Business Platinum Card from American Express
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Head-to-Head: Air Canada Buddy Pass vs. WestJet $0 Companion Voucher
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The West Jet program has devalued too much, which takes away my interest in West Jet. R.I.P.
Ricky,
If I currently have a TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite from many years go, am I ineligible for the benefits associated if I apply for another Aeroplan Visa Infinite (regardless of card issuer)? I don’t want to pay $599 for the premium Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege card. Thanks.
No, you’d still be good to go to apply for (say) the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite and get the welcome bonus, Buddy Pass, card benefits, etc. You simply can’t pick up a second Buddy Pass if you’ve already earned one from another card of the same “type” over the past 12 months, which isn’t the case for you.
Thank you for your clarification. Keep up the good work with this blog!
Hey Ricky, are open-jaw or multiple destination tickets eligible?
Nope. Simple one-ways or round-trips only.
Hello Ricky,
When asking TD where my buddy pass was I was told twice that I had to order a secondary card for someone before I would see my buddy pass. It has been well over 8 weeks of spending well more than $3,000 in the first 30 days. IS THIS TRUE?
Also neither TD nor Aeroplan seem to know where this buddy pass privilege might appear on my aeroplan account. They suggest I just keep looking at my Aeroplan account (dashboard) to find it???
Not true that you need to add a supplementary card to get the Buddy Pass. Sounds like a confused agent.
There have been some reports of delays to the Buddy Pass showing up in members’ accounts. If it still doesn’t show up, I think escalating via Aeroplan would be a better bet than via TD, since they’re the ones responsible for delivering the benefit.
Ricky
What I don’t understand here is the requirement for the cardholder to buy a ‘full fare’ ticket. Can the cardholder buy in any if the price categories that are published (e.g. Economy, Latitude, Flex, etc.) or must that ticket be purchased at “Full Fare” Economy- whatever that is?
It can be in any of the economy fare categories: Standard, Flex, Comfort, or Latitude.
1) Can you redeem multple Buddy Passes for multiple pax in one flight itinerary?
2) If so, does every redeemed Buddy Pass have to be paired with a paid pax, or could 1 paid passenger and 3 “Buddies” use 3 passes and fly together in one itinerary?
If they’re coming out of one member’s account, I imagine you’d be able to redeem two Buddy Passes on a single itinerary for four passengers. But each Buddy Pass does need to be paired with a paid passenger – you can’t book three passengers and have the second and third passengers be free.
For the purpose of this analysis, this really well sums it up (a domestic flight with WJ or AC)…. the best value from the WJ companion voucher comes from booking longhaul premium seats (where your 399 guest gets premium at no additional cost) and you can offset the primary seat fare with WJD…..the problem is they absolutely demolish you with their BS “Other ATC” charge which is often 400-600 per person! and because it is a “fee” you cant redeem WJD against it and you have to pay for both parties flying rendering a huge loss of value for WJD and the companion voucher.
I would rather take a taxi cab across Canada than to ever fly with either of these companies again
Hi Ricky, I’ve been looking at redeeming some Air Canada Buddy Passes and have some questions I haven’t been able to find answers to:
1) Can you use the Buddy Pass to book travel for two other people, neither of whom are the owner of the Buddy Pass? It seems like no, but I couldn’t find an answer in the terms and conditions
2) When you book using a Buddy Pass, do either of the travellers earn SQM, SQS, & SQD? If so, who? My wife and I each have a Buddy Pass, but I’m trying to earn status for myself, so I’d prefer to be the one to earn the SQx. How do I make the booking to make sure that happens?
1) Nope, the primary cardholder has to be one of the travellers.
2) I imagine the holder of the Buddy Pass themselves, who pays full fare for the ticket, will earn SQM/SQS/SQD; the second passenger with a $0 base fare would earn SQM/SQS but not SQD. I haven’t gotten a Buddy Pass myself though, so I can’t speak to the logistics of whether you need to ensure the Buddy Pass is booked out of your own account to make yourself the first passenger, or if you can customize which passenger gets the full fare and which gets the $0 base fare during the booking process.