Hey - so I'm trying to book a flight from London to Calgary in Business via Air Canada for the end of February. Currently flights are about $6,000 a ticket. As someone who is not too familiar with AC - s there a better way to be doing this than buying an outright ticket?
It's hard to provide very concrete advice without dates and knowing whether you're looking at a round trip or one way.
Do the flights go down in price closer to the date?
Flight prices tend to rise over time as the flight gets closer (as a general rule, not just AC). It's possible that a sale could pop up, but those are unpredictable (the really good ones, anyway). I've definitely had $8000 YYC-LHR trips booked over a month out. So waiting may not be your friend.
Perhaps buying a premium economy ticket and upgrading on the day?
That's an option - AC sells "last-minute upgrades" at check in, or bid upgrades that close 48 hours before the flight - but depends on J seats being available, and the price being acceptable (it could be a few hundred dollars, or several thousand, or anything in between). If you're prepared to sit in PY, it's a viable strategy.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Have you checked out Google Flights? If you fly from LGW, WestJet was far cheaper than AC on a few dates I looked at. They have the same J seats as AC and better food. Depending on the day, it's non-stop or connecting through YYZ on the same ticket, which is vastly superior to separate tickets. In normal times, 5+ hours would be little concern, but in COVID, who knows (risk is not just IRROPs day of, but schedule changes in advance).
If you're willing to make a connection, you should also look at other carriers. KLM flies to YYC, as do all of the US carriers (although US transit may be a hassle you don't want to deal with). You can also pursue the buy PY + LMU strategy on other carriers, as they pretty much all do the same thing.
But locking in on AC and trying to self-connect separate tickets seem like very unappealing options to me.