Air Canada offers expanded Maple Leaf Lounge Access

In attempts to continue to grow ancillary revenue, Air Canada has now expanded the single pay per use access to its Maple Leaf lounges to passengers traveling on Tango Fares. Prior to this only Tango Plus and Latitude customers could buy the passes at the time of purchasing their tickets online through Air Canada. Of course for Tango customers the $45 entrance fee is higher then for the $35 for T+ and $30 for Latitude.

Some of Air Canada's elite flyers are already showing their disillusion to this change because to them this is a further dilution of the top tier elite benefits where they get access for free to what should be a pleasant experience. Their fear is that some MLL's (Maple Leaf lounge) are already at or over capacity at certain airports and/or certain time and that this will make them even more crowded.

For Air Canada (and most other airlines) these alternate sources of revenue have been the route to follow as airfares stay low and they look for ways to make a profit. The ancillary revenue market for airlines is now exceeding $10 billion per year worldwide and Air Canada has been a major player in this market with alternate money making streams such as offering Maple Leaf Lounge access to select ticket buyers and now by offering it to the masses.