VIENNA AGENTIC INCIDENTS DATABASE
// public database of incidents involving autonomous AI agents, scored on the VAID scale 0–8

database / VAID-2022-0002

2
INCIDENT
Incident

Air Canada chatbot gives incorrect bereavement-fare advice

REF VAID-2022-0002 STATUS INVESTIGATION FINISHED
DEC Deception / misrepresentation
occurred
2022-11-11
reported
2024-02-14
location
Vancouver, CA
domain
consumer
agent system
Air Canada website chatbot; architecture not disclosed
reporter
VAIDDB editorial
origin
editorial
source
https://decisions.civilresolutionbc.ca/crt/crtd/en/525448/1/document.do

== SUMMARY ==

Jake Moffatt relied on incorrect chatbot advice about retroactive bereavement fares. The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal found Air Canada liable for negligent misrepresentation and ordered payment of C$812.02.

== DESCRIPTION ==

Established facts

The chatbot said applications could be submitted within 90 days of ticket issuance, including after travel. A separate airline webpage excluded post-travel requests. Moffatt bought tickets relying on the chatbot's advice and was refused the reduction.

The award comprised C$650.88 damages, C$36.14 interest and C$125 tribunal fees. The decision uses they/their for Moffatt. Its statement that the airline treated the chatbot as a separate legal entity was the adjudicator's characterisation of the argument, not a verbatim airline statement.

Attribution and limits

Paragraph 14 says Air Canada supplied no information about the nature of its chatbot. Paragraph 31 says the relevant tariff provisions were not supplied. Neither intentional deception nor a particular model, prompt or technical failure mechanism was established. The proceeding's opening date is unknown.

Response

The tribunal ordered payment within 14 days. Its decision did not order removal of the chatbot.

VAID assessment

Assessment date: 2026-09-09. Consequences-first rubric.

L2: The tribunal established a limited customer financial loss, awarding C$650.88 in damages plus interest and fees. This supports limited harm, not substantial operational disruption or severe lasting loss. Payment was ordered; actual recovery is not established here. The rating rests on the adjudicated loss, not legal attention or an inferred technical mechanism.

== REFERENCES ==

  1. news Air Canada found liable for chatbot's bad advice — CBC, 2024-02-16
  2. court filing Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149 — primary decision, 2024-02-14

== INVESTIGATION ==

no investigation recorded.

== VAID LEVEL 2: INCIDENT ==

Limited adverse effects on a task, user or service.

  • Small financial loss, erroneous service outputs, bounded unwanted communications or a limited personal reputational attack.
  • Local operational or resource disruption without established substantial outage or severe lasting damage.
  • Recovery, data sensitivity and downstream losses must not be assumed when sources leave them unknown.

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