Jul 10, 2026
Everyone loves a good deal — but that’s only if it turns out to be legitimate. One Montreal couple who recently tried to take advantage of an Air Canada seat sale last minute is feeling the sting of a deal that appears to have gone sour.
In June, Dan Pomerantz and Melanie Lyman-Abramovitch booked a return flight from Montreal to Chicago. Fifteen hours later, however, they noticed a 25% seat sale come up. Because the couple was within the 24-hour no-fee cancellation window, they cancelled and rebooked using the sale, CBC News reported.
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But after the couple rebooked, they noticed they paid slightly more than their original price — $5.71 more to be exact.
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“I was pretty angry. I was very unimpressed,” Lyman-Abramovitch told CBC. “It felt very deceptive, like the sale wasn’t really a sale at all.”
In response, Air Canada states that the couple was offered a 20% discount on their first booking, which did not show up on their receipt. The difference in pricing was due to dynamic pricing, a common practice among airlines where base fares are adjusted in real-time based on fluctuating factors such as current and projected demand.
A spokesperson for the airline company, Peter Fitzpatrick, told the news outlet in an email that base fare for the couple’s first two tickets totalled $279.96, which then dropped to $223.97 with the 20% discount. Fitzpatrick added that by the time the couple rebooked their tickets 15 hours later, the base fare had increased by $26.28 because of higher demand, accounting for the higher overall price. As a result, the new fare with the larger 25% discount ended up totalling $229.68.
While the reasoning makes sense, the Montreal couple’s experience calls into question whether a deal is actually a deal when dynamic pricing is used — and with little transparency at the forefront.
“We have no way to see how dynamic pricing is actually affecting the prices of things, so we can’t truly be an informed consumer in that sense,” Pomerantz told the outlet.
The slippery slope of dynamic pricing
While pricing based on market factors is not a new development, the rise of algorithmic pricing — using automated technology like AI to dynamically adjust pricing — is becoming a point of discussion and concern.
A discussion paper from the Competition Bureau Canada from 2025 noted that algorithmic pricing is gaining traction across a number of industries, with ridesharing, hospitality and concert tickets mentioned explicitly. A point of concern is not necessarily the practice itself, but the complexity of it. For instance, the paper noted that algorithmic pricing that uses AI to generate prices has a “black box problem” — it is difficult to understand and lacks transparency due to the AI’s ability to learn independently.
This lack of clarity for consumers is causing worry for their wallets. A recent consultation completed by the Competition Bureau, with participation from both the public and various stakeholders, uncovered a number of apprehensions. For individuals surveyed, the major concerns were unfairness, discrimination, price fluctuation and deceptive market tactics.
The consultation report also noted that algorithmic pricing may enhance anti-competitive behaviours.
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Is dynamic pricing legal in Canada?
Although the practice has its critics, dynamic pricing is legal in Canada according to the Competition Bureau. Spokesperson Rosalie Leblanc told CBC News in an email that the practice is legally acceptable, though it can become an issue if “such practices lead to anti-competitive outcomes.”
Under Canada’s Competition Act, retailers are not permitted to advertise false sales, such as when a company inflates its regular prices before offering a discount. But with dynamic pricing now in force and more technologically advanced than before, experts argue that these laws might need some adjusting.
“It’s not clear, actually, how firms can be complying [with the law] in this environment of dynamic pricing,” Pascale Chapdelaine, an associate professor of law at the University of Windsor, told CBC News.
“Those laws were adopted at a time where dynamic pricing didn’t exist to the extent that it does today,” she added.
How Canadians can actually find discount flights
Dynamic pricing means there’s no guarantee that a sale price is the lowest price you’ll see. While consumers can’t control how airlines adjust fares behind the scenes, they can take steps to improve their odds of finding a genuine deal and avoid paying more than necessary.
- Use technology to your advantage. Google Flights, Hopper and Skyscanner allow users to track their preferred routes and enable notifications when costs for their destination drop.
- Book before demand spikes. Airfares tend to rise as planes fill up, particularly around holidays, long weekends and major events. If you know your travel dates, booking several weeks or even months in advance can help you avoid last-minute price increases caused by dynamic pricing.
- Be flexible with your travel dates. Flying a day earlier or later, choosing a mid-week departure, or travelling during the shoulder season can often result in significantly lower fares. Even small changes to your itinerary can produce meaningful savings.
- Dip into your rewards points when prices are up. Reward points such as Aeroplan or WestJet Rewards can become more efficient when ticket prices are high. If your travel credit card offers additional companion fares or other travel insurance perks, using rewards points can result in substantial bonuses and savings.
Bottom line
Dynamic pricing likely isn’t going away, and as airlines increasingly rely on algorithms to adjust fares in real time, consumers may find it harder to know whether they’re actually getting a bargain. Until pricing becomes more transparent — or regulations evolve to address the complexities of algorithmic pricing — doing a little extra homework before clicking “book” could save you money.
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Brett Surbey is a corporate paralegal with KMSC Law LLP and freelance writer who has written for Yahoo Finance Canada, Success Magazine, Publishers Weekly, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes Advisor and multiple academic journals. He and his family live in northern Alberta, Canada.
