Quebec Group Says Lawsuit Won’t Affect Travel Agents

Quebec’s Union des Consommateurs says that travel agents in the Canadian province are not affected by its proposal to launch a class-action lawsuit against Air Canada. The group alleges that the airline is failing to comply with new consumer laws effective July 1.

The new law states that the announced airfare now has to include all charges the consumer must pay in exchange for the good or service. However, the price cannot include the Quebec sales tax or GST. The announced price must clearly stand out from the breakdown of the total.

The suit in Quebec Superior Court filed by the Montreal law firm of Unterberg, Labelle and Lebeau on behalf of the Union des Consommateurs and Quebec resident Michael Silas claims that Air Canada has violated the new consumer protection law because it does not include all extra fees, such as fuel surcharges, in the price of a ticket advertised online, which it says is against the new consumer law.

Paul Unterberg of the law firm said if the suit is successful, anyone who bought a ticket online in Quebec would be eligible for a reward. The suit is asking Air Canada to pay the difference between the advertised price and the actual price to all people who have made purchases online from July 1 until the company’s pricing policy changes.

The law applies to all airlines advertising fares in Quebec.

A spokesperson for Air Canada stated that because the matter is before the courts, Air Canada is not in a position to comment.

Gary Ralph,  Director of Communications and Marketing for the Association of Canadian Travel Agents (ACTA) pointed out that class action suits often don’t proceed and can be very slow to get to court. “The suit would claim that Air Canada does not include all fees and charges in its advertisements. Without making any comment on the validity of the claim, ACTA does believe that advertised prices should be ‘all-in’ prices. We are aggressive advocates of full disclosure of all components of pricing of travel – as well as payment of commissions on all components without non-commissionable fees for travel agencies. Therefore, in principle, we think the new airfare disclosures law is something that will help both Canadian agents and Canadian consumers in and out of Quebec.