The National Post is reporting this morning that AC has won a case brought before the CTC by a Regina man who challenged the carrier's right to refuse to sell him back-to-back tickets:

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/nat...3/1020610.html

It appears AC monintored his purchase habits in "a regular audit of passenger buying habits", according to the ubiquitous Mr. Laura Cook, AC spokesperson.

The man involved, a Richard Zucker of Ottawa, flew to monthly mid-week meetings in Saskatoon. To avoid paying full fare, and having to stay through Sunday, he began to purchase Back-to-Back tickets.

The CTC responded that it was not unreasonable for AC to maintain the prohibition, because its fares are designed to serve various market segments, and provide differentiated pricing for them. This makes for an interesting argument, as it essentially says anyone travelling on business should pay high fares, and only liesure travellers should pay low ones.

The foregoing logic may well shed some additional light on why AC has raised the bar on upgradeable fares for its elites. It obviously feels that these perks are intended for business travellers, and thus should be only available to them. To benefit, one must fly higher fares, the ones AC considers are designed for business travellers rather than leisure travellers.

I will try to find the full CTC ruling and post a link later this morning.