Two airlines accused of collusion
Sask. lawyer proposes class-action suit over WestJet, Air Canada baggage fees
A class-action lawsuit is potentially flying towards Air Canada and WestJet for imposing checked baggage fees days apart.
Filed in Saskatchewan’s Court of Queen’s Bench by Tony Merchant and the Merchant Law Group LLP, the proposed claim says WestJet announced a $25 baggage fee on Sept. 15, 2014.
Three days later, Air Canada did the same thing.
The claim alleges it would have been “impossible” for Air Canada to be ready to implement the fees only days after WestJet, indicating there was collusion between the airlines.
The claim contains allegations not yet proven in court.
Merchant’s proposed class action has yet to be certified but seeks to have baggage fees refunded along with other damages.
“We think we can succeed on the anti-competitive nature,” Merchant said Tuesday.
The statement of claim says the two companies control more than 80 per cent of the available domestic air traffic capacity in Canada and that they make billions in revenue each year.
“The courts take more seriously protecting free enterprise in circumstances where there are these huge bars to competitors coming into the market,” said Merchant.
He also pointed out the checked bag fee of $25 is the same for both airlines and the two carriers profited significantly from introducing the fee.
Both airlines chose not to offer specifics about the lawsuit.
“We will speak through our court filings which are, once filed, public documents and you are welcome to quote from them. We will not make public comment on litigation outside of our court filings,” a WestJet spokesperson wrote in an email. “At this time, we do not have a timeline for this filing as we haven’t yet been served.”
An Air Canada spokesperson said in an email that “as this is a court matter we are not able to comment on the specifics.”
Lorne Hodel, a resident of Regina, is the lead plaintiff in the suit. The statement of claim, filed earlier this month, says Hodel bought a WestJet ticket in the summer of 2015 for travel from Regina to Toronto and back for a wedding.
When he got to the airport he was asked to pay a fee on his first checked bag. He made inquiries to see if he could fly with Air Canada to avoid paying the fee but discovered that air carrier charged the same amount.
“(Hodel) believes this was planned and is angry that he had to pay the fee on his trip to and from Toronto,” reads the statement.
A similar class action suit was certified in the United States last year; it alleges Delta and AirTran Airways imposed, through collusion, a $15 checked bag charge within days of each other in 2008.