Air Canada/Westjet settle dispute

[andrew_c]

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MONTREAL (Reuters) - WestJet Airlines admitted on Monday that it had improperly gained access to Air Canada's key flight operations data and apologized as the two rivals settled a two-year-old legal dispute over the issue.

WestJet said its conduct in the matter, which took place in 2003-2004 as Air Canada was restructuring under bankruptcy protection, was "unethical and unacceptable."

In a two-paragraph joint statement, WestJet apologized to Air Canada and to Robert Milton, chief executive of Air Canada's parent company, Aviation Holdings.

Montreal-based Air Canada had sued WestJet for C$220 million over allegations that the Calgary, Alberta-based no-frills carrier had repeatedly and covertly gained access to a password-protected Air Canada Website for employees.

In its lawsuit, which dates back to April 2004, Air Canada alleged that WestJet had used the Website access to download details about Air Canada's flight operations, such as how many seats were filled on certain flights.

"This practice was undertaken with the knowledge and direction of the highest management levels of WestJet and was not halted until discovered by Air Canada," the companies said in a joint statement.

WestJet agreed to pay Air Canada's legal costs of C$5.5 million ($5 million) and accepted the latter's request to donate C$10 million to children's charities.





I say great work by both sides in solving this out of court and on good terms. Also the donation to charities puts the cherry on the cake! Awesome news!

[ACman]

Owned.

Glad to hear its all over and the rightful party won.

[C-GEPA]

Wow!
I'm amazed that Westjet management would ever admit to this.

[Da-BoB]

Owned.

Glad to hear its all over and the rightful party won.

Yes westjet did it... yes they admitted it... $15.5 million dollars... in my mind is too much $$ but im a little ticked that AC didn't have to pay anything for thier snooping they did...

But... DID the rightful party win? No. Neither side was right in what they did nor did anyone win. End of story.

~BoB

[jmackey_YYT]

Where do I get some of that kool-aid you're drinking? Just teasing.


In all seriousness, the suit against WestJet was quite serious, but apparently Air Canada either didn't have enough to win in court, didn't want to deal with the counter-suit, or simply didn't want to open a can of worms that might air out more of the dirty laundry of the entire industry. The corporate world can be a nasty place.

Glad to hear about the gentlemanly settlement, very unique. The sooner WestJet and Air Canada realize that they both need each other to be strong in order to succeed the better. They aren't competitors. WestJet gets a little domestic business, but really doesn't compete on most of AC's most profitable routes.
________
Threesome Schoolgirl

[bbuse]

The corporate world can be a nasty place.

I don't know about in Canada, but in the US the corporate world is a very nasty place. In the US it is common for corporations to use various tactics to spy on other corporations, including using office cleaning people to spy on other companies as they clean the offices of these companies. This is why it is important for employees to be very careful with all corporate information, whether in the office or out of the office.

[A332]

It's the outcome I pretty much expected, short of it being tossed out of court entirely (on the grounds of total stupidity)...

There really was no winner... AC and WS both share in the opportunity to save some face and walk away from this nonsense (AC gets their legal costs back too).

WestJet: keep the business practices above the table and don't engage in espionage.

Air Canada: keep your sensitive/confidential information secure and don't trust your former employees.

Done deal.

[ACman]

Yes westjet did it... yes they admitted it... $15.5 million dollars... in my mind is too much $$ but im a little ticked that AC didn't have to pay anything for thier snooping they did...

But... DID the rightful party win? No. Neither side was right in what they did nor did anyone win. End of story.

~BoB

O...K... sure, but you must remember, AC didnt go through WS's garbage "Just for Fun" or "Shits n' Giggles", they went through after they had been suspicous of the fact that there employee travel website had been accessed multpiple times a day under one persons name comming from someware in Alberta (IP address) so AC sent a investigation team out to find and recunstruct the documents and WS is at fault.

Its good that AC didnt have to pay a fine that they searched through the garbage. Picture this, your nieghbour has takes your deck chair (yeah yeah stupid thing) everytime he has a party, but your not invited. So you think he does it, so you walk on over and theres your chair. So really, yes AC is somewhat at "fault" for defending themselves or comming to the conclusion to gather evidence, but in the end WS is the one that did more wrong because they also went onto JetsGo and Canjets places to get load factor information.

Air Canada: keep your sensitive/confidential information secure and don't trust your former employees.

Yeah, the second we even THINK about doin that to former employee's, thell be bitching about it for weeks. Unions and empoyees wont put up with no retirement travel benifits. Someone works for AC for 30 years, retires, they should be intitled to all the benifits they deserve.

[Da-BoB]

Yeah, the second we even THINK about doin that to former employee's, thell be bitching about it for weeks. Unions and empoyees wont put up with no retirement travel benifits. Someone works for AC for 30 years, retires, they should be intitled to all the benifits they deserve.

They can still get the benifits... Just make 'em call or book online like any other normal person... Problems solved.

BoB

[ACman]

They can still get the benifits... Just make 'em call or book online like any other normal person... Problems solved.

BoB

Thats how they do it in the first place, book online in the AC employee travel. So your telling me, former employees should pay full fare for flights?

Dale, want to back me up on this one?

[bbuse]

Thats how they do it in the first place, book online in the AC employee travel. So your telling me, former employees should pay full fare for flights?

It has been a few years since I have done any non-rev travel, but from my experience with flying non-rev on several airlines, Air Canada was the only airline where there was a special "employee travel" phone number that handled employee travel requirements. But then my non-rev experiences were before on-line booking and you typically called the general reservations number for the airline. Air Canada was the only airline where I was able to call a different number that was for employee travel, which I liked at the time I experienced it. In general, I found that Air Canada treated non-rev travellers better than most other airlines. I found United to usually be the worst when you were travelling non-rev.

[ACman]

Ahh yess faithful Employee Reserva(tions). Good phone service, and that people that handled phone booking for the general travelling public would handel employees.

[Da-BoB]

Thats how they do it in the first place, book online in the AC employee travel. So your telling me, former employees should pay full fare for flights?

Dale, want to back me up on this one?

I didn't say they had to pay... Just make them go through the normal booking phone line like a normal person and have them state they are a former AC employee then have them give some sort of ID at the airport to prove that they are actually a former employee. Simple really...

OR

Have them book online with a special password of some sort in the normal website and then have them display the ID at the airport as stated above...

Doing this it would be safe (no former employee could do any spying) and regular passengers couldn't take advantage of it because they would be caught without ID of being a former employee at the airport.

BoB

[ACman]

I didn't say they had to pay... Just make them go through the normal booking phone line like a normal person and have them state they are a former AC employee then have them give some sort of ID at the airport to prove that they are actually a former employee. Simple really...

OR

Have them book online with a special password of some sort in the normal website and then have them display the ID at the airport as stated above...

Doing this it would be safe (no former employee could do any spying) and regular passengers couldn't take advantage of it because they would be caught without ID of being a former employee at the airport.

BoB

That makes Jack Shit of sense, so ytour telling me, Instead of booking in advance and wathcing if the flights are filling up to HNL so I can plan ahead, I have to goto the airport and ask them?

Thats not really simple, because that would take to much time and money and effort, and would not be efficent.

As for the Online booking, Specail password? THATS HOW IT WORKS NOW! you put in your employee ID #, then your PIN# and there you are.

Its really really really stupid because people go on there to check the dayes, Employees do not get gaurenteed seats, so we have to check if there is seats open on a flight and we choose it based on seat availibility and Time and date.

but not only that, people could still get around it. Call them up "Hi I am Randy Bobandy of YHZ, how many seats are taken on AC601? how about 603? or 605? or 607?"

[Da-BoB]

That makes Jack Shit of sense, so ytour telling me, Instead of booking in advance and wathcing if the flights are filling up to HNL so I can plan ahead, I have to goto the airport and ask them?

Thats not really simple, because that would take to much time and money and effort, and would not be efficent.

As for the Online booking, Specail password? THATS HOW IT WORKS NOW! you put in your employee ID #, then your PIN# and there you are.

Its really really really stupid because people go on there to check the dayes, Employees do not get gaurenteed seats, so we have to check if there is seats open on a flight and we choose it based on seat availibility and Time and date.

but not only that, people could still get around it. Call them up "Hi I am Randy Bobandy of YHZ, how many seats are taken on AC601? how about 603? or 605? or 607?"

If you could read then you would see that not once did I say go to the airport and ask them... You book like a normal person, then show ID at the airport before boarding...

Ok thats great it works that way now... all thats left is to put it onto the normal AC website so that former employees can't go spying...

Sure you can get around it by calling... well im pritty sure WJA isn't going to go calling them up and ask how full all thier flights are... waste of time and money...

Bob