The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled against Air Canada in a jurisdictional issue that could see the airline having to repay millions in fuel surcharges that it allegedly disguised as taxes.
Air Canada is running out of legal options in its defence of a consumer protection class action suit.
The court struck down Air Canada’s appeal of an earlier Supreme Court finding that the airline included the fuel charge in the tax section of the ticket purchased by Bulent Unlu in 2008. The surcharge amounted to almost 25 percent of the total ticket price. Unlu launched a class action suit under B.C. consumer protection laws and the matter has been winding through the courts since then.
Air Canada appealed and earlier ruling saying B.C.’s laws don’t cover airline ticket practices. The Court of Appeal is B.C.’s highest court and the airline’s only option now is to go to the Supreme Court of Canada.