Travellers pass by Air Canada luggage drop-off points at Toronto’s Pearson International airport on Sept. 12.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
The case of a Montreal resident who was charged twice for luggage on both the outbound and return segments of an international trip shows the potential pitfalls of booking with a certain airline when another carrier is going to operate the flight, consumer advocates say.
Audra Diptee paid extra for economy fares that included free checked bags when she booked a return flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a stopover in New York with Air Canada AC-T last year. But when she showed up for check-in at the airport in Montreal, the staff of U.S. carrier United Airlines UAL-Q, which was operating all the flights on her reservation, insisted on charging her for her luggage, she said. The same happened when she flew home.
While Ms. Diptee received a refund from Air Canada this summer after filing a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), it appears it was United Airlines that overcharged her.
The case highlights how poor implementation by airlines of the rules that govern what’s known as codeshare flights can result in overbilling and a lack of clarity for consumers about who’s to blame, said Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, an advocacy group.
“I do suspect this is happening frequently,” he said.
Ms. Diptee said she shares the same worry, adding that the experience has left her leery of codeshare arrangements, where an airline sells seats for flights operated by a different carrier.
In March, 2023, she booked the flights through the Air Canada’s website and paid for an economy latitude fare, which included two free checked bags, on the way out and an economy comfort fare, which included one free checked bag, on the way back, according to documents reviewed by The Globe and Mail.
At the airport, though, United charged her for her checked luggage anyway – $34.49 on the outbound part of the trip and US$30 (then equivalent to $39.59) for the return segment, Ms. Diptee’s receipts show.
On both occasions, she said United personnel argued she owed the fees, even though her Air Canada reservation clearly indicated her checked luggage was included in the ticket she’d already paid.
When Ms. Diptee e-mailed Air Canada to ask for a refund of the United fees, a customer service representative dismissed the request, so she filed a complaint about the matter with CTA.
In July of this year, nearly 10 months after she had submitted her claim to the federal transportation regulator, an Air Canada representative contacted her again, offering $90 as total compensation.
Ms. Diptee said she has accepted the money and withdrew her claim.
But when The Globe asked the two airlines which one of them had the right to set luggage fees, both carriers pointed to rules that indicate Air Canada was entitled to do so in the case of Ms. Diptee’s booking.
Peter Fitzpatrick, a spokesperson for Air Canada, said in an e-mail that the airline that should set luggage fees is the one whose designator code is indicated on the first flight segment of the customer’s ticket.
(A designator code is a unique two-character identifier assigned by the International Air Transport Association to all airlines. Air Canada’s designator code is AC.)
Air Canada’s response is in line with a 2014 CTA decision that specifies the baggage rules that carriers should apply for travel that originates or ends in Canada when passengers hold a single ticket for a trip that includes multiple flight segments.
Erin Jankowski, a United spokesperson, said in an e-mail the U.S. Department of Transportation rules state that the baggage rules of the airline that is selling the seats apply to a customer’s itinerary in the U.S. and Canada.
In Ms. Diptee’s case, that was also Air Canada. Ms. Jankowski said in a separate e-mail that it appears United mistakenly charged her.
“A customer can submit a claim to our customer care team for reimbursement if they believe they were mistakenly charged,” the spokesperson said.
Ms. Diptee said she was “thoroughly befuddled” by the airlines’ responses: “Why didn’t Air Canada just say, ‘This is really a United problem?’”
But Mr. Lukacs of Air Passenger Rights said Ms. Diptee’s luggage overcharges were still Air Canada’s issue: “If you have a flight which has an Air Canada code, it means that your contract is with Air Canada.”
He added: “Air Canada tariff terms and conditions apply to your carriage.”
Mr. Fitzpatrick of Air Canada said the carrier eventually decided to reimburse Ms. Diptee “after considering the circumstances and inconvenience” of her situation.
Ms. Diptee, for her part, said she’ll make sure to only book flights that are sold and operated by the same airline from now on.
“I will never buy a flight on another airline with Air Canada again,” she said.