Achi news desk-
A Montreal lawyer is asking the court for permission to launch a class action against Air Canada for non-refundable ticket fees.
The lawsuit is on behalf of a passenger who did not show up for a flight between Miami and Montreal on April 28, 2023. The airline told the man that because he bought a basic economy ticket, he would not be refunded.
“It’s wrong, it’s misleading, it’s a lie because by law, they absolutely have to give you back some of those taxes that were collected,” the plaintiff’s attorney, Joey Tzukran, said in an interview with CTV News on Tuesday.
Zukran claims that the taxes and some other commissions must be returned to the buyer. About 3 to 6 percent of tickets sold are so-called no-shows, according to Zukran, who estimates the lawsuit could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Instead of returning them to the consumer who will hand them over to the authorities, which was the purpose of collecting them in the first place, what Air Canada is doing is keeping them in the cash register. So we’re talking about millions, maybe tens of millions [of dollars]And maybe more over the years,” he said.
The attorney said his client was billed $91.31 in taxes and fees that were eligible for a refund.
“Air Canada collects parts of the taxes,” he said, such as the 9/11 security fee (SSF) and the Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) user fee, “and don’t turn them over to the authorities when the passenger is found a no-show.”
The proposed class action alleges that Canada’s flag carrier is “misleadingly and illegally stating” that passenger tickets are non-refundable when, in fact, “some of these tickets are refundable in accordance with Air Canada policy.”
The legal challenge, filed last December by the LPC Avocats law firm in Montreal, is open to anyone who bought a basic or standard Air Canada Economy ticket on an international flight, who did not arrive on the flight and did not receive a refund of taxes, fees, and other charges not collected by the authorities. She requests punitive damages to be determined by the court.
A judge has not yet approved the class action to allow it to proceed.
According to a court filing, Air Canada challenged the court’s jurisdiction over the case because the plaintiff does not live in Quebec.
“This is an unusual situation in which the court has to exercise its discretion to decline jurisdiction over a request for approval to file a class action by a person who not only does not live in Quebec, but does not live in Canada,” the court document. countries.
