Oct 2, 2017, 8:39 pm
Last edit by: canadiancow
What are Branded Fares?
Branded Fares (also called Fare Families) are the concept of airlines grouping fares together that share the same characteristics - for example, penalties (changes, refunds), baggage allowance, seat selection (none, paid, or free), mileage accrual, in-flight meals, priority airport services (boarding, check-in) etc.
Air Canada's Branded Fares: The Past
Air Canada has long utilised the concept of Branded Fares, primarily in its Economy Cabin. At present, there are three brands that people are familiar with: Tango, Flex, and Latitude.
In the past, AC has used other brands, including Tango Plus, Latitude Plus, Leisure, Tourist, and Relax & Return.
Until late September 2017, the fare brand was exclusively controlled by the 'booking class' (also called fare class, or the more technical term RBD - reservation booking designator) on each flight segment.
Air Canada's current Economy fare structure is: Y B M U H Q V W G S T L A K
Latitude is Y B
Flex was M U H Q V (W G for domestic and US flights)
Tango was (W G for international fights) S T L A K.
For example, if you were booking an itinerary within Canada or between Canada and the US, and wanted a Flex fare, all you needed to worry about was that each flight was booking in G or higher.
Air Canada's Branded Fares: The Present
On 19 September 2017 at its Investor Day, Air Canada announced that it will be utilising the concept of Branded Fares much more.
All Air Canada fares in all markets have been assigned a 'brand code' as follows:
- Basic: BA
- Standard: TG
- Flex: FL
- Comfort: CO
- Latitude: LT
- Premium Economy Lowest: PL
- Premium Economy Flexible: PF
- Business Class Lowest: EL
- Business Class Flexible: EF
For domestic and US transborder fares, the brand code will appear at the end of the fare basis code (i.e. V3WCTG, V3WCFL etc.). On international fares, while the fares are assigned the brand codes within reservation systems, they will generally not appear on the fare basis code.
For flights within Canada and between Canada and the US, booking classes M U H Q V W G S T L K G will now be used for both Standard and Flex fares, in three possible ways:
1. A distinct separation will remain (i.e. M U H Q V W G always as Flex, S T L K G always as Standard)
2. Some booking classes will overlap (i.e. M U H Q V W G as Flex, and V W G S T L K G as Standard - V W G overlap the two brands)
3. All booking classes are both Flex and Standard.
Air Canada may change how they file fares in a specific market at any point in time.
An example for Toronto to Timmins is included below, showing how Standard and Flex fares are available through all booking classes:
How do I make sure I'm booking the fare type I want?
If booking on Air Canada's website, choosing the fare type in the search results should give you a fare in that category, regardless of the booking class letter.
Otherwise, you will need to check the fare basis codes for all flights on your ticket to ensure they should the correct suffix (TG for Standard, FL for Flex).
If you book flights using a corporate booking tool such as Concur or GetThere, you may want to check with your travel administrator that the site is properly configured to display the branded fares according to brand code and not booking class.
What about milage accrual on Aeroplan?
The Aeroplan website has not yet been updated to reflect accrual, however you should expect to earn miles based on the fare type purchased (i.e. a domestic Flex K fare should earn 100% and a Standard M fare should earn 25%).
What about milage accrual on other programmes?
No data is currently available to support this, but in the absence of changes listed by the respective programme, the expectation is flights will continue to earn on those programmes based on the booking class letter.
What about milage accrual to Aeroplan when the flight is booked as a codeshare (i.e. UA*AC) and operated by Air Canada?
No data is currently available to know what happens. Codeshares map to specific booking class letters, not fares.
What about international fares?
There have currently been no changes to international fares. Branding of these fares still exists, but Air Canada has a lot less flexibility in filing fares in specific markets (for example, Transatlantic fares that are covered by the A++ Joint Venture).
How can my travel agent book branded fares?
AC has a guide here which describes how a TA can book TG or FL branded fares: https://www.aircanada.com/content/da...de_v1.0_EN.pdf
Air Canada's Branded Fares: The Future
On 19 September 2017 at its Investor Day, Air Canada also announced it may introduce a new "ULCC" fare brand below Tango to respond to markets in which it faces competition from Ultra Low Cost Carriers, as well as a "Comfort" brand between Flex and Latitude. Watch this space for future developments.
Branded Fares (also called Fare Families) are the concept of airlines grouping fares together that share the same characteristics - for example, penalties (changes, refunds), baggage allowance, seat selection (none, paid, or free), mileage accrual, in-flight meals, priority airport services (boarding, check-in) etc.
Air Canada's Branded Fares: The Past
Air Canada has long utilised the concept of Branded Fares, primarily in its Economy Cabin. At present, there are three brands that people are familiar with: Tango, Flex, and Latitude.
In the past, AC has used other brands, including Tango Plus, Latitude Plus, Leisure, Tourist, and Relax & Return.
Until late September 2017, the fare brand was exclusively controlled by the 'booking class' (also called fare class, or the more technical term RBD - reservation booking designator) on each flight segment.
Air Canada's current Economy fare structure is: Y B M U H Q V W G S T L A K
Latitude is Y B
Flex was M U H Q V (W G for domestic and US flights)
Tango was (W G for international fights) S T L A K.
For example, if you were booking an itinerary within Canada or between Canada and the US, and wanted a Flex fare, all you needed to worry about was that each flight was booking in G or higher.
Air Canada's Branded Fares: The Present
On 19 September 2017 at its Investor Day, Air Canada announced that it will be utilising the concept of Branded Fares much more.
All Air Canada fares in all markets have been assigned a 'brand code' as follows:
- Basic: BA
- Standard: TG
- Flex: FL
- Comfort: CO
- Latitude: LT
- Premium Economy Lowest: PL
- Premium Economy Flexible: PF
- Business Class Lowest: EL
- Business Class Flexible: EF
For domestic and US transborder fares, the brand code will appear at the end of the fare basis code (i.e. V3WCTG, V3WCFL etc.). On international fares, while the fares are assigned the brand codes within reservation systems, they will generally not appear on the fare basis code.
For flights within Canada and between Canada and the US, booking classes M U H Q V W G S T L K G will now be used for both Standard and Flex fares, in three possible ways:
1. A distinct separation will remain (i.e. M U H Q V W G always as Flex, S T L K G always as Standard)
2. Some booking classes will overlap (i.e. M U H Q V W G as Flex, and V W G S T L K G as Standard - V W G overlap the two brands)
3. All booking classes are both Flex and Standard.
Air Canada may change how they file fares in a specific market at any point in time.
An example for Toronto to Timmins is included below, showing how Standard and Flex fares are available through all booking classes:
Code:
YTO-YTS CXR-AC WED 01NOV17 CAD AC-ACK/TG - TANGO AC YTOYTS 01NOV17 V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG 1 A21ZATG A X 77.00 R15DE T22SE 21/1 -/ - 100 2 L21ZATG L X 92.00 R15DE T22SE 21/1 -/ - 100 3 T14WLATG T X 123.00 ---- 14/1 -/ - 100 4 T14ZLATG T X 129.00 ---- 14/1 -/ - 100 5 S10WLATG S X 154.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100 6 S10ZLATG S X 159.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100 7A G10WLATG G X 176.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100 8A G10ZLATG G X 183.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100 9A G5ZLATG G X 209.00 ---- 5/1 -/ - 100 10A W7WLATG W X 228.00 ---- 7/1 -/ - 100‡ 11A W7ZLATG W X 234.00 ---- 7/1 -/ - 100‡ 12A G0ZLATG G X 239.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 13A V3WLATG V X 276.00 ---- 3/1 -/ - 100 14A V3ZLATG V X 281.00 ---- 3/1 -/ - 100 15A V0WLATG V X 293.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 16A V0ZLATG V X 303.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 17A Q0ZLATG Q X 330.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 18A H0ZLATG H X 389.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 19A U0ZLATG U X 430.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 20A M0ZLATG M X 500.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 AC-ACK/FL - FLEX AC YTOYTS 01NOV17 V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG 21A A21ZAFL A X 117.00 R15DE T22SE 21/1 -/ - 100 22A L21ZAFL L X 132.00 R15DE T22SE 21/1 -/ - 100 23A T14WLAFL T X 163.00 ---- 14/1 -/ - 100 24A T14ZLAFL T X 169.00 ---- 14/1 -/ - 100 25A S10WLAFL S X 194.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100‡ 26A S10ZLAFL S X 199.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100‡ 27I G10WLAFL G X 216.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100 28I G10ZLAFL G X 223.00 ---- 10/1 -/ - 100 29I G5ZLAFL G X 249.00 ---- 5/1 -/ - 100 30I W7WLAFL W X 268.00 ---- 7/1 -/ - 100 31I W7ZLAFL W X 274.00 ---- 7/1 -/ - 100 32I G0ZLAFL G X 279.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 33I V3WLAFL V X 316.00 ---- 3/1 -/ - 100 34I V3ZLAFL V X 321.00 ---- 3/1 -/ - 100 35I V0WLAFL V X 333.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 36I V0ZLAFL V X 343.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 37I Q0ZLAFL Q X 370.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 38I H0ZLAFL H X 429.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 39I U0ZLAFL U X 470.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 40I M0ZLAFL M X 540.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 AC-ACK/LT - LATITUDE AC YTOYTS 01NOV17 V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG‡ 41 B0ALT B X 594.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100‡ 42 Y0ALT Y X 655.00 ---- -/‡ -/ - 100 43 Y Y X 1764.00 ---- - -/ - 1 AC-ACK/EF - BUSINESS FLEXIBLE AC YTOYTS 01NOV17 V FARE BASIS BK FARE TRAVEL-TICKET AP MINMAX RTG 44 J J‡X 1964.00 ---- - -/ - 1 1* TRAVEL MUST BE NONSTOP OR DIRECT 100* 1. YTO-YTS
If booking on Air Canada's website, choosing the fare type in the search results should give you a fare in that category, regardless of the booking class letter.
Otherwise, you will need to check the fare basis codes for all flights on your ticket to ensure they should the correct suffix (TG for Standard, FL for Flex).
If you book flights using a corporate booking tool such as Concur or GetThere, you may want to check with your travel administrator that the site is properly configured to display the branded fares according to brand code and not booking class.
What about milage accrual on Aeroplan?
The Aeroplan website has not yet been updated to reflect accrual, however you should expect to earn miles based on the fare type purchased (i.e. a domestic Flex K fare should earn 100% and a Standard M fare should earn 25%).
What about milage accrual on other programmes?
No data is currently available to support this, but in the absence of changes listed by the respective programme, the expectation is flights will continue to earn on those programmes based on the booking class letter.
What about milage accrual to Aeroplan when the flight is booked as a codeshare (i.e. UA*AC) and operated by Air Canada?
No data is currently available to know what happens. Codeshares map to specific booking class letters, not fares.
What about international fares?
There have currently been no changes to international fares. Branding of these fares still exists, but Air Canada has a lot less flexibility in filing fares in specific markets (for example, Transatlantic fares that are covered by the A++ Joint Venture).
How can my travel agent book branded fares?
AC has a guide here which describes how a TA can book TG or FL branded fares: https://www.aircanada.com/content/da...de_v1.0_EN.pdf
Air Canada's Branded Fares: The Future
On 19 September 2017 at its Investor Day, Air Canada also announced it may introduce a new "ULCC" fare brand below Tango to respond to markets in which it faces competition from Ultra Low Cost Carriers, as well as a "Comfort" brand between Flex and Latitude. Watch this space for future developments.
Branded Fares; AC changes booking classes/fare classes for Tango & Flex
Oct 18, 2017, 12:13 pm
#256
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,791
You are looking at existing bookings. In which case you are right and idetailed fare rules do not show. Overview does.
I was looking at new bookings and the detailed fare rules do show.
Maybe they don't want you to find detailed rules after you already purchased?
Oct 18, 2017, 2:01 pm
#257
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: AC E50k, A3*G, UA*S, MR Titanium, HHonors Gold, Carlson Gold, NEXUS
Posts: 3,669
I'll indulge you, but as I said, some of my bookings don't even have links to the overview window. I'm not suggesting it never works, just that it doesn't work for any of my 6 bookings.
CreatePNRServlet gives me rental car offers.
FetchPNRServlet gives me a lot, including the change fee, but no detailed fare rules.
CreatePNRServlet gives me rental car offers.
FetchPNRServlet gives me a lot, including the change fee, but no detailed fare rules.
Oct 19, 2017, 7:40 am
#258
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: YYT
Programs: Altitude SEMM
Posts: 412
Fare class question
The AC website is showing V as a "Tango" fare for a flight I am looking at. Any idea why this would be?
Oct 19, 2017, 8:18 am
#260
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: YYT
Programs: Altitude SEMM
Posts: 412
Oct 21, 2017, 3:06 pm
#261
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,076
Sorry if this has been discussed in one of the many posts.
Has there been any data points regarding mileage accrual on partner FFPs?
Has there been any data points regarding mileage accrual on partner FFPs?
Oct 22, 2017, 6:55 am
#262
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: sqrt(-united states of apologist)
Programs: *$ Green
Posts: 5,403
Oct 23, 2017, 8:09 pm
#263
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: SFO
Programs: OZ Diamond/*G, IHG Diamond Amb, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,239
I hope they don't start doing the thing TAP Portugal does where they change the fare class to some non-earning fare class before sending it over to the partner FFP for discount fares.
Oct 23, 2017, 10:25 pm
#264
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,791
Oct 24, 2017, 12:58 am
#265
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: AC E50k, A3*G, UA*S, MR Titanium, HHonors Gold, Carlson Gold, NEXUS
Posts: 3,669
Buy the cheapest fare from TP. The website says it's a mileage accruing fare. When it doesn't post, your FFP says it wasn't a mileage accruing fare.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other-european-airlines/1859313-warning-tap-changes-fare-class-discount-tickets.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other-european-airlines/1859313-warning-tap-changes-fare-class-discount-tickets.html
Oct 24, 2017, 9:15 am
#266
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,791
Buy the cheapest fare from TP. The website says it's a mileage accruing fare. When it doesn't post, your FFP says it wasn't a mileage accruing fare.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/othe...t-tickets.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/othe...t-tickets.html
I have an issue with a code share on a TAP-issued ticket, P fare. BP of the flown airline shows P. Aeroplan shows P gets 100% of the miles. However so far (after six months or more of back and forth) the operating airline continues claiming the fare in question earns 0 miles.
Admittedly price was good though. Still, not sure if I would have bought that ticket if knowing they would not credit the miles.
Oct 25, 2017, 12:11 pm
#267
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Toronto, ON, CANADA
Programs: AC SE100K, Marriott Bonvoy LTE
Posts: 1,881
Seems like with the new branded fares, AC has introduced new eUpgrade surcharges for domestic itineraries.
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ade-offer.html
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ade-offer.html
Oct 25, 2017, 1:07 pm
#268
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Canada
Programs: AC SE 2MM, HH Dd, SPG; IC Pl/A; AA; DL
Posts: 14,321
Seems like with the new branded fares, AC has introduced new eUpgrade surcharges for domestic itineraries.
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ade-offer.html
https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ade-offer.html
Oct 25, 2017, 7:37 pm
#269
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 329
These branded fares are annoying me. $745 r/t YWGYYC in V class Tango
Seems to me that for $750 bucks I should get more than Tango fare features.
These not long ago were Flex prices.
Seems to me that for $750 bucks I should get more than Tango fare features.
These not long ago were Flex prices.
Oct 25, 2017, 8:12 pm
#270
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SE MM, Bonvoy Plat, Hilton G,Nexus, Amex MR Plat,IHG Plat
Posts: 4,417
This whole thing is making my head spin. Specially when I have to use a OTA.
So now low flex, formerly Tango accrues 100% miles but requires co-pay for eupg. And AC sends out an email this week for a change they already implemented.