Tribunal holds Air Canada liable for wrong fare advice from its chatbot

Timeline

• Before the decision. A customer asks the chatbot on Air Canada’s website about bereavement fares and books a flight based on its answer.
• Later. Air Canada declines the retroactive request, pointing to its bereavement policy page.
• 2024-02-14. The Civil Resolution Tribunal decides in the customer’s favor.

Trigger or entry point

A customer’s question to the chatbot about bereavement fares.

Failure mechanism

According to the summary of the decision, the chatbot suggested that the customer could apply for a bereavement fare retroactively. Another page of the same website said otherwise. The summary does not describe the chatbot’s technology. The tribunal treated the answer as a representation made by the airline. It noted that Air Canada did not explain why its “Bereavement travel” page should be more trustworthy than its chatbot, or why customers should have to check one part of the website against another.

Impact

The customer paid the full fare and was refused the discount. The tribunal awarded him the difference between the fare he paid and the bereavement fare. The tribunal found that the customer was reasonable to rely on the chatbot, and that he would not have booked a last-minute flight had he known he would pay the full fare.

Response

Air Canada argued that it could not be held liable for information provided by its chatbot. The tribunal rejected this, stating that the chatbot is part of the airline’s website and that the airline is responsible for all information on it. The tribunal found that Air Canada did not take reasonable care to ensure its chatbot was accurate.

Mitigations

Not stated by the source.