Lawsuit claims two Canadian airlines colluded to charge extra fees
Posted September 27, 2016 10:03 am.
Last Updated September 27, 2016 12:26 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A proposed class action lawsuit is going to try and get you back some of those baggage fees you’ve been paying whenever you fly out of town.
The lawsuit focuses on two announcements made by WestJet and Air Canada three days apart back in September 2014 and there are suggestions the two airlines met behind closed doors and agreed to charge more.
On September 15th of that year, WestJet announced a $25 baggage fee for the first piece of checked luggage for economy passengers on domestic flights and others within North America. Air Canada followed suit and began charging the fee soon after WestJet.
McGill Business Professor Karl Moore doubts collusion, suggesting it’s more a case of reaction on the part of Air Canada. “There’s something where you let the other guy be the bad guy, if you would. Let them get the negative publicity and then when you announce it, people go, ‘Oh, well. They’re just following their competitor.”
And that’s what Moore thinks really happened, that Air Canada simply decided to match the initial move. “And they could just point to the fact this is happening in the US and other parts of the world and, ‘We’re just following an industry trend,’ and shrug. I think that’s how it worked out, rather than any collusion or sitting down and discussing it.”
NEWS 1130 went to YVR to gauge people’s reaction. One woman we spoke with says she doesn’t care much for the lawsuit, but does take issue with an additional fee. “I’m not familiar with law… but as a customer, as a client, my first impression is, ‘What is this extra charge? I don’t like it.'”
One man says he’s not sure how the lawsuit would succeed. “They’re a private business. They can charge whatever they want. I don’t know the grounds for the [lawsuit], I don’t know how you can charge a business for charging more for something.”
Ray, who was flying to London, says he doesn’t mind paying for baggage. “Air fares increase, it’s probably one way of keeping air fares reasonable, and it also limits the amount of baggage you’re actually prepared to take with you. We accumulate so much in life, so much baggage, and so [many] things that we don’t really need.”
The suit claims the policy has unjustly enriched the airlines while providing no additional service to passengers.
