Business Law Assignment #2
Peter Miller
December 9th, 2020
Context of Case:
• The context of this case involves a 78-year-old man, Claude Neblett, being charged $735
for an airline flight/ticket with Air Canada in which he did not knowingly purchase.
• Neblett originally went online to Air Canada’s website to purchase a flight/ticket for his
sister in South Carolina. After entering his credit card information, personal information,
and required details, he proceeded with the online transaction/booking. Rather than
receiving an immediate confirmation of his purchase, he received a message stating
“unable to process your request. Please try again later”.
• Neblett did not need to “try again later” as his sister’s plans changed, and she no longer
required a flight.
• Neblett received his credit card statement one week after this incident and noticed he had
been charged for the flight he tried to book, despite receiving no confirmation email,
receipt, or ticket, and received the notification stating air Canada could not process his
booking request.
• Neblett proceeded to call Air Canada for a refund. His request for a refund was denied as
the customer service employee stated he had 24 hours to cancel his booking. Neblett
stated that he was not able to cancel something he did not book/purchase.
• After calling/contacting multiple Air Canada departments for a refund, it was not until
Neblett went public about this dispute that he finally received his money back.
Legal rights and Analysis:
Terms of use:
• Terms of use can be used as a functional plan of law that permits the business a way of
avoiding liability. Terms of use can either be short and direct or lengthy and complex.
Moreover, for online services, users are often unaware of the terms of use terms which
can lead to a passive/unknowing agreement. By simply using a website the user is often
agreeing to terms of use.
• Website terms of use indicates that Air Canada does not guarantee that the website will
operate without error, and that they cannot be held liable for any malfunctions. Moreover,
by using a third-party to provide their website services, Air Canada’s terms indicate that
potential errors are out of their control.
Peter Miller
December 9th, 2020
Context of Case:
• The context of this case involves a 78-year-old man, Claude Neblett, being charged $735
for an airline flight/ticket with Air Canada in which he did not knowingly purchase.
• Neblett originally went online to Air Canada’s website to purchase a flight/ticket for his
sister in South Carolina. After entering his credit card information, personal information,
and required details, he proceeded with the online transaction/booking. Rather than
receiving an immediate confirmation of his purchase, he received a message stating
“unable to process your request. Please try again later”.
• Neblett did not need to “try again later” as his sister’s plans changed, and she no longer
required a flight.
• Neblett received his credit card statement one week after this incident and noticed he had
been charged for the flight he tried to book, despite receiving no confirmation email,
receipt, or ticket, and received the notification stating air Canada could not process his
booking request.
• Neblett proceeded to call Air Canada for a refund. His request for a refund was denied as
the customer service employee stated he had 24 hours to cancel his booking. Neblett
stated that he was not able to cancel something he did not book/purchase.
• After calling/contacting multiple Air Canada departments for a refund, it was not until
Neblett went public about this dispute that he finally received his money back.
Legal rights and Analysis:
Terms of use:
• Terms of use can be used as a functional plan of law that permits the business a way of
avoiding liability. Terms of use can either be short and direct or lengthy and complex.
Moreover, for online services, users are often unaware of the terms of use terms which
can lead to a passive/unknowing agreement. By simply using a website the user is often
agreeing to terms of use.
• Website terms of use indicates that Air Canada does not guarantee that the website will
operate without error, and that they cannot be held liable for any malfunctions. Moreover,
by using a third-party to provide their website services, Air Canada’s terms indicate that
potential errors are out of their control.
