Couple's airline credit stolen, used for stranger's luxury flight — and Air Canada blamed them

An Ontario couple says Air Canada failed to protect them and then blamed them after their flight was mysteriously cancelled and the credit used to buy a business class ticket to Tokyo — for someone they'd never met.

Bill and Sandra Barlow spent more than a year saving for their dream trip to South and Central America, which was a 75th birthday celebration for Bill.

The Milton, Ont., couple used travel points and cash — just over $5,000 in total — to book their return flights in business class.

But on Nov. 17, just two days before they were scheduled to fly home, they got an unsettling surprise when they called Air Canada to check on their return flights. Someone had cancelled them.

"Absolutely flabbergasted," Sandra told Go Public. "How does something like that happen?"

Even more baffling, they say the airline told them the theft was the couple's fault — claiming the couple's email had been hacked and that they had failed to secure their Air Canada Wallet, something they didn't even know they had. 

The travel credit in that digital wallet was used to book a flight for a stranger — who told Go Public the airline never contacted her during its investigation into the theft.

"It just seems so absurd," said Bill.

Air Canada quietly launched the digital wallet in June 2023. According to its website, it's meant to securely hold travel credits for Aeroplan members, but the Barlows say they were never told about the feature — and never activated or used it.

Cybersecurity expert Claudiu Popa says the Barlows' experience suggests a potential weak spot in Air Canada's online security, and wonders how the airline can blame the couple when the credit was ultimately stolen from Air Canada's own system.

"It does sound like it was a co-ordinated and very well thought out attack, which is why I certainly would be concerned if I were Air Canada," said Popa, who advises the government and companies on cybersecurity and cybercrime.

"It begs the question — how many other customers may be sitting ducks?"

The Barlows say their frustration only grew when Air Canada wouldn't tell them what steps were taken in their case, or how it came to blame them for the theft.

"We asked them what information they had found out," Sandra said. "We were totally brushed off."