Air Canada has paused proposed changes to its seat selection policy for economy class customers who wait to select a seat at check-in.
Air Canada had announced that, as of this week, pax who book either Economy (Basic) or Economy (Standard) fares and haven’t paid to select a seat online, will be assigned a seat at check-in. If they wish to move to a seat of their own choice, the standard fee paid for seat selection would apply.
Air Canada said the price that customers would pay depends on the seat they choose, “but whatever the price is for seat selection before check-in will be the same during check-in.”
The news was announced, but the airline sent out an advisory on 26APR saying it was pausing the program.
“We have paused the implementation for operational reasons to ensure a smooth rollout for our customers and employees, and we will communicate next steps further at the appropriate time,” officials said in a statement sent to Open Jaw.
The paused policy, which Open Jaw published earlier, is explained as follows:
“Air Canada sells a variety of branded fares at different price points, such as Basic, Latitude and Business Class, each of which has different attributes that customers can choose to pay for or not, depending on the branded fare they buy,” the airline said in a statement sent to Open Jaw prior to the changes being put on hold. “The ability to select your seat ahead of your flight is one such attribute (an extra bag, refundability are examples of other such attributes).
“For our branded fares that do not permit free seat selection, customers have always had the option to choose a seat prior to check-in and pay a seat selection fee, or wait for us to assign a seat at time of check-in for no fee,” Air Canada said. “What has changed, and is consistent with our branded fares, is that after seats are assigned at check-in for no fee, customers who now wish to change to a different seat from the one we assigned them will have to pay the same fee they would have paid prior to check-in.
“This is the practice at other airlines, including some in Canada,” the AC statement said.
Air Canada said pax who are traveling with children “can rest assured that we continue to assign seats to ensure families on the same booking are seated together for no fee.”
For more details about Air Canada's branded fares and the options available with each please see: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/fare-options-and-fees.html#/
The question is, will this policy be applied to only NEW bookings as of a certain date (and what is that date), or is this essentially retroactive on Standard tickets already sold and issued?
It would also appear that all of AC branded premium credit cards – even those with $700 annual fees – will not confer any seating benefits on standard tickets either and so even the highest level premium and reserve cardholders will find themselves arbitrary assigned seats including middle seats or separated from travel companions – unless they pony up full price or advance seat selection. Hardly a premium offering!
Not surprised to see AC have to pause this as soon as they announce it as the devil is in the details and AC doesn’t seem to have their ducks lined up here.