Class action: Air Canada, last in class to reimburse you for a missed flight

Air Canada stands out “again” for the wrong reasons, a Montreal lawyer tries to prove. Of the entire airline industry, it would be the carrier that gives the most trouble to customers who have missed their flight and who are entitled to a small refund.

“Where are these tens of millions of dollars?” asks M^e Joey Zukran, head of the LPC lawyers firm, whose roster already includes Dollarama, Tim Hortons, Bell, Uber and others.

Joey Zukran

MARTIN ALARE/JOURNAL DE MONTREA

Its request for authorization to bring a class action concerns the taxes that a carrier must reimburse to passengers qualified as no-showthose who miss their flight.

A no-showit’s what?

The passenger who goes to Abu Dhabi from Montreal via Frankfurt and misses his connection in Germany is not a no-show. The carrier will take care of him, he will go to the Emirates anyway.

A passenger who misses their departure flight in Montreal is a no-show if their ticket is non-refundable and non-modifiable.

If he paid for a changeable ticket, which is insurance, he will have called before missing his flight. This one is not a no-show.

The no-show passenger loses his ticket because the carrier flew an empty seat. This customer is entitled to the reimbursement of certain taxes if he requests it from the airline.

General rule on Earth, 3% to 6% of plane tickets end up in no-show. This is demonstrated by a study by the European Commission cited by LPC in its suit.

The maple leaf carrier sells $20 billion worth of tickets per year. At 3%, the assumption is $600 million paid in a vacuum.

11 different taxes

The chase tells the story of a no-show who paid US$291.31 for a Miami-Montreal round trip in April 2023. The price includes US$91.31 for 11 taxes and miscellaneous fees.

The US transportation tax of US$15 is not refundable, by law, but the US$25.95 airport improvement tax and the US$2.59 QST are.

In total, eight of the 11 taxes or US$62.21 are refundable. Taxes change depending on the country where the ticket goes, the United States in this case.

The sales contract as well as the “general conditions” of aircanada.ca indicate which taxes will be refunded if the customer requests them.

But good luck finding the form on the Air Canada website, pleads Mr. Zukran. The carrier will do everything possible to ensure that it cannot be found.

Air Canada “declares conclusively that the ticket is not refundable and hides in another document (to which the consumer is only referred)” that certain taxes are refundable in the event of a “no-show,” the lawsuit says.

Worse than anywhere

The passengers no-show from Transat, Westjet or Porter would not have this problem. They would be told from the start how to recover their dues.

“Air Canada customers have to guess that taxes are refundable,” says Joey Zukran.

The lawyer wonders why the company does not automatically reimburse the taxes involved. He also wants to know if “these millions of dollars kept in the coffers of Air Canada” are used to generate interest for shareholders.

The newspaper asked the carrier where this money is. The company avoids the question.

“We reimburse our customers what we are required to reimburse them, under applicable law and our general conditions of carriage,” a spokesperson said.

“Each case must be treated individually”, which would make it impossible to automatically refund applicable taxes in the event of no-show.

Air Canada will make its representations “in due course before the Court”. Customers to whom the carrier has not reimbursed applicable taxes following a no-show can consult the LPC lawyers website here.