Air Canada, WestJet cut ties with Hopper over ‘secret fares’

Air Canada said Friday it will join rival WestJet in severing its ties with Hopper Inc. after the mobile travel app’s suggestion it has sole access to “secret fares” caused confusion in the travel industry.

Hopper, which notified when a fare matching their criteria becomes available, landed in hot water with other travel groups that sell airfares, such as travel agents and aggregator sites, when the company suggested earlier this week they were the only ones to have special fares at up to a 35 per cent discount and marketing them “Secret Fares.”

“For someone to say that we have a secret fare and that it applies to all of our network is totally incorrect, it doesn’t happen, Duncan Bureau, Air Canada’s vice-president of global sales said Friday.

The country’s largest airline had agreed to a trial of Hopper’s program by giving it access to a low fare on one route between the United States and Asia, he said.

Like other airlines, Air Canada uses various distribution channels to drive sales, especially in markets where it isn’t the dominant player. They offer various types of fares, including private ones available to partners depending on the route, competitive dynamics and season.

“We don’t disadvantage one distribution partner from another,” he said.

Bureau said Air Canada isn’t interested in selling the lowest possible fare or unloading seats at below cost. “We don’t have secret fares. We have negotiated fares with all of our different partners and different partners bring different types of customers.”

Hopper was wrong to imply that Air Canada created an advantage for the app over its other partners, he said.

The airlines say there were caught off guard when their names were used in a news release and were the subject of news reports.

WestJet spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said late Thursday that the company was severing ties with Hopper “due to the confusion this has created in the marketplace.”

WestJet said Hopper will still be able to sell the company’s published fares, comparable to those available on its website, but that it will no longer provide the private, discounted fares it offers to travel agents and other partners. Hopper apologized Friday.

“We value our relationships with both Air Canada and WestJet, and sincerely apologize for any confusion caused by the way we marketed this initiative,” Hopper spokeswoman Brianna Schneider wrote in an email.