air canada

Aeroplan Economy Booking and Seat Selection Fees are a Mistake

I recently made an award booking with Aeroplan, flying on Air Canada. The system automatically assigned me a middle seat (yuck!), so I went to Air Canada’s website to change my seat. For some weird reason, the system attempted to charge me to select a normal, non-privilege seat. Being the cheap guy that I am, I Tweeted Air Canada and got this response:

Air Canada free Stopover Hotel

Many airlines offer complimentary hotels for stopovers or on arrival. For example, Point Me to the Plane recently wrote about United’s complimentary hotel option for arrivals at certain cities. Similarly, Air Canada offers a free hotel on a stopover if your connection is more than six hours in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. Your itinerary must include a flight that originates/arrives at a non-Canadian or USA city. This option is free for paid bookings in business class, premium economy, or on a latitude fare. Flex and Tango fares apparently get a discounted rate for the hotel.

Getting Compensation for Denied Boarding

With the holiday season, air travel is solidly booked, and some passengers will have disruptions in their travel plans because of routine airline overbooking. To maximize sales, airlines will sell more seats than they have available, with the knowledge that there’s a good chance some people won’t make it to the airport for their flight, misconnect, or otherwise won’t make their flight. This increases the chance that airplanes fly full, which increases airline revenue. Sometimes, their risk calculations are off, and there are more people wanting to fly than there are seats available. This means that the flight is “overbooked.” This article will explain what your options are if you’re departing from Canada on a Canadian airline, for both domestic and international itineraries.

Good deal: Fares from Ottawa to Singapore/Ho Chi Minh City/Bangkok/Hong Kong/Shanghai – $670-740 on United/Air Canada/Delta

Although these aren't stunning fares, Ottawans will know how expensive flights to Asia are from Ottawa, and anything under the $900 mark is pretty good (darn Torontonians and their major international airport!!).

Right now, you can fly between Ottawa YOW and Singapore SIN; Ho Chi Minh City SGN; Bangkok BKK; Hong Kong HKG and Shanghai PVG for between $670-$740 round-trip, taxes included.