Loading ...Air Canada lacked transparency when it introduced new fuel surcharges last week, according to industry analysts and consumer rights advocates. While WestJet, Air Canada’s main domestic rival, went out of its way to inform the travelling public about its new fuel surcharge, by placing highly visible ads in Canadian newspapers and by also including this information on the index page of its website, Air Canada said little about the noticeably higher cost of travel and simply placed a discreet hyperlink, which only appears after the total cost of a ticket has been calculated.
Joseph D’Cruz, a prominent commercial airline expert associated with the University of Toronto, told the Canadian Press (CP) that Air Canada may very well have caused lasting damage to its brand, by not being as transparent as possible about its fee hikes. “It’s just a poorly handled public relations activity,” D’Cruz said. To make matters worse, after initially charging a fee that was seen as unreasonably high, the country’s flag carrier has had to back down, following WestJet’s introduction of lower fees. The country’s two largest airlines now both charge precisely the same amount, namely $20, $30 or $50 each way, depending on the length of a given route. D’Cruz believes that Air Canada may sustain long-term damage if passengers become resentful of the fuel surcharge increase, and the way in which it was introduced.
www.aircanada.com
