canadiancow

Flex also allows advance seat selection, has lower SDC fees, offers standby on certain routes, etc.

I'm not too up to date though because I rarely buy Flex.

rankourabu

Well thats certainly worth $235 on YYZ-YVR one way.....

Lets see

Advance seat selection - save $0
Lower SDC - if ever used - save at most $75
1000 more miles - $15

Only advantage is the ability to request an upgrade.

Shareholder

First they came for the Prestiges, but I was an SE so it didn't matter to me.
Next they came for the Elite35Ks, but I was still an SE so it still didn't matter to me.
Then they came for the Elite50Ks, but I remained an SE so it really didn't matter to me.
But when they came for the Elite75Ks, I began to get a little worried.
So by the time they came for the SEs, there was nobody else to speak up!


But getting back on the topic at hand, remember there is a sale on Tango fares at the moment, so they've been dropped $100++ on most transcon routes, which would explain the rather larger gap between the two fare groups.

drvannostren

I'm gonna have to disagree as well.

If you go into Save-On Foods, there's "member prices", that's the lowest "regular" price. You have to be a member, but being a member is free, so essentially it's open to anyone. There are FURTHER sale prices. To me the fact that Tango fares are offered on almost all flights, takes the FEEL of a sale price out of it, but the reality is that's what it is. The international flights don't always offer tango, so, what do you consider the regular price family on those? Flex, or non-existent? If you consider it to be flex then I think it's only fair to consider Tango a sale, regardless of whether they are almost always available or not.

It might just be semantics but I have no issue with Tango. To me it's the same as a sale price on a hotel. They're not flexible, and in exchange they give you a discount, in exchange you agree to a lower price but you get penalized for changes. The other thing that makes me feel like they're a sale is they fluctuate. YVR-BOG can go from $820-1000 "on sale" at Tango. To me $1000 isn't a sale, so I chose not to purchase it and wait for a better price.

The other difference in Flex (as someone who has to do this a lot) is change fees are WAY lower. It's $50 instead of...$200? I don't even know the tango cost because I never do it. Sure they aren't refundable, but as a single person traveler how often do you really need a full refund on a ticket? Maybe you need to push a trip back, but likely you're gonna wanna take that trip at some point.

Clearly we have different philosophies on the subject, but that's the way I see it anyhow. For the record, I agree with the OP in THIS case, that the flex cost is nuts. But there's lots of time when the difference isn't bad at all.

Tedgrrrr

What I don't get about all this, and repeatedly post about, is why doesn't AC toss a benefit or two in flex to make it more palpable even if the benefits are useless. For example, throw in a free checked bag (even though I suspect the vast majority of people who buy Flex have status that gives them a free checked bag). By way of an actual useful benefit, why not allow a free SDC or something to justify the $150 or $250 price difference?!?!

mkjr

agreed. saving 25 bucks on a change fee, "free" seat selection (cough) and free same day change for certain locations...is not enough to justify any extra money. i mean, pesos, sure, for those that are trying to milk their employers to keep their own status by paying for flex versus paying tango and paying for a seat selection if they want it...

superangrypenguin

Flex does give you a free checked bag. Tango does not.

https://www.aircanada.com/en/traveli...e/checked.html

From YYZ to YVR:

"
Flex and Latitude fares - 1st bag free
"

That's a $28.25 CAD/USD value

On top of:

TravellingSalesman

I'm not sure what OP is complaining about: is it the tango fare or the flex fare?

$280 to go YYZ-YVR seems like a good deal on any airline, regardless of FF and other benefits.

$550 does seem on the high side, but OP is not required to buy Flex, right?

What exactly is the complaint here, they're offering OP two products and OP doesn't consider the price difference appropriate to the extra benefits received. Well, fair enough, buy Tango then.

Am I missing something?

Sean Peever

OP wants what is offered in Flex for the Tango price or close to it :P.

Jokes aside. The suggestion is that the difference they are asking for is not representative of what is being offered in return.

mkjr

not sure you have used your calculator but what they are offering is a lot less than $500 bucks. but you get your aeropesos.

mkjr

a decent fare for summer, for sure.

superangrypenguin

I was addressing the fact that Tedgrrr mentioned that they should throw in a free checked bag.

Also, let's assume someone was at 45844 AQM. (just bear with me).

If they fly Flex, they can get YYZ YVR RT and it gets them to 50,000 AQM. Let's say that this was their last flight for the year.

The incremental fee for Flex vs Tango now means that that person has access to *G lounges worldwide, and can upgrade a few times domestically. That has quite a bit of value (albeit not as good as last year).

So while I am not defending Tango vs. Flex (lord knows I only book Flex), the cost vs reward isn't as easy to calculate. There are unique circumstances where it might be worth it. Is it worth the cost? $ means different things to different people and it's up to that person to judge.

I am still convinced that the reason Flex fares are that much more is because companies are OK with paying Flex vs Tango (may not be many on FT), but that must be the case, no? And if WS is charging near what AC is charging for Flex, clearly they can't be both so off the rails because if they are charging for stuff that they can't sell, then they are nuts. And clearly they aren't as they are both making money and their planes are flying pretty darn full!

drvannostren

For the individual, Flex only makes much sense if you really wanna try to upgrade or need the AQM.

For the corporate travel, it makes PERFECT sense as a change is $52.50 + fare diff. Tango is well over $200 (both are per direction IIRC). At my company we CONSTANTLY have to pay change fees. So buying up into flex is worth it. Not only that, but buying up into flight passes is a half decent option for us as well.

Again, I got the feeling the OP wasn't even complaining that Flex pricing wasn't commensurate with what's being delivered but more "look at the sale price...why is the regular price so high?" which to me isn't the same thing. It's not like Flex = Tango + %x. Flex is a price. Tango is an unrelated price.

I assume not that many Latitude fares get sold, but those are the ones I balk at. Sure Flex is way overpriced IMO on some flights, but Latitude is always way overpriced IMO. I've never once needed a fully refundable ticket and even if I did the only way I'd ever buy one would be on someone else's dime. When lowest J is hundreds of dollars less than Latitude, I will go with the Lowest J and take my chances I won't need to change it.

montrealer

Guys, I get what the OP (and others) are grumbling about, but it's just the visible part of the yield management iceberg. Air Canada actually routinely offers 14 different fare buckets in economy. There are smidgens of difference in benefits between those in the Tango, Flex, and Latitude categories, but otherwise no difference across a whole range of buckets within one category.*

For Oct 6 ret Oct 12, say, there are return fares in the "A" bucket YYZ-YVR-YYZ for under $500 (+surcharges) or in the "S" bucket for over $900. Those are both in the Tango category. The lowest Flex (in "G") is less expensive than most of the "S" Tango fares.
Now there is *absolutely* no difference in benefits if I buy "A" or "S", so of course I would buy "A" if I could get it (it will be the first to sell out and have availability yanked too...). But against this backdrop the fact that "A" is way lower than "G" in a way which probably isn't worth it in terms of foregone benefits is not that surprising. With this differential, most of us would likely buy "A". But if there were only "S" available for Tango for our date of travel when we book, of course we'd buy "G" (if available).

I am being somewhat disingenuous, since this is hidden under the surface and only visible to travel agents, expertflyer, etc. And it looks a bit weird when ac.com pops up such a difference between Tango and Flex. But against the backdrop underneath, it's not terribly surprising.

*Well, there's a slight difference between "Flex-low" and "Flex-high" in terms of how many upgrade credits are needed if you e-upgrade.

LockheedElectra

I too think this has been hashed out here ad naseum, and this is not a tactic being used only by AC.

I just flew SG SIN to HKG return, and they have 4 fare classes vs AC's 3 in economy. The difference in fare on the Tango equivalent known as 'Super Deals' to a 'Sweet Deals' fare (I'm not making these up) is 60%, but they have a 'Flexi Saver; fare that gives 100% miles and is equivalent to something between flex and latitude that is 120% of 'Super Deals'. I bought a sweet deal just because I liked the name (and no super deal was available for the flights I wanted).

I'm not sure why the angst, just buy the one that makes sense for you, Tango on cost, or Flex if you really want a tiny bit more flexibility and 100% miles.