Air Canada website chatbot wrongly told a bereaved passenger a fare reduction could be claimed after travel; BC tribunal ordered the airline to pay damages

The exchange. The tribunal records that on 11 November 2022, the day a grandparent died in Ontario, the passenger visited Air Canada's website to book a flight from Vancouver to Toronto at bereavement rates and interacted with a support chatbot. A screenshot of the chatbot's response in evidence says: "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." The airline's bereavement webpage said the policy did not apply to requests made after travel was completed.

Reliance and loss. Relying on that information, the passenger booked a one-way flight to Toronto for $794.98 on 11 November and a return for $845.38 on 16 November, applied for the reduced fare on 17 November and corresponded with the airline through February 2023. On 8 February 2023 an Air Canada representative admitted that the chatbot had provided misleading words and said the airline had noted the issue so it could update the chatbot.

The decision. The tribunal found negligent misrepresentation. It called the airline's suggestion that the chatbot was a separate legal entity responsible for its own actions "a remarkable submission", found that Air Canada "did not take reasonable care to ensure its chatbot was accurate", accepted that the passenger reasonably relied on the chatbot and would not have flown last-minute at full fare, and ordered the airline to pay $812.02.

Limits. The airline gave the tribunal no information about the nature of its chatbot; the decision describes it only as an automated system answering a user's prompts. Ars Technica reports that Air Canada's chief information officer told the Globe and Mail in March 2023 that the airline had launched the chatbot as an AI experiment; that interview was not inspected. CBC and the Guardian reports relay the decision and add no independent evidence.

The tribunal found that the passenger relied on the Air Canada chatbot's inaccurate answer about bereavement fares, paid $1,630.36 in full fares, and was owed $650.88 in damages, which with interest and fees the airline was ordered to pay.

The Civil Resolution Tribunal (2024 BCCRT 149, 14 February 2024) ordered Air Canada to pay $812.02 within 14 days: $650.88 in damages, $36.14 in pre-judgment interest and $125 in tribunal fees. The airline had earlier offered a $200 coupon, which the passenger says was not accepted.