Originally Posted by
Transpacificflyer
....However, and it's a major irritant I have with Canada's airlines, is that they do not warn their customers of the consequences of buying a cheap seat. Instead, the airlines sell them illusions of comfort and care. There needs to be more transparency and honesty from all of the airlines when it comes to the fares purchased. There is a moral duty to warn that the lowest fare pax are the pax who get bumped. They also need to be told that if they want to sit together, they must pay. I don't know why the airlines refuse to be clear about this. As such, they feed the unrealistic expectations and are the authors of their own negative PR.
This issue came up the last time a family was separated on an AC flight, and the typical Canadian response is to call the media and your local MP and complain.
Needless to say, poorly crafted legislation can end up under the heading "be careful what you wish for".
It is unfortunate that the woman and her family had this experience and of course, as pointed out, details seem to be missing regarding the timing. Still.
And to your point, the airlines may or may not make it clear enough what happens if you don't buy seats together or exactly what you get for the Tango fare you buy.
Where AC and WS and everyone else have the bigger problem is with OTAs and some poor quality TAs. Are there warning signed on their sites of the restrictions on these tickets or if you want a specific seat that it costs money?
Anyway, this is AC's page "Fare Options and Fees" - Within Canada
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...in-canada.html
Everyone on FT and perhaps most FFs know how this works and can understand all of the detail.
I would have expected that topics such as "Advance Seat Selection" and "On My Way Travel Assistance Service" would have been live links to a page providing more detail, or at the very least, there would be a pop-up window.
It doesn't matter if WE know where to find the information, not everyone else does.
Also, I realize some of the issue with seating a family with children may be on the booking page when you indicate the age of a child. Maybe this page here and the items on it could all be linked.
AC does have a very decent page on "Travelling with Children"
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...-children.html