Ticket pricing woes for travellers and World Cup fans: CBC's Marketplace Cheat Sheet

A CBC Marketplace report highlights ticket-pricing issues driven by dynamic pricing, using an Air Canada airfare discount dispute as a central example. A Montreal couple, Dan Pomerantz and Melanie Lyman-Abramovitch, booked a return from Montreal to Chicago for July, then canceled within the 24-hour free cancellation window after Air Canada announced a 25% discount on base fares. Their rebooked tickets still cost $5.71 more than the original purchase, despite the advertised larger percentage. Air Canada said the couple received an undisclosed 20% discount originally, which did not appear on their receipt, and attributed differences to real-time fare fluctuations based on demand. The piece also references ticket-resale controversy around StubHub’s World Cup tickets and growing calls for greater transparency.