It turns out that WestJet was in fact spying on Air Canada, has now admitted to it and formally apologized.
To refresh your memory, the claim was that a co-founder of WS an analyst who used to work at AC, Jeffrey Lafond, took advantage of the fact that AC never turned off his access to the AC online staff booking system, and that he used it to check flight loads. This information was used to help WS adjust pricing in response to how AC was doing on a given route. He The co-founder who used this analyst's access to get the information, Mark Hill, left the company, and Beddoes apologized at the time. AC subsequently filed a $220m lawsuit against WS.
This has now been settled. The whole release is here.
The really good news? Rather than WS paying something in retribution to AC, they will be making a $10m donation to children's charities across the country in the name of both carriers. So rather than AC potentially stirring up more negative PR about "pounds of flesh" or whatever, the kids of the country win. And hopefully the YYC cowboys have learned a lesson about playing by the rules.
Nice.
