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.