Air Canada will compensate a customer from BC over bereavement fares after the Civil Resolution Tribunal ruled in his favour.
The decision came on February 14, over a year after Jake Moffatt encountered a problem with the airline’s chatbot, leading to a refund-based dispute.
Following the passing of his grandmother on November 11, 2022, Moffat was looking up flights from Vancouver to Ontario, along with bereavement fare options on Air Canada’s website, when the airline’s chatbot suggested he could apply for bereavement fares retroactively.
According to a screenshot of the conversation, here’s what the chatbot said:
Air Canada offers reduced bereavement fares if you need to travel because of an imminent death or a death in your immediate family.
If you need to travel immediately or have already travelled and would like to submit your ticket for a reduced bereavement rate, kindly do so within 90 days of the date your ticket was issued by completing our Ticket Refund Application form. (emphasis in original)
Based on this info, Moffatt booked a one-way trip to Toronto for $794.98 and another one-way flight back to Vancouver for $845.38 about a week later.
After all the travel, he discovered through Air Canada employees that retroactive applications were not permitted.
Moffatt filed a case in small claims court, asking for a partial refund on his ticket. There was a difference of $880 between the regular and bereavement fare for his flight.
The airline told the Tribunal that Moffatt didn’t follow the proper procedure to request bereavement fares. The airline didn’t allow him to make a retroactive claim, adding that it “cannot be held liable for the information provided by the chatbot” and urging small claims to dismiss the flyer’s claim.
In its decision statement, the Tribunal noted that Moffatt talked to an Air Canada representative on the phone about bereavement rates and was told that the discount for each flight would be around $380. However, there’s “no evidence” that the Air Canada worker told Moffatt bereavement fare discounts could apply retroactively.
Despite submitting a bereavement fare application on November 17 — within the 90 days the chatbot told him about — Moffatt was unsuccessful. He kept corresponding with Air Canada about the partial refund throughout December 2022 and February 2023, as emails between the two parties showed.
The flyer only filed a formal dispute after an Air Canada worker told him on February 8 last year that the chatbot had provided “misleading words.”
The Tribunal noted that in the correspondence with Moffatt, Air Canada said it would update the chatbot.
The airline told the Tribunal it “cannot be held liable for information provided by one of its agents, servants, or representatives – including a chatbot.”
“Air Canada does not explain why it believes that is the case. In effect, Air Canada suggests the chatbot is a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions. This is a remarkable submission,” reads the decision document.
“While a chatbot has an interactive component, it is still just a part of Air Canada’s website. It should be obvious to Air Canada that it is responsible for all the information on its website. It makes no difference whether the information comes from a static page or a chatbot,” it states further.
While Air Canada denied “each and every” allegation Moffatt made, it didn’t submit counter-evidence about what the bereavement fare would’ve been.
The carrier says it gave Moffatt a $200 coupon as a “gesture of goodwill,” but Moffatt maintains that he didn’t accept the offer.
The Tribunal ruled that the airline must pay Moffatt $650.88 in damages, $125 in Civil Resolution Tribunal fees, and $36.14 in pre-judgment interest under the Court Order Interest Act within 14 days of the judgment.
Daily Hive contacted Air Canada for comment and clarification on why it did not present the counter-evidence.
“We are in receipt of the ruling and will comply with it. We consider this matter closed and, therefore, have no additional information for you,” a spokesperson told us over email.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
