How to use SE Guaranteed Reservation in Economy Class
 

According to the Altitude Website

"
Guaranteed Reservations in Economy Class

When a flight is booked to capacity, simply reserve a seat in Economy Class on flights operated by Air Canada and Air Canada Express, with the purchase of a full-fare ticket (booking class Y) at least 6 hours prior to departure. This also applies to one travel companion who must be on the same reservation. This does not apply to Flight Pass reservations, or on Air Canada flights numbered AC1600 to AC1799.
"


Is there a way to book this online or do you have to call in to do it? It looks like I'll probably have to do this for my christmas travel to Winnipeg as it will be last minute this year and will be booked up.

That will be an expensive flight in full Y!

You could always use/abuse the Aeroplan "one free change per booking" for SE's benefit that goes away next year by booking a whole bunch of flights to YWG on various dates/times that are possibly going to suit you, then cancel all the ones you will not be using. All you need is enough points in your account to cover the flights you book.

(Of course it is that kind of behaviour that is almost certainly causing AC to take away this benefit, but for now it's within the rules).

PS: AC if you are listening, rather than throwing out the baby with the bathwater, it would have been nice for you to modify rather than cancel the benefit completely by allowing a maximum of X changes per year rather than 1 per booking. That would allow the person that needs to change one or two reservations a year to do so while preventing the use I have outlined above.

Or booking a ton of latitude fares now on the CC, and then cancelling to get a full refund?

I thought it was only one free change per year? If it's per booking man I feel like an idiot now.

As for doing that.....I do have the points but I just would not ethically be able to do that, sorry!. But I like how you're being creative :).

That is possible! But I'd have to tie up probably 14 latitude fares doing that. Also, like above I would feel bad ethically doing that.

Besides, it's not like B vs Y is THAT much of a difference for one way YVR - YWG. And it's a difference I am willing to pay to feel good about what I did :P.

Anyway, not looking to game the system at all! Just wondering if I can use this benefit online or if you have to call in for it :P.

Why don't you just book a Flex fare right now for the flight you're most likely to take?

Then if you need to change it after you can cancel the flight and use the credit for the full fare (Y) flight that you book with the SE 6 hour guarantee?

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BB10; Kbd) AppleWebKit/537.35+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/10.2.1.3247 Mobile Safari/537.35+)

Just call in and book the ticket. I don't believe there's a web process, you'll bump someone else off the flight.

I'm sure that booking 14 Latitude fares on the same AE number and credit card for the same route across 2 or 3 days will set off some warning bells.

Did this earlier in the year needing to get to YEG for a client meeting and everything was sold out for the whole day and evening before. Called into the call centre and they booked me on the flight I wanted. It was a Y fare but at least got to where I needed to be.

because on the 99% chance I'll change flights it'll then cost more :P.

I don't mind spending the full Y because I know I'm booking last minute and that's the price of doing so. But don't want to toss money away paying an additional change fee if I don't need to.

my thoughts exactly.

Here is their wording:
"Enjoy a waived change fee on the first change made to any Aeroplan Flight Reward reservation. For any subsequent changes, the published change fee will apply. Note that this waiver does not apply for same-day airport changes, or when a reservation is cancelled and Aeroplan Miles are refunded to the members' account."
Looks like it doesn't work for refunding the reservation completely, but it is one per booking.

In the past I would have felt the same way, but when our preferred airline's ethics allow them to announce at the tail end of the accumulation year their intention to gut the programme for the next year, I can't help but feel slightly differently.

Perfect! Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking to know :)

touché!

I will admit I am not a fan of their announcing so late in the year such big changes. Would be nice if majour program changes are announced a year in advance so we could decide how to proceed.

Sean - I was reading through your posts and you hold a very high moral ground (aka not doing what we suggested). But I have to ask (just curious), when you exercise this SE benefit, you bump another passenger. Isn't it better to block a seat rather than have a passenger book the flight thinking they can get there and then you bump em? Just saying :)

You're willing to pay the $1884 Y fare on YVR-YWG (assuming your profile is where you're coming from) and you're worried about change fees?!?

Well thank you, but I might ruin your perception with this response :).

For me it's about doing or not doing what AC would allow / be angry about. Booking multiple tickets and cancelling, or other suggestions above would not be within fair use and AC could rightfully deny, cancel, or threaten to cancel them if they found out.

This is where I will lose some ground. I don't mind using the SE benefit to book on a full flight because it's an official published benefit I am allowed as an SE. I'm not bending any rules or policies, not asking for special treatment, just exercising a benefit that AC has decided to give me based on my travel with them.

Now yes, they give this benefit based on the idea that some people will not make the flight and it won't impact them etc. They know it's a calculated risk and they've determined that most the time it will pay off. I would actually hope that this is the case as I don't wish to see anyone denied boarding.

Yes. I don't mind paying for something and receiving something, I am ok with that! But I hate wasting money for no reason, even if it's just a change fee. If you dropped a change fee on the ground wouldn't you bend over to pick it up?