas Cheng/AFP via / Getty Images)

The tribunal member who authored the decision said Air Canada “owed Mr. Moffatt a duty of care” and “did not take reasonable care to ensure its chatbot was accurate.”

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Air Canada told FOX Business it was “in receipt of the ruling and will comply with it.” The company, headquartered in Montreal, carries tens of millions of passengers each year.

The CRT is an “independent, quasi-judicial tribunal” that operates online in the country’s legal system.