When reserving a world journey, vacationers can select from numerous completely different airways. Whereas many Individuals concentrate on U.S.-based airways, there may be important worth in contemplating worldwide rivals like Air Canada.
As Canada’s largest airline, Air Canada flew greater than 37 million passengers across the globe in 2022. To provide you an concept for whether or not Air Canada is an efficient match on your journey, let’s go over the expertise of flying with the airline, the advantages of its loyalty program and different issues that would aid you make your determination.
What’s Air Canada like?
Air Canada is nice for worldwide flights, going to 189 locations in 58 international locations. Whether or not you are flying on an Air Canada airplane or with a Star Alliance accomplice, you are linked to each continent.
The airline additionally operates Air Canada Rouge, its low-cost subsidiary.
Here is what flyers can count on:
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Making reservations. Vacationers can e book Air Canada flights on-line or by way of its cell app 24 hours a day. Reservations may also be made at any time by calling 888-247-2262.
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Test-in. Test-in is out there on-line or by way of the airline’s cell app beginning 24 hours earlier than departure. Passengers also can examine in on the airport by way of self-service kiosks or with airport brokers.
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Boarding. Air Canada boards passengers in accordance with 5 zones, plus pre-boarding for these needing help. Boarding for households and people touring with musical devices occurs between zones two and three. Your boarding zone is predicated on elite standing, fare class and when you maintain a co-branded bank card.
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In-flight expertise. The airline presents three lessons of service on most of its flights — economic system, premium economic system and enterprise class. Your in-flight expertise, together with meals and drinks, will rely in your class of service. Nevertheless, all passengers can entry motion pictures, TV and music choices in over 15 languages. Wi-Fi is out there on restricted flights for a price.
Air Canada charges
Passengers can count on to pay numerous charges relying on which Air Canada providers they select. Charges may also be influenced by ticket sort and elite standing. Here’s a pattern of the charges it’s possible you’ll be charged when flying Air Canada.
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Further or outsized bag. Beginning at $100.
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Change charges. Varies primarily based on ticket class and time earlier than departure. Passengers can change their flights as much as two hours earlier than departure, and costs sometimes vary from $26 to $115.
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Cancellation charges. Not all tickets are refundable, and a few present a credit score as an alternative of a refund. For worldwide journey exterior Canada and the U.S., cancellation charges may be as excessive as $590.
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Wi-Fi. In-flight web entry is out there on restricted flights between Los Angeles and Toronto or Los Angeles and Montreal; it prices roughly $6-$8, relying on whether or not you are connecting to a single cell system or need full web entry.
Air Canada’s loyalty program
Air Canada’s loyalty program known as Aeroplan. Members can earn factors by flying, utilizing Aeroplan’s co-branded bank card or spending with Aeroplan’s 50+ journey companions (through the Star Alliance and others). Factors may be redeemed for flights, upgrades, trip packages and extra.
Air Canada Star Alliance companions
There are 5 ranges of elite standing in Air Canada’s loyalty program: Aeroplan 25K, 35K, 50K, 75K and Tremendous Elite. You possibly can earn elite standing primarily based on how a lot you spend and both the variety of segments or distance flown.
Past its journey accomplice manufacturers, Air Canada is a switch accomplice of 4 versatile factors packages. Members can switch factors to Air Canada from the next packages at a 1:1 ratio:
The variety of Aeroplan factors required for an award flight depends upon the zone to which you’re touring, the flight distance and ticket class. Moreover, costs on the Aeroplan award chart differ whether or not you’re flying with Air Canada or a accomplice airline.
Distinctive Aeroplan perks
Vacationers questioning if Air Canada is an efficient airline also needs to be aware of the distinctive perks its loyalty program presents.
Aeroplan’s finest advantages might differ relying on what’s most essential to you. Nevertheless, some distinctive choices stand out when in comparison with different airways.
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Parental depart elite standing extension. Members can request an extension of their elite standing when anticipating a child or welcoming a brand new little one into their household. This profit permits you to preserve your standing throughout a time once you will not be flying as steadily.
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Lifetime elite standing. If you fly multiple million Lifetime Qualifying Miles (LQMs), you will obtain lifetime 50K elite standing.
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Aeroplan standing for a pal. Should you maintain 75K or Tremendous Elite standing, you may grant 35K or 50K elite standing, respectively, to a pal by way of Dec. 31 of the profit 12 months.
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Standing Cross. Those that maintain 50K elite standing or greater obtain Standing Passes, which they’ll use to share elite advantages with one other particular person (and as much as 9 journey companions) at some stage in their journey.
Different issues to contemplate
Security rankings
One other strategy to decide if Air Canada is an efficient airline is to assessment its impartial security rankings. AirlineRatings.com evaluates and compares airline security data. It’s given Air Canada its prime ranking, seven out of seven stars, primarily based on incident information from the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group and Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA).
Reliability
Air Canada was ranked tenth by IATA for on-time efficiency among the many 10 largest North American airways primarily based on 2022 efficiency. The airline accomplished on-time arrivals solely 51% of the time in July 2023, which is way decrease than the typical on-time efficiency of 66%.
Buyer satisfaction
Along with official rankings, buyer satisfaction scores also can point out if Air Canada is an efficient airline. For instance, TripAdvisor has virtually 30,000 critiques from vacationers sharing their ideas on whether or not Air Canada is nice. Though it has a median rating of three.0 out of 5.0 stars, the airline was a Vacationers’ Selection Winner in 2018 and 2019.
Further buyer suggestions is out there from Flight-Report.com. On that web site, Air Canada has a median rating of seven.5 out of 10 stars. Nevertheless, its ranking has been trending downward over the past 12 months.
Basic value
Air Canada sometimes has aggressive fares on the routes it operates. The airline presents flights to Canada from the U.S. beginning at beneath $100 — for instance, we discovered a $96 one-way fare from Miami to Toronto in April 2024. You can too discover offers for award flights beginning at lower than 5,000 Aeroplan factors.
Who ought to keep away from Air Canada?
Whereas Air Canada is nice for worldwide flights and journeys inside Canada, it is not your best option for each traveler. Listed below are some kinds of vacationers who might need to choose one other airline for his or her journey.
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Those that completely journey throughout the U.S. The airline does service U.S. cities, however home airways have a tendency to supply extra strong flight schedules between American cities.
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Those that want first-class tickets. Air Canada doesn’t provide a firstclass cabin on any of its plane.
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Those that are frightened about arriving on time. Based on information evaluating the ten largest airways in North America’s 2022 on-time efficiency, Air Canada’s reliability rankings are poor (final place).
Should you’re contemplating flying Air Canada …
Air Canada is an efficient airline for vacationers in Canada and the U.S. The airline serves near 200 locations, and its Star Alliance accomplice community can get you to much more cities world wide. It presents aggressive fares and prices affordable charges for the frequent providers passengers use.
Its Aeroplan loyalty program presents many advantages, is a switch accomplice of versatile factors packages and presents a co-branded airline bank card. Should you fly the airline usually, its bank card is well worth the annual price.
Aeroplan members can redeem factors for Air Canada flights, and typically flights may be discovered for even fewer factors when reserving with Star Alliance companions.
(High picture courtesy of Air Canada)
Tips on how to maximize your rewards
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