Originally Posted by
tcook052
http://globalnews.ca/news/2063684/ai...n-u-s-dollars/
TORONTO — A Toronto frequent flyer who books regularly with Air Canada says she got an unwelcome surprise when she returned from a trip to Greece this spring. Her credit card bill was almost $1,000 higher than expected.
“They said it was my error, I made the mistake, I went into the wrong website,” said Maureen Gordon, a retired banker and loyal Air Canada customer who flies with the carrier at least six times a year.
"At least six times a year". At least she wasn't one of those "This is my third trip this year. I'm a VERY frequent flyer!" types
Originally Posted by
ffsim
From the article:
“A Canadian customer connecting to the website of a Canadian device on a Canadian network should not have to validate and re-validate that she is, in fact, a Canadian consumer who expects to pay in Canadian dollars,” Levy said. “Air Canada has been caught with its technological pants down.”
Carmi Levy's a pretty smart guy, but I'm frankly surprised by this statement. I equate this to being able to buy the same product from amazon.com or amazon.ca while in Canada. I don't want amazon to decide what currency I pay in -- that's part of my purchase decision making process. And I'm sure AC knows exactly which site the transaction came from; it's hardly a case of being caught with its pants down.
As for Ms. Gordon saying she "logged into the site the same way as always," that's a bit of a poor excuse for either ignoring or missing the fact that she was being quoted in USD. I'm sure if
24Left was making this accusation, there'd be screenshots offered as evidence
I'm a Canadian customer who often connects from within Canada on a Canadian network, but that certainly doesn't mean I want to pay in CAD.
Likewise, sometimes I buy with CAD when I'm in the US.
Maybe there's something to be said about the automatic selection of country, but flights aren't like most products or services you buy.
I live in SFO, I take a trip to YYZ. Then I get a call and I need to be in YOW. So now I'm trying to buy YYZ-YOW, while I'm in Canada, but I absolutely expect to pay in USD.
Anyway, without knowing exactly how she ended up paying in USD, I find it hard to take a side. I was recently stuck on the eUp site in French, and it took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get it in English. So... yeah. I'm not sure whose fault this is.