I will note I have free checked bags being ticketed in J J, and SE, so my assumption that this "offer" is being made to all regardless of cabin or status is unfounded. This was my initial read of the offer, so hopefully we get more data points and Air Canada continues to have yields that trigger the offer.

The flight is still Y9 across all buckets, and this was sent at approx T-2.5h. I'm curious if anyone else has seen these and I've just been ignoring them in the past?

As for banning carry-on, I think that would result in the loss of useful capacity. Monetize the crap out of it. Flying is not a wealth equalizer.

Edit: flight is actually J1 Y9 across Y buckets. Apparently some J passenger has already visited the MLL and refunded.