Air Canada tenue responsable des informations inexactes de son chatbot sur les tarifs de deuil

In November 2022, the complainant used Air Canada's website chatbot to ask about bereavement fare policies following the death of their grandmother (British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2024). The chatbot indicated they could book a regular-priced flight and request a retroactive bereavement discount within 90 days of the ticket issue date (British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2024). Relying on this information, the complainant booked a flight and later submitted a bereavement fare claim. Air Canada denied the claim, stating that its actual policy did not allow retroactive bereavement fare applications — the discount could not be applied after travel had already occurred (British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2024).

When the complainant challenged the denial, Air Canada argued that it could not be held liable for information provided by its agents or representatives, including a chatbot (CBC News, 2024). The tribunal characterized this position as, in effect, suggesting the chatbot was "a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions" — an argument the tribunal member called "remarkable" (British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2024; CBC News, 2024). The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal rejected this argument in its February 14, 2024 decision (Moffatt v. Air Canada), ruling that Air Canada is responsible for all information on its website, whether from a static page or a chatbot (British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2024). The tribunal found Air Canada liable for negligent misrepresentation and awarded the complainant $650.88 in damages, plus $36.14 in interest and $125 in tribunal fees, for a total of $812.02 (British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2024; CBC News, 2024).

The ruling held that Air Canada could not deploy a chatbot for customer service and then disclaim responsibility when the chatbot provided false information (McCarthy Tétrault, 2024). Air Canada did not provide evidence about the nature of its chatbot technology to the tribunal, and legal commentators noted the decision did not establish whether the system was AI-powered or rules-based (McCarthy Tétrault, 2024). The tribunal found Air Canada had a duty to ensure the accuracy of its chatbot's responses (British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal, 2024). The decision, while from a small claims-level tribunal whose rulings are not binding on other courts, received extensive commentary from legal scholars and practitioners — including analyses by firms such as McCarthy Tétrault and Dentons in 2024, and a UBC Law Review case comment in 2025 — as a notable early ruling on corporate liability for AI-generated customer communications (McCarthy Tétrault, 2024).