Fare dropped, can I rebook?
 

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, I haven't found anything that covers my situation.

I just booked (yesterday) a series of flights on AC for me and mr. goose, due to flight cost I picked Tango fare. Lo and behold today, the fare has dropped considerably to the point where I could rebook as a Tango Plus fare and even with the $40 change fee I would still save about $100 per pax.

Will Air Canada actually refund me this difference?

K.Goose.

I believe that if you are still within the 24 hour period of the original booking that you can cancel that outright and re-book. Otherwise, I think you are stuck with the change fees as outlined in the fare rules. As far as I remember, you would not get a refund for a fare difference.

QUICK! Book your new flight in T+ and once that is complete, cancel the other booking.

You still have 24 hours to cancel the new booking, so don't worry.

What if you're outside the 24h window, and the fares are in the same fare bucket?

I remember doing this a while ago, but I'm not sure you still can...

If you are outside the 24 hours booking time, it is only worthwhile if the difference in cost is significant. When you cancell within 24 hours, they will refund your credit card but if you cancell a flight after that, they will give you a credit which they would deduct the change fee when you use it (40/50? for T+ and 150 for T). But if you don't use all the credit, they would not refund it at all.

If you are outside the 24 hr window, don't even bother trying to rebook a lower fare. You will lose the fare difference and have to pay the change fee. :td:

From the fare rules for a T+ routing according to expertflyer.com...

If the savings is significant enough to justify the change fee and you don't mind lending AC some money you could always cancel the original booking and save the credit for a more expensive flight in the future and then start and pay for a new booking at the cheaper fare.

FYI
 

Just noticed an international sale and my base fare on an L ticket booked Monday Jan 26th at 8pm dropped by $180 (about 30 hours more).

Called AC to see if I could get away with the 24 hour rule and even though the ticket was ticketed on the 27th, the St. John,NB-based CSR told me that it was based on the actual day and not the hours - so if it was just a few minutes over 24 hours or even 47hours .... as long as the ticketing day is just one day off, you can refund in full with no charge.

Got the deal, by canceling the 2 adults and one infant on an L fare and rebooked the same itinerary and overall price went from $2490 to $2095 :D No $25 for any change either - due to infant booking!

The CSR was pleasant to talk to and great to deal with; probably the great maritime hospitality... Kudos to him (name withheld)! ^

Funny - I called the E line next day/26 hours later to see if I could get my online-booked fare adjusted and was politely told to get stuffed.