Why Air Canada Latitude Flight Passes Are a Great Deal

Air Canada Flight Passes offer passengers the ability to purchase a set amount of flight credits at a fixed cost.

While you typically pay more than if you were to buy each segment separately, Flight Passes come with other benefits that can easily outweigh the extra costs you might incur.

Perhaps the most valuable benefit of select Air Canada Latitude Flight Passes is the ability to confirm a seat in Air Canada business class prior to departure at no extra cost…

A Quick Refresher on Air Canada Flight Passes

Air Canada sells a number of different Flight Pass products, each catering to different origins, destinations, and fare classes. 

At the time of writing, there are 49 different types of Flight Passes to choose from, with each Flight Pass offering different fare classes to select from.

For example, a popular Air Canada Flight Pass is the East West Connector, which is valid for travel between cities in eastern and western Canada, as the name might well suggest. Many people use this for travel between Vancouver and Toronto – one of Air Canada’s flagship routes.

After selecting this pass, you’ll notice that you can choose from a range of options, including 6 or 10 Flight Credits and unlimited travel for 3 or 6 months, as well as Economy (Standard), Economy (Flex), Economy (Latitude), and Business Class fares.

It’s important to note that each fare has a separate set of terms and conditions, which you should certainly read and understand prior to purchasing any Flight Pass. These can be found in the list of details after you select a Flight Pass and fare type.

When you’re buying Flight Pass credits, the easiest way to think of it is you’re buying flights for future consideration at a fixed price per flight. 

For example, you can buy 10 Flight Credits on an East West Connector Flight Pass in Economy (Latitude) for $9,322 (all figures in CAD). This means that you’re effectively paying $932.20 for each flight that you take, inclusive of taxes and fees.

Flight Passes don’t make sense for everyone; however, they offer flexibility and predictability for travellers. Plus, they can be particularly beneficial if you tend to make last-minute bookings or travel during periods when fares are otherwise quite high.

If you purchase a flight pass, it’s best to use an Aeroplan co-branded credit card to get the most out of your purchase.

Our top choice is the American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card, which offers 3 Aeroplan points per dollar spent on Air Canada purchases. 

How Do Air Canada Latitude Flight Pass Complimentary Upgrades Work?

Some of the most popular Flight Passes amongst Air Canada frequent flyers are those that book into an Economy (Latitude) fare. 

Recall that Economy (Latitude) fares are Air Canada’s most flexible (and most expensive) economy fare, which comes with options such as refundability, free changes anytime (pay the fare difference only), free advance seat selection, and more.

When it comes to Flight Passes, however, the most intriguing part of Latitude fares on select passes is that you’re eligible for a confirmed upgrade to business class in advance of your flight, without needing to part with any of your eUpgrades.

Indeed, this is clearly spelled out in the terms and conditions for Flight Passes that are eligible for free upgrades (not all are, so be sure to read through the terms for whichever one you’re interested in):

Complimentary Flight Pass upgrades are based on Business Class availability and can only be requested and confirmed online between 2 days and 1 hour prior to the original flight departure time and cannot be processed at the airport or through Air Canada Reservations.

In other words, with an eligible Latitude Flight Pass, you can confirm a complimentary upgrade to business class online between two calendar days and one hour prior to departure, as long as there’s availability in economy (“Y” fare code) and business class (“J” fare code) on your desired flight. 

We’ll explore this in detail below, but here are some important things you need to know about this perk:

• There must be availability in economy (“Y” fares) for you to use your Flight Pass. If the economy cabin is full but there’s room in business class, this won’t work, since you need to start in economy.
• Complimentary Flight Pass upgrades are completely different from eUpgrades. Complimentary Flight Pass upgrades don’t require the use of eUpgrade credits, and you can’t request a Complimentary Flight Pass upgrade if you’ve already applied eUpgrades to your booking.
• Complimentary Flight Pass upgrades are based on any business class availability, not “R” class like some eUpgrades. Importantly, this means that as long as there’s a business class seat for sale on your flight, you can request and confirm a Complimentary Flight Pass upgrade with an eligible Latitude Flight Pass.
• You must request your Complimentary Flight Pass upgrade online through your Flight Pass dashboard. If you’ve done your due diligence and are getting errors, it could also be worth calling Air Canada to see if manual intervention is required and/or possible.

As you can imagine, the magic here is booking into economy and flying in business class without paying more, as long as you can make it work.

Before you go and buy a Latitude Flight Pass, here are some other important factors to keep in mind:

• On high-demand routes, such as Toronto–Vancouver, competition for widebody flights is at its most fierce. For your best chances, be sure to look for a Complimentary Flight Pass upgrade as soon as your window of opportunity opens to get ahead of everyone else looking to do the same.
• If you have a confirmed Complimentary Flight Pass upgrade and encounter flight delays and/or cancellations, you’ll be reprotected in business class. If you wish to change to another flight, you’ll need to make sure there’s both “Y” class AND “J” class availability on your desired new flight.
• During irregular operations, you may encounter times when there are very few “Y” and “J” fares available, as passengers have to be shuffled around from other flights. If there’s not “Y” or “J” class availability on your preferred flight, consider setting an alert on ExpertFlyer to be notified of when space opens up. If it does, pounce on it right away.

Why Air Canada Latitude Flight Passes Are a Great Deal

Savvy Air Canada frequent flyers have been leveraging Complimentary Flight Pass upgrades for years, and it represents one of the best ways to travel in Air Canada premium cabins for less. 

Let’s look at a few of the many reasons why this is an outstanding deal.

Pay for Economy, Fly in Business

Similar to successfully using eUpgrades, leveraging Latitude Flight Pass upgrades is an excellent way to pay for economy but wind up in business class.

Let’s continue with the example of the East West Connector Latitude Flight Pass to illustrate why this is a great deal.

Recall that you can buy 10 Flight Pass credits on a Latitude fare on the East West Connector Flight Pass for $9,322. You could also buy 10 Flight Pass credits on this pass in business class for $20,057, which is $10,735 more than the Latitude Flight Pass.

Now, if you always want a 100% confirmed seat in business class, then paying extra for the business class Flight Pass could be worth your while.

However, if you have some flexibility with your travel plans, you should be able to find at least one or two flights with availability in business class on most days.

As long as you’re okay with maybe flying in economy every once in a while when you’re unable to confirm a Complimentary Flight Pass upgrade, or if you’re also happy in a narrowbody plane that my have less competition for upgrades, you should come out way ahead.

The Most Flexibility for Frequent Flyers

For Latitude Flight Passes, there needs to be “Y” fare class availability, which happens to be the most flexible economy fare.

For all intents and purposes, this means that as long as there is a seat for sale in economy on any given flight that your Flight Pass is eligible for,  you’ll be able to use a Latitude Flight Pass credit to book a seat. 

Similarly, Complimentary Latitude Flight Pass upgrades are based on any business class availability. What this means is that as long as there’s at least one seat in business class for sale on your desired flight, you’ll be able to confirm a Complimentary Latitude Flight Pass upgrade.

This combination of needing any seat in economy and any seat in business class available should result in you being able to leverage this perk more often than not, though again nothing is guaranteed 100% of the time.

No eUpgrade Waitlist Emotional Rollercoaster

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of the Complimentary Latitude Flight Pass upgrade perk is that you don’t have to use any of your eUpgrades to confirm a seat in business class, and you also won’t be subject to the eUpgrade waitlist and the full range of emotions that comes with it.

Plus, since eUpgrade waitlist requests clear just before boarding, Complimentary Flight Pass upgrades offer the flexibility to confirm a seat in business class prior to the waitlist clearance.

Air Canada, like many other airlines, has gotten really good at selling premium cabin seats in advance of the flight.

While this is great for the airline’s bottom line, as premium fares play a huge role in profitability, the downside is that there are generally fewer premium seats available for eUpgrades than there used to be. This is especially true on popular routes and flight times, such as morning departures from Toronto to Vancouver. 

Anecdotally, being able to confirm an eUpgrade in advance with “R” space (what we’ve termed as the Latitude Attitude) is harder than it used to be, and waitlisting has become commonplace for many.

It’s not uncommon to see upwards of 35 passengers waitlisted for an eUpgrade these days, with just a few seats up for grabs in the business-class cabin.

On three-cabin aircraft, those coveted eUpgrades will likely go to passengers booked in premium economy to begin with, especially those with higher tiers of Aeroplan Elite Status and a premium co-branded credit card.

Leveraging the Complimentary Latitude Flight Pass upgrade benefit is one way to skirt the nuances of eUpgrades, though it also comes with a higher up-front investment of buying Flight Pass credits to begin with.

At the same time, if you’re looking to get a leg up on the competition for business class seats, this is an excellent tool to have at your disposal.

Let Us Take Care of You

If you’re an Air Canada frequent flyer looking to maximize the benefits of the Aeroplan Elite Status program, Flight Passes, Aeroplan points, eUpgrades, and more without putting in all of the work yourself, head over to the Prince of Travel Concierge website to learn more about our white-glove service.

Our expert Concierge account managers will look after everything on your behalf: crafting a comprehensive credit card strategy, ensuring you’re earning elite status and leveraging all of the benefits, redeeming points and Flight Pass credits for maximum value, and saving you time and money on booking travel.

Conclusion

One unique feature of select Air Canada Latitude Flight Passes is being able to confirm a complimentary upgrade to business class within two days of departure.

While not all Latitude Flight Passes offer this feature, it’s an invaluable perk to those that do, and one that’s used by many savvy Air Canada frequent flyers to get great deals on Air Canada business class.

If you’re looking to fly in business class without paying full price, be sure to find a Latitude Flight Pass that fits the bill.