The Quebec Court of Appeal has ruled that Air Canada must pay $10 million CAD in punitive damages for misleading passengers with incomplete ticket prices on its website.
On April 22, 2025, the Quebec Court reversed an earlier ruling by the Superior Court that had thrown out a class action lawsuit against Air Canada from 15 years ago for misleading booking prices.
The case revolved around Air Canada’s website, which only showed base fares at the beginning of the booking process. Additional fees and charges were then disclosed after customers chose their flights. The Court ruled that this practice broke Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act, which mandates that the total price must be clearly shown upfront.
In the recent court filing issued on April 22, 2025, Judge Judith Harvie of the Quebec Court of Appeal stated that Air Canada had shown “ignorance and laxity” by assuming it was not subject to provincial law because it is federally regulated by the Canadian government.
Judge Harvie described the company’s actions as “serious, deliberate and affecting a large number of consumers,” adding that the airline had prioritized its own commercial interests over honesty. “An award of punitive damages is necessary to denounce this behavior,” she wrote in the ruling.
In 2010, a passenger from Montreal noticed that he was charged over $124 in extra fees when he booked a ticket to Florida. With help from the consumer rights group Union des consommateurs, the passenger sued the airline.
Air Canada had previously argued that no real damage was done since the passenger finished the purchase. However, the Court disagreed, stating that there is a legal assumption of harm when consumer laws are broken. In the latest filing, Harvie mentioned that Air Canada now admits that it violated the law.
The Court confirmed that the $10 million CAD will be shared among passengers who bought tickets from June 30, 2010, to February 8, 2012.
