Sun Pass Changes - perhaps this Fall
 

I have been in communication with someone at AC (who deals with flight passes). He has told me that it is likely that the Sun Pass will become a pure Tango Plus product, booked in a B class fare, effective perhaps in 1-2 months. Obviously, a SWU or NA upgrade cert would no longer be valid for upgrades, in that scenario.

I thought B inventory was always used as the basis for seat availability, but that on a flights booked with a pass, a SWU was usuable for the UG.

DF

Are they keeping the same price levels?

Right now, the booking code for sun passes is "U" - therefore, SWUs or NA upgrades, as well as SSWUs, can be used to upgrade. If this product changes so that a B booking code is used, one would only be available to use SSWUs for upgrades.

My source did not give me any information on prices.

If this is the case, then presumably they will honour the remaining coupons on the existing passes? In any event I'm not going to get concerned until the official word comes out.

DF

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There are plenty of unpaid J seats on these route. Many up front are using cert upgrades or aeroplan rewards.

If anything they should be offering the complementary 24 hour upgrade like other pass products!

You are correct; they will honour the remaining credits on the purchased flight pass, as per the terms and conditions of that flight pass.

YYZ LAS goes with empty J seats all the time....... this pass at least for this city should change to upgrade at 24hr.

Thanks for the heads up.

I love the Sun Pass product, since it lets me fly in J (100%), use up my otherwise worthless SWU certs, and collect lots of Q miles for a reasonable cost ($250 per segment, including taxes). I often use a sun pass to find inexpensive last minute business bookings via MIA or LAS rather than schlepping to BUF or paying exhorbitant last minute YYZ fares. I'll make a point of buying another couple of passes in the next month or two in case your source is correct about the proposed change. I'm already kicking myself for not having purchased a second City pass while they were still available, since the regional pass products currently on offer tilt the balance in favour remote points of origin (in terms of cost/benefit relative to existing fares) rather than major centres such as YYZ or YUL.

SG

We can assume all the pass products will have changes. With the refurbished J cabins they will want to try and see if they can sell them more in the future.

Their philosophy lately of altering anything good to make it not as good for the frequent flyer is proven therefore we can expect changes for sure.

I will be buying a few passes late August with the assumption the offering will be going down shortly so I have at least one year until I have to accept the changes. I am still using many last years passes I purchased the day prior to the changes this spring. Still nice to fly yvr-lax on the old Western pass!

I'm on my 7th sun pass and I really haven't upgraded much since Feb 28 06 however booking in U class is important to me as availability of seats is pretty good. If this is moved to pure tango plus then I don't seeing buying anymore sun passes as booking last minute will not be as easy. Already since the 45 K SSWU change I have changed my routes to BA for overseas flights (after reaching 35K status miles). Once more AC giving elites no reason to continue buying AC product.

PJB

The Sun Pass will get more expensive for sure...... Look fares to FLL for Dec - April. They are only going up up up!

Last fall they offered a discounted Sun pass which is booked in Tango + V and it was around 1100 for 6 credits but you can only use it Tues,Wed,Thur,Sat I think.

If they are introducing the passes at those prices but travel 6 days a week, I might buy the T+ versions. But for the difference of 70$ per segment or so and around 250 per segment and better availability, the regular Sun pass is well worth it.

I am just finishing up one of those discounted sun passes, and regret having purchased it over the regular sun pass (which I also have). The difference of $70 per segment comes with huge trade-offs... less availability, only being able to fly on the middle three days of the week, 9 months instead of 12 to use the pass, plus the kicker being the inability to upgrade with a SWU cert. I'll definitely buy one or two additional (standard) sun passes, plus maybe another Western pass (which IMHO is by far the best deal of the NA passes) before AC dilutes the product offering.

There are already a lot of "marginal" pass offerings, such as the U.S. Commuter and Eastern U.S. passes, which are pretty expensive for what you get (I still use them when I have no other option, but would certainly stop if the pricing went any higher and/or they became more restrictive). I suspect Air Canada will not further water down those pass products any time soon.

SG

I bought the discounted sun pass mid-Dec and ended up having to buy a regular sun pass 2 weeks later.

I have now used 5 credits of the regular one and none of the discounted one since with the middle 3 days of the week (or was it 4?) and the availability issue, I was not able to use any of the discounted credits so far. I wish I had just bought the regular one but that was one of the first pass I purchased and I was a little unsure if I would go to LAS or FL 3x. But with several conferences and meetings there, it has been very useful.

hmmm... I just repriced an Eastern Sun pass, and it now comes out to about $120 higher than what I paid last December 31. Given that GST has actually gone down 1% since that time, works out to around $25 more per segment. Not sure if that is a fuel surcharge that wasn't being applied last time I purchased, or if Air Canada snuck in a price increase sometime over the past 8 months.

Still worth it in my books... but not quite as good a deal as it was previously.

SG

[QUOTE=Snoopyo]I bought the discounted sun pass mid-Dec and ended up having to buy a regular sun pass 2 weeks later.
QUOTE]

That is pretty much a mirror image of what I did. I have been "creative" in my travel planning to ensure that I use up the pass, since it expires end of September. However, it has certainly been "work" to try to use that pass up, instead of being a fun addition to the repertoir (i.e. the regular sun pass). I definitely wouldn't buy the restricted version again.

SG

The price has gone up but I thought I saw something about this being in B class (T+) rather than U (Latitude)? Am I seeing phantom text?

The table describing the Sun pass still states the fare type is "tango plus", but the booking code is "U". The question is whether this booking code or fare type is the determinant in upgrade rules - a pure "U" latitude fare now can be upgraded (subject to availability) at the time of purchase, with a SWU or SSWU, while a tango plus fare can be upgraded within the window of upgrade, as per tier status of the customer, with a SSWU only.

Should be at time of booking. Sun pass is booked into U class. I have only every used SWU or NA's to upgrade.

Time of booking for sure.... but don't tell too many people or else this pass product will change dramatically

I understand that as an Elite I can upgrade my Sunpass at booking. I want to buy a sun pass for my non elite wife to use on the same flights. Will she be able to use on of my SWU certs to upgrade at time of booking as well?

Yes assuming she is travelling on the same itinerary as you. Make each booking using your respective passes, then call in to upgrade yourself and your spouse.

SG

I had no problem doing this two weeks ago when I bought my wife and myself Sunpass's.... made the bookings online and called the Elite line to confirm the upgrades. But as SG says, you have to be travelling on the same flights/itinerary, as that is the conditions of the UG cert. She would not be allowed to use one of your certs if she was travelling alone....

Thanks for the information.

You should ask the AC telephone reservation agent to cross reference your and your wife's booked tickets - it will be much easier to upgrade your wife and you at the same time.