Here’s an interesting story of an airline being held responsible for misinformation that it provided to a customer.
Chatbot provides inaccurate Air Canada bereavement fare info
A Canadian man recently sued Air Canada, after the airline provided him with incorrect information, and then refused to make him whole. Long story short, a Vancouver man lost his grandmother, and then immediately went to Air Canada’s website to book a ticket to Toronto for the funeral.
It’s common for airlines to offer discounted bereavement fares, for those suffering from a recent loss. While using Air Canada’s website, the man encountered a support chatbot, so he asked about bereavement fares. The chatbot stated the following:
“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.”
Based on that assurance, he booked a ticket. Then after the trip, he reached out to Air Canada to get a partial refund reflecting the bereavement fare, though the airline claimed that it doesn’t apply bereavement rates to completed travel. In Air Canada’s defense, another part of the website states this, but that doesn’t excuse the chatbot providing incorrect information.
As the traveler explains:
“An Air Canada representative responded and admitted the chatbot had provided ‘misleading words.’ The representative pointed out the chatbot’s link to the bereavement travel webpage and said Air Canada had noted the issue so it could update the chatbot.”
Traveler wins lawsuit against Air Canada
Since Air Canada refused to honor what the chatbot stated, the man decided to take the airline to court. Air Canada’s defense was to distance itself from the chatbot’s bad advice, by claiming that the tool was “a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions.” Air Canada further argued that it can’t be held liable for information provided by one its “agents, servants, or representatives, including a chatbot.”
The judge found that Air Canada didn’t take reasonable care to ensure its chatbot was accurate, and ruled in favor of the passenger, with some pretty strong words:
“This is a remarkable submission. While a chatbot has an interactive component, it is still just a part of Air Canada’s website. It should be obvious to Air Canada that it is responsible for all the information on its website. It makes no difference whether the information comes from a static page or a chatbot.”
The judge awarded the traveler 812 CAD, the difference between the fare he paid and the standard bereavement fare. This seems like a common sense ruling, and I’m happy to see that the judge sided with the traveler.
A few thoughts:
- It’s sad how inflexible airline customer relations generally is, and how little frontline employees are empowered to make a situation right; have some compassion here, a person lost a family member, and is just trying to get what the airline promised
- It’s pretty gutsy to argue “oh, you can’t rely on our chatbot because it’s a third party” when it’s on your own website and you promote it as a feature
- It’s interesting how the airline not only claims it’s not liable because the chatbot is run by a third party, but also claims that it can’t be held liable for information provided by humans
- As anyone who has dealt with airlines extensively knows, there’s a lot of misinformation from frontline agents, and that can lead to a lot of frustration; so whether it’s a phone representative or a gate agent, it’s annoying when misinformation leads to problems with a ticket, but then the airline claims they’re not liable
- Unfortunately I don’t even think this issue is exclusive to Air Canada, but I’d be willing to bet that a vast majority of airlines would have handled this situation similarly
Bottom line
A Canadian traveler sued Air Canada and won, after the carrier’s chatbot gave incorrect information, leading the traveler to lose hundreds of dollars.
Air Canada claimed it wasn’t liable for the information provided by the chatbot, though that’s a rather absurd argument to make, when clearly the airline just didn’t take reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of information provided.
What’s your take on this Air Canada lawsuit?
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