When Michael Pogor sat down a few weeks ago to choose airline seats for a trip to Europe, the retired high school math and computer science teacher did something most of us don’t bother to do: He kept a record.
asserted
He → sit → record
Air Canada’s website showed each standard seat would cost $56.75.
asserted
seat → show → 56.75
Pogor checked the price with his wife, Linda, a sign language interpreter, and the couple they’re travelling with later this month.
asserted
they → check → wife
Then he selected eight seats: four for the flight out and four for the flight home.
asserted
he → select → flight
Before moving to the payment page, he snapped screenshots and a video of his selections.
asserted
he → move → selections
One screenshot, time-stamped 8:51 p.m., shows seat 43J listed as a standard seat at $56.75.
asserted
screenshot → stamp → 56.75
By his math, the total cost would come to $454 plus tax.
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cost → come → 454
Less than a minute after selecting the seats, he entered his credit card number and hit submit.
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he → select → number
No receipt arrived.
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receipt → arrive → ?
Worried the payment didn’t process, Pogor checked his credit card account online.
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Pogor → process → account
He called the airline at 9 p.m.
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He → call → airline
A recorded message warned of a two-hour wait, so he tried again at midnight.
asserted
he → record → midnight
He reached an agent at 2 a.m.
The agent told him $91 was the correct fee and that it was non-refundable.
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it → reach → him
When Pogor offered to share his screenshots, he said the agent declined and noted “dynamic pricing” accounted for the difference.
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pricing → offer → difference
That the price changed between the moment he picked the seats and the moment he paid and failed to notice.
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he → change → seats
Gabor Lukacs, founder of Canadian advocacy group Air Passenger Rights, took issue with the “dynamic pricing” explanation.
“What I’m finding more troubling here,” Lukacs said, “is that they are using the buzzword of ‘dynamic pricing’ as a way of trying to make the passenger go away.
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passenger → take → way
Pogor shared his screenshots and video with me and I passed them on to Lukacs.
asserted
I → share → Lukacs
“The screenshot is very strong evidence that the passenger did not authorize a higher amount,” said Lukacs.
asserted
Lukacs → authorize → amount
He added that a fee charged without the customer’s authorization cannot be declared non-refundable.
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fee → add → authorization
Air Canada spokesperson Sean Davidson told the Star the company reviewed Pogor’s case and “confirmed the discrepancy resulted from a technical glitch.
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discrepancy → tell → glitch
We apologize and will be contacting the customer directly to process a refund.”
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We → apologize → refund
Seat selection prices, he added, are fixed by route and aircraft type and do not fluctuate.
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he → add → route
The price displayed includes all applicable taxes.
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price → display → taxes
“Any suggestion by Mr. Lukacs that Air Canada deliberately charged the customer a different price,” Davidson said, “is categorically false and defamatory.”
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Davidson → charge → price
The Star shared Air Canada’s response with Lukacs.
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Star → share → Lukacs
“The fact that Air Canada failed to immediately correct/reverse the charges when the passenger contacted their call centre, and instead Air Canada put forward a … ‘dynamic pricing’ explanation,” said Lukacs, “shows that this was not a glitch.”
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this → fail → centre
“A reasonable seller/merchant,” he added, “would have taken corrective measures at the very first opportunity.”
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he → add → opportunity
Lukacs also flagged a common mistake in Pogor’s own math.
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Lukacs → flag → math
Pogor had assumed tax would be added on top of the seat fee.
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tax → assume → fee
“There is no tax on air transportation services between Canada and Europe,” Lukacs confirmed, adding Pogor should have paid $454 — $272 less than what he was charged.
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he → be → what
Pogor knew he could cancel within 24 hours but he didn’t.
uncertain
he → know → hours
He worried he’d lose the seats he had chosen for his group, seats he was happy to pay $454 for.
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he → worry → 454
Getting his money back has been its own ordeal.
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Getting → get → money
When Pogor tried to file a refund request through Air Canada’s online form, the field for his home province wouldn’t accept “Ontario.”
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field → try → Ontario
He tried dozens of times, even restarted his computer.
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He → try → computer
When Air Canada’s receipt landed in his inbox several days after his Oct. 6 purchase, he noticed another oddity.
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he → land → oddity
The $728 pending transaction had been split into eight separate charges of $91 each.
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transaction → pende → 91
“I have to apply for eight separate refunds,” Pogor said.
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Pogor → have → refunds
He suspects the kludgy online form and split charges are barriers meant to wear customers down.
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form → suspect → customers
He eventually submitted his complaint and refund request after logging into Air Canada’s website through an “incognito” browser, which seemed to fix the problem he was having with the drop down menu for selecting his home province.
asserted
he → submit → province
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
