Failure: Air Canada held liable after its website chatbot gave wrong bereavement-fare advice
Air Canada · British Columbia (tribunal) · Airlines & Travel · Roles: Customer Support, Legal & Compliance
Failure / lessonCustomer SupportLegal/ComplianceFailure
What was done
A customer asked Air Canada's website chatbot about bereavement fares. It said he could apply for the discount after travel, but Air Canada's actual policy did not allow that.
Outcome
BC's Civil Resolution Tribunal rejected Air Canada's argument that the chatbot was responsible for its own actions and ordered the airline to pay $812.02. The lesson for Canadian businesses is that you own what your bot says.
Evidence: Tribunal decision / news. Figures are as reported by the source and have not been independently audited by AgentsNorth.
Agents & tools used
Prompt Reconstructed by AgentsNorth
The source didn't publish its prompt. This is our reconstruction of a starting prompt for a similar workflow, not the company's actual prompt.
Before publishing a customer-facing bot, test it with this prompt: 'List every policy statement you might make about refunds, discounts or eligibility, and cite the exact policy page for each. Mark any statement you cannot cite.' Remove or fix uncited answers.
Source
CBC News · published 2024-02-15 · link checked 2026-10-15