Air Canada addresses Fort McMurray price-gouging claim
Digital Reporter
Monday, May 9, 2016, 5:19 PM - Air Canada faced intense criticism last week after passengers were charged a premium to fly out of Fort McMurray during intense wildfires.
The company has addressed the situation via a statement on its website, arguing the increased fees were not intentional. Rather, they were the result of the airline's electronic fare system.
"Contrary to allegations in social media, fares were not raised in response to this devastating situation," Air Canada says.
"In some cases, customers booking last minute on May 3 and 4 on flights from Fort McMurray and Edmonton have paid premium fares. This was a result of Air Canada’s computerized revenue management system, which automatically manages fares. Regrettably, we were unable to intervene in advance to manually adjust fares and in those instances we’re contacting customers who paid a premium to adjust the fare to the normally available, lowest advance fare and refund the difference."
FORT MCMURRAY FIRE COVERAGE: Follow our extensive updates on the situation in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Everything you need to know about the fires, here
Air Canada says steps are being taken to manually manage aircanada.com's fares.
The company's Facebook page has been flooded with angry messages from users who had accused the airliner of price gouging, with some calling for an outright boycott.
In an interview with CTVNews, Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick says the company is now offering its "lowest available fares" to people impacted by the situation in Fort McMurray.
The company is also dropping extra fees and has donated $50,000 to the Red Cross.
“We continue to explore other options for assisting in this difficult situation and are constant contact with those co-ordinating the response, letting them know we are standing by to help as needed,” Fitzpatrick added.
WATCH: Mark Robinson tours fire-damaged Fort McMurray
Sources: Air Canada | CTV
