Thoughts on Air Canada’s Bid Upgrade Program

Air Canada is offering a bidding program to upgrade a passenger’s seat. The upgrades are based on availability for select destinations and scheduled flights operated by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, and under the Air Canada Express banner.

Conditions

To find out if your flight is eligible for an upgrade, you need to visit the AC bid upgrade website to enter your booking reference and your last name in the fields provided. Alternatively, you may also receive an e-mail if you booked your flight directly on the Air Canada website, on the Air Canada mobile website or via Air Canada Reservations 10 days prior to departure.

There are several other conditions that apply that you can find out on the Air Canada website. What I would like to discuss is whether this is a good idea.

Thoughts

I actually think that it is a terrible idea for consumers, but an amazing idea for Air Canada. This initiative has the opportunity for AC to make a fair amount of chunk change. The seat was going to be empty anyway because they do not expect to sell that seat before the flight. This initiative turns to existing passengers on the flight to squeeze more money out of them. It is pretty much a no lose situation for Air Canada.

As for consumers, only people who are willing to pay will get the seat, which can be fair if only one person bids anyway. But once you have a bidding war, someone will be priced out and miss out.

Not all flights will be eligible for an upgrade. Eligible flights and tickets are determined by Air Canada at its “sole discretion and depend on a variety of factors including cabin class and seat class availability“. So what does that mean?

What I Recommend

To me, what would be fair is that AC allow elite members an opportunity for upgrade first, it is only fair to reward loyal clients. Only if there are no takers, I would say 5 days before the flight, then perhaps it may make sense to open it up for auction.

After that, it is on demand and supply to drive the price. However, there appears to be a minimum bid requirement, so that means Air Canada already calculated their break even anyway. When the bidding war starts, that is when the profits climb for Air Canada.

So you will want to be careful what you bid, so that you don’t end up paying more than had you bought the ticket outright.

Conversely, if the qualifying bid was low, it wouldn’t be fair to the people who paid for the more expensive ticket to begin with.

So it may be difficult to strike a balance on what is fair.

Conclusion

Regardless of how unpopular this idea is, I see it going on for a while because it is a no lose program for Air Canada. Even if no one bids, they do not lose out, aside from paying for marketing materials, which they can easily pass down those costs to the consumer later anyway.

Since it is going forward, let’s see how this plays out. At this point, it will be how the demand and supply plays out, so let’s make the most of the opportunity!

What are your thoughts about bidding for an upgrade?

27 Comments

  1. It’s absolutely nuts what Air Canada is wanting for these bid upgrades. My wife flies YYC to YYZ and back and the scale is typically between $400 and $1200. My wife is 35K and has a 8 day upgrade window and the bid upgrades come at 10 days. But like I said, we are not too worried about her potentially losing an upgrade due to the high cost. Also, she only upgrades on the 767 jets with lay-flat seats.

    I do agree with you that these bids are unnecessary, since they do have the LMUs and why can’t they just stick to those. Or better yet, just lower the cost of business class so people would have to pay for it, then these bids and LMUs would be unnecessary. It’s much more reasonable to fly business in the U.S. than with Air Canada.

    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Dale. I wasn’t sure if I was the only one feeling slightly negative about it. I’m trying to keep an open mind.

  2. I paid for an upgrade from YUL to PBI. I put in the minimum bid (which was actually quite low – lower than I paid for my Tango fare) and it was accepted. I did feel like it was bad for the loyal passengers… but I (the guy with no Altitude status) benefited from it. Even so, I think it is a bad thing for frequent flyers and I am a bit surprised they are not giving elite status passengers some advantage first.

    1. Yes, a balance will need to be struck to make it fair to elite status members. Maybe that specific flight did not have elite members? Though I doubt it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Steven.

  3. not a great way to treat super elites. Diluting our benefits and now less chance of upgrading with the few e-credits we are provided in the first place. Not good for the most loyal customers.

  4. I think it will kill opportunities for people like myself who are somewhat known at the smaller airports, to get comp upgrades as has happened to me in the past. Friendly greetings and Tim’s cards at a service desk can go a long way…or used to.

  5. Does anybody know the sequence of priority then?
    Is it AC bid upgrade followed by Altitude Status and then aeroplan fights? Or is it AC bid upgrade, aeroplan, and then altitude status?

  6. Sandy
    I personally love the idea.. As for the winers out there that bought in economy like myself. We would never have the chance to be upgraded if this option was not presented to us..I’m super excited to have a chance. Let put a positive spin on this.
    It’s brilliant. Way to go Air Canada

  7. AC’s bid upgrade gives non-elite status customers a chance to taste business class at a deep discount. It’s a brilliant idea that has the potential to expand their business class customer base beyond traditional business class frequent flyers and wealthy clientele. However, I am wary of trying this because I worry that business class ends up with lot’s of young energetic children who can quickly degrade the business class into a expensive economy class circus.

  8. I just checked, and the price difference between economy and business (err… rouge) class to Oahu from Vancouver is under $400 CAD. The minimum upgrade is $400 CAD. I used points on a longer flight (Montreal to Oahu via Vancouver), so maybe this factors into the high upgrade cost. I would have bid $200 (x 4 tickets), but $400 per person for “premium economy” is not worth it.

  9. Hmmmm I didn’t read the fine print and thought I was bidding for biz class from economy… that was why I put a bid of £400…… so they upgraded me to premium econy. For that price I could of paid that myself. Most other airlines take you to bid for biz class. Feel hoodwinked and not happy…. would of put a bid in for £59-100.
    will discuss with AC on checkin.

  10. I looked at upgrades on a flight to Frankfurt. The minimum bid would have pushed my total cost over the current cost for a Business Class fare! Thanks Air Canada! Nice try, but I think I can do without your classier wine and your lie flat bed at those prices!

  11. I jusr got upgraded my flight from Hong Kong to Toronto AC16. It’s a 15 hours red eye flight so I decided to treat myself for this Christmas (flight date is around Christmas). I booked one way ticket thru Aeroplan for 37500 miles in economy. And about 10 days before my flight I got an email from air Canada telling me that I can upgrade my flight to business class. The lowest amont was 1100 and highest is 2000 and I opted for 1300 and today I got an email from air canes telling me that I got upgraded. I checked air Canada website for cash ticket, one way businsss class one the day of my departure is over 6000+ so I think 1300 bid upgrade fee is reasonable for a 15 hours flight? Taking into account 37500 Aeroplan Miles to book Econ at first, it would probably worth about 750 (a modest aeroplan value at 2 cents per mile). Then in total I just paid 2100 (750+50tax and fees+1300) Any thoughts? Thanks everyone!

  12. In response to Jerry, I have just put a very similar bid in for the same flight (within the next week) – I hope I get selected for it! I’m flying for work, so my economy seats were paid for by the company, however they do not fly anyone Business-Class unless they are above a certain level in management.

    The flight out was okay in economy but understandably for that length of travel it was not ‘enjoyable’, but to me it is definitely worth spending $1300CAD out of pocket to have an opportunity to experience Business Class travel on a long haul flight to know if it is something I would consider purchasing up-front for personal travel.

  13. I think its a great idea.Its worth it for premium,not economy.If the y accept my bid, I save about 6000.00.You also get the lounge thrown in.I have an 8 hr.layover.Hope I get it.Guess it depends on how much of a value it is individually.

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