Thousands of dollars were at stake in a legal fight between Expedia and a man travelling from Vancouver with his family who had to cancel his initial itinerary.
According to a B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal case, Roger Clarke booked some flights through Expedia Canada. Those flights were later cancelled, and he claimed that Expedia Canada wrongly deducted airport taxes from his flight credits.
Meanwhile, Expedia Canada told the tribunal that Clarke was informed that taxes would be deducted when he claimed his credits. Clarke sought $4,544.88 in damages.
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Near the top of its decision, the tribunal noted that despite being asked, Expedia didn’t provide any evidence for its claims in its submissions.
Clarke booked flights for himself and his three family members on Jan. 23, 2023. The first leg of the trip was from Vancouver to Dublin for $2,796.64. He also booked a return flight from Barcelona to Vancouver for $3,904.80. He paid an additional $3,122.64 for four family members to fly from Edmonton to London and $3,760.80 for the return from Barcelona to Edmonton.
He ended up having to cancel all of the flights. According to an Expedia email from Feb. 13, 2023, he was entitled to flight credits for the full amount of the original tickets. He would have 13 months to use these credits, which would have to be used for the same passengers and departure countries. Expedia eventually corrected that email and said he could change the departure countries and passengers.
Eventually, Clarke purchased eight tickets from Barcelona to Maui for the same passengers. He told the tribunal that Expedia’s confirmations didn’t show his remaining credits. Later, he tried to book two tickets from Edmonton to London for a round trip to Cabo San Lucas for himself and his wife, but his credits were insufficient.
Expedia told Clarke that it was because airport taxes had been deducted.
The tribunal decision reads, “Mr. Clarke says he contacted both Air Canada and WestJet and confirmed that airlines do not deduct airport taxes on a flight exchange. This is hearsay, meaning it is a statement made outside the CRT proceeding that a party asks to use to prove the statement’s truth. However, Expedia did not provide any response to dispute Mr. Clarke’s submission. So, I accept that airport taxes are not deductible on a flight exchange.”
Clarke requested a full accounting of his credits from Expedia in his submissions to the tribunal. The tribunal said its staff attempted to contact Expedia on five occasions to request evidence and submissions, but Expedia didn’t respond.
“It would have been a simple matter for Expedia to provide a copy of its cancellation policy and an explanation of how Mr. Clarke’s flight credits were calculated. It did not do so. So, I find an adverse inference against Expedia is appropriate. This means I find Expedia wrongly deducted airport taxes from Mr. Clarke’s flight credits in breach of the terms and conditions of Mr. Clarke’s flight purchases through Expedia,” the tribunal added.
The tribunal awarded Clarke damages of $3,787.44. With tribunal fees, Expedia needed to pay Clarke $3,962.44 within 30 days of the decision.
Have you encountered a situation like this when booking a trip through an agency? Let us know in the comments.