Just like every other flyer, do you also wish to travel on business/Signature class seats? If yes, then stay tuned! We have got some amazing news that would help you to live your dream of luxury travel. So without any delay, let’s get there.
Air Canada is the largest airline to offer the maximum direct routes to worldwide destinations from 4 main Canadian hubs. Moreover, Air Canada has outright the standard for luxury travel with their exclusive Signature Class, earlier known as Business Class. The major reason behind re-naming the product/service is to deliver an extraordinary in-flight experience to Air Canada passengers.
Types of Upgrades
Air Canada offers a special plan for frequent flyers which is called ‘Aeroplan’. Travelers can access the perks of this program to book flight tickets for Premium Cabin such as ‘Signature Class’ on a variety of Star Alliance air carriers with frequent flyers program points.
By utilizing the Aeroplan Program Points, you can upgrade your seat to Business/Signature Class with Air Canada. For say, if you booked economy class flights to India from Canada but you have points in your account, then you can upgrade your seat to premium class. Air Canada’s premium business class product/service is known as Signature Class. The perks of Signature Class consist of complete access to a fully lie-flat pod seat.
- eUpgrade – You can upgrade your flight seat with points allocated by Air Canada. In fact, these credits can be used with Air Canada, Air Canada Express, or Air Canada Rouge.
- Star Alliance Upgrade – By taking part with Air Canada airline partners, you can utilize currencies from other airlines to upgrade your Air Canada and Air Canada Express flights.
- AC Bid Upgrade – Upgrade your Economy or Premium Economy air ticket by bidding some cash amount. But you must check if you are applicable for Air Canada, Air Canada Express, and Air Canada Rouge.
- Last Minute Upgrade – You can upgrade last minute flights with some cash amount at airport check-in or at a self-service check-in kiosk. This step by Air Canada is planned to sell seats that could otherwise be empty right before departure.
Steps To Find Seat Upgrade Availability
There is only 1 method to check the number of seat upgrades available in Air Canada. The solution is to access ‘ExpertFlyer’. This is a paid website where you can get a subscription for $99.99 per year. The website is absolutely worth the purchase as there are several valuable tools to obtain awards and make air travel inexpensive. For example, if you have booked economy Canada to India flights, utilize Aeroplan points to upgrade your seat to business or signature class.
- Firstly, you need to visit the ExpertFlyer site.
- Then, Log-In into your account on the site with your email and password. (In case you do not have an account, create one by following the instructions)
- Once you are logged in, click on Flight Availability. You can find this function is available on the left side.
- Now, enter your flight route along with travel dates. Then select Air Canada as the airline to check the availability.
- You will get to see multiple options, go under Only Show Class(es), and Type:
- R stands for Business – (Click on the e-Upgrades to see if you are eligible for a flight upgrade or not).
- I stand for Partner Awards & Upgrades. You can utilize Star Alliance partner currencies such as Singapore KrisFlyer but this is not for flights within North America.
- Z stands for North American Business Class Upgrades from O/Y/B classes. You can use Star Alliance partner currencies to get this upgrade.
- Click on the Search icon to check the number of seats available for upgrade on the right side.
Seat Upgrade Priority Policy
The flight seat upgradation completely depends upon the elite status level with Aeroplan. United Airlines utilizes elite status to publish seat upgradation availability on a waiting list. Likewise, Air Canada Aeroplan also follows a similar technique. This means you can check whether you are eligible for business class seats with Air Canada or not by considering your elite status.
The higher your Aeroplan elite status, the higher priority you get to be in line to have your eUpgrades clear. The Aeroplan program calls this the eUpgrade clearance window. This is a different scenario from frequent flyer programs of American Airlines Advantage, in which seat upgradation is cleared outside of the confirmation window. As a result, if there is a confirmed seat upgrade space available, your eUpgrades will not begin clearing until the clearance window.
eUpgrade Clearance Window Chart
There is only 1 method to have eUpgrades clear. This is further for the clearance window to apply on the most flexible tickets. These include Premium Economy (Flexible) and Latitude tickets. But these are quite expensive.
Air Canada has a program named Early Recognition. With this program, you can for qualifying for elite status faster than usual time. For instance, if you have flights to India from Canada in economy class and you want to upgrade to signature class, then enroll in Air Canada program. It could be Aeroplan or you can get a seat upgrade with cash. But the seat upgradation depends on elite status. If you reach a higher level of status before the end of the year, you get the chance to choose your Select Privileges. So you can pick 1 item from a list of perks. In addition, if you make Early Recognition qualify for the higher status before December 31, then you get to receive up to 10 eUpgrade credits before the start of the new year.
eUpgrade Credit Amount Chart
Final Thought
Air Canada has a wide range of processes and systems to offer seat upgradation facilities to passengers. So if you are looking to upgrade your economy class seats to business class seats, you can get that done. You simply need to have some information that we have shared in this blog. Air Canada is one of the biggest airlines serving the best services to flyers across the world. If you desire for world-class air travel experience, do not forget to try and fly with Air Canada with Signature Class.
