When Air Canada launched the new Aeroplan program in November there were quite a few action items left for them to implement as time went on. Now that we are seven months into the new program we've seen quite a few of the promised updates come to fruition and today we see a couple more becoming available. One item that Air Canada has promised and has been much awaited by the points and miles community is a flight calendar that shows the lowest price in points across a few days so that you don't have to re-do your search day by day. Well that calendar has been partially implemented today as well as the ability to select seats on some partner airlines during the reward ticket booking process.
Flight Reward Calendar Update:
Air Canada's flight reward calendar now includes the lowest price in points per day. This is the first phase of their calendar implementation and it includes the following:
- The calendar will show the lowest price in points which is available for per day (whether the flight is Economy or Business class).
- This first version of the calendar is focused on domestic Canadian destinations only. (Example - Toronto to Vancouver).
- The calendar is available on aircanada.com.
- The calendar details pricing both three days ahead and behind your chosen date.
You can see from the screen shot above the view of seven days of availability around September 13 between Calgary and Toronto (selected date +/- 3 days) and it shows the lowest points price available which in this case is economy class. If there was no economy class available the lowest price would be the lowest available business class points price for that day.
Air Canada told us they will be expanding the functionality beyond domestic Canadian flights to destinations worldwide in the coming months. They will also be implementing a feature where you can see the lowest price by cabin class - the example above shows how this feature is not just there yet but will be a welcome addition if you are only wanting to fly business class but right now you'd have to click on each date's economy class price listing to then see the business class points amount.
Recommend reading: The New Air Canada Aeroplan Program All the resources you need
Flight Reward Seat Selection Update:
Also starting today Aeroplan members will be able to choose their seat when booking a partner airline flight reward on aircanada.com. The first phase of this new feature is currently available on Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines and Air Dolomiti for Business and First Class cabin rewards. Air Canada told us it won't end there:
This is the first step in providing our members a one-stop self-service option on seat assignments for their entire itinerary and we look forward to adding additional partner airlines and cabins in the coming weeks.
In addition, next month, we will begin expanding this functionality for cash bookings on aircanada.com.
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Wrapping it up
Air Canada continues to deliver on the promises they made when they launched the new Aeroplan program. While not complete, the features added today will make some steps of the reward booking process more enjoyable and it also allows us and Aeroplan to test the features out before they expand them even more. What are your thoughts on today's news?
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