Jake Moffatt was booking a flight to Toronto and asked the bot about the airline’s bereavement rates – reduced fares provided in the event someone needs to travel due to the death of an immediate family member.
Moffatt said he was told that these fares could be claimed retroactively by completing a refund application within 90 days of the date the ticket was issued, and submitted a screenshot of his conversation with the bot as evidence supporting this claim.
The airline refused the refund because it said its policy was that bereavement fare could not, in fact, be claimed retroactively.
Air Canada argued that it could not be held liable for information provided by the bot.
You know what, you’re completely right. Thanks for pointing that out, my brain just auto-completed that detail because of how prevalent “AI” is in the news these days.
Honestly though, if it’s a more traditional chatbot that they had to program themselves, it’s all the more embarrassing for Air Canada that they were trying to weasel themselves out of this.