- Air Canada was forced to give a partial refund to a passenger who was misled by an airline chatbot inaccurately explaining the airline’s bereavement travel policy.
- The chatbot provided inaccurate information, encouraging the passenger to book a flight immediately and then request a refund within 90 days. However, Air Canada’s policy explicitly stated that the airline will not provide refunds for bereavement travel after the flight is booked.
- The passenger tried for months to convince Air Canada that a refund was owed, sharing a screenshot from the chatbot that clearly claimed: “If you need to travel immediately or have already travelled and would like to submit your ticket for a reduced bereavement rate, kindly do so within 90 days of the date your ticket was issued by completing our Ticket Refund Application form.”
- Air Canada argued that because the chatbot response elsewhere linked to a page with the actual bereavement travel policy, the passenger should have known bereavement rates could not be requested retroactively. Instead of a refund, the best Air Canada would do was to promise to update the chatbot and offer the passenger a $200 coupon to use on a future flight.
- Unhappy with this resolution, the passenger refused the coupon and filed a small claims complaint in Canada’s Civil Resolution Tribunal. According to Air Canada, the passenger never should have trusted the chatbot and the airline should not be liable for the chatbot’s misleading information because Air Canada essentially argued that “the chatbot is a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions.”
- Tribunal member Christopher Rivers, who decided the case in favor of the passenger, called Air Canada’s defense “remarkable.” He wrote: “Air Canada argues it cannot be held liable for information provided by one of its agents, servants, or representatives—including a chatbot. It does not explain why it believes that is the case or why the webpage titled ‘Bereavement travel’ was inherently more trustworthy than its chatbot.”
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