So true on the bumps. eUpgrades are Not always guaranteed. I have been downgraded from a confirmed eUprade at the gate more than once in 2023. My Wife recently on a Jan 2024 BKK to YVR was upgraded to Business and had a hard copy of Her boarding pass in hand. She was stopped at the gate and given a Premium Economy Seat instead. Plus they did not have a meal for her, so she got a economy class meal. Best of all, No refund on the eUpgrades.
Sadly its not surprising that airlines screw people over by not refunding the eUpgrade. They should at a minimum refund the limited eUpgrade credits given they failed to deliver the product. Airlines really need to be regulated when it comes to selling tickets, upgrades and refunding people.
Spot on, Ricky! Latitude attitude and eups are the way to go! Can you do a video on "R" space availability when eups are applied? If J is already full for example, latitude attitude may not apply.
You can even get bumped as a paying in full-business class customer. Happened to 3 out of 4 of us flying back from the DR to YYZ. All we know for certain is my assigned seat was broken but I still got a business class seat presumably because I was the only one of the 4 of us that had an aeroplan account. No other seats were inoperable so not certain why the rest of the travel companions got bumped.
Finally - after being either 50k or 75k for the past 10 / 12 years - and paying $599 year for a premium Visa Aeroplan Credit Card I have learned more about e upgrades than all the conversations I’ve had with AC agents! Until I retired the majority of my international travel was paid by the corporation I was an executive of. And what personal flights I was simply too lazy to figure out how to fly at lower price. Now as a retired person I have the time and interest to use the nearly million areoplan points and the 125 e upgrades I have. I just booked a return Vancouver- Sydney Australia departing Jan 25. 2025. Using points and e credits was so confusing and my calls with Aeroplan were long and confusing. Finally it turns out that the majority of my e credits expire on Jan 16 - 9 days from my flights! I wish I had starting watching these videos prior to getting started. I also question whether my long term loyalty to AC and the credit card I hold with TD is worth it.
It also depends where you live and which airlines is the most accessible from your location to other destinations. My guess is, Air Canada is still the most accessible to you. So it's probably still a good idea to maintain your loyalty to them. Naturally, if you live in London, then you can choose either British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, or Lufthansa if you live near Frankfurt and Munich. In Canada, there's really just Air Canada and westjet, and westjet doesn't give you these "Aspirational Travel" much.
being waitlisted seems like such a headache, essientlly giving up your orginally seats for a gamble. I was also told by air canada customer support that even if my ticket was to be instantly eupgraded that it was still not confirmed until the plane takes off. I honestly feel that on busy routes on long huals, this program will only be causing problems for travellers especially if there's more than one of ya.
This is exactly the video on e-upgrade I was looking for. (I felt I have lost a million of chances of upgrading my flight to business class after watching this)😂
In most situations you will need to be on the same itinerary as the person you’re looking to upgrade. Check out our guide here: princeoftravel.com/guides/air-canada-eupgrades/ - Steve
When you get only like 20 eupgrades and then a bit more based on status, spending 13 on a one way to sao paolo with 64k points seems too much considering the effort it took to get these points and eupgrades. All gone in one flight. The whole thing seems a bit silly given the often months or years of effort for a few hour experience.
Starting to wonder if chasing these statuses are even worth it. So much work just to get the status and the rewards are only okay. We still got to pay a large amount of points upfront too! In my case it only seems to make sense to use it for domestic travel within north America OR a one way ticket internationally. I do have a co branded credit card with most benefits already and 25k status.. but I also have a partner i am sharing points/credits with and the family sharing thing is still down. I also don't like how some flights show waitlist even for latitude attitude.. I would only book that if it guarantees me a business class.. but those are even maybes.. and I wouldn't book them otherwise.. would rather stick to economy flex flights. But the biggest issues is are these worth chasing when you can fly another airline economy for like half the price? or pay Air Canada economy prices just for status and points? So in a way you're paying for those eupgrades by just flying Air Canada when other airlines are half the price.
If i book an economy class latitude or premium economy flexible and i use eupgrades to business classe but the flight showss waitlisted to business does it mean i still get instant to business class or i still would be waitlisted , can you help me understand this i am a little bit confused, thanks
You will be WL till you are at the gate and if there is room and depending on how many are in front of you (if you have 75k and some with 100k they go in front of you) you get the business seat.
I find that dealing with Air Canada Rouge does not have the same flow into Business via eUpgrades. Even when I purchase the most expensive selection in Rouge (Comfort in this case) I am still wait listed even when the page states that eUpgrades are available. This might work well with one ticket but not with a family of 3 with a 35k Status.
I have this same issue with a Lattitude fare on a regular Air Canada. The website says I'm within my clearance window (and has shown it this way for over a month since I booked but I'm still waitlisted. We called AC, and they said there are no R1 seats available right now, which means they probably shouldn't list it as being within the window in my opinion, but we are pretty new to the eupgrades so maybe that's how it always is? Air Canada twitter support refused to respond once we showed them that is still show within the clearance window.
@@JeffreyKolyn Yes, I was constantly having this issue. eUpgrade has only worked once for me. I was able to upgrade to Business from Economy on Air Canada Rouge from Toronto to Washington, DC. If you have ever flown Air Canada Rouge, going from Economy to Business is not worth it on Rouge planes, especially short-haul flights. I lost 60 credits because I "did not use them" within the year. I finally spoke to someone in the know at Air Canada, who told me that most people and Air Canada Customer Service are left in the dark about exactly how it works. Her advice: buy the ticket when it states that eUpgrades are available, and buy the most expensive Economy or Premium Economy (Depending on what class you are trying to Upgrade to) Once you've purchased the ticket, do the eUpgrade if it states that they are available. If you get the upgrade right away, you are good and will be upgraded. However, if you are put immediately on the Waitlist, you go back online and get a refund for your ticket (By law, you have 24 hrs to do so). Then, go back and purchase a cheap ticket option. Still, do the eUpgrade and put yourself on the waitlist. If you go online, you can see how many Business Class or Premium Economy Seats are left. If there are quite a few seats left, you may get a chance, depending on your Status. The higher the status, the more likely it is to get upgraded. If you are still not upgraded by the clearance window, I would cancel and try to bid for an upgrade using points. I am starting to believe that eUpgrades are only as effective as your Status. If you are Super Elite, you will probably upgrade over the 25K holder.
All this is useful information but not always working. Special routes are nearly impossible to get upgrade due to the lead factor. YVR to YYZ is one of the worst routes to get an upgrade if you are not a super elite holder. Sometimes the cheapest business fare is cheaper than Latitude, the only thing is that you don't get a refund if you cancel. In the last few years, it's getting worse and worse traveling in Canada. Good luck all
@@kyle604 I am connecting through YYZ so not much to choose from. Even flying via YYC makes it a challenge. I have flight passes and noticed that more and more flights are full even for FP flyers too Happy that you are lucky :)
I have booked a economy latitude from Delhi to Toronto for a trip in 2 weeks. I see that booking platform says waitlisted and You are inside the clearance window and eupgrade space is noy available. What are my changes to get upgraded to Business? or should i cancel this ticket and search for dates which has eupgrades available. I am 25K-silver member.
Your chances depend on how full the flight is, and how many people are ahead of you in terms of waitlist ranking: princeoftravel.com/guides/air-canada-eupgrades-waitlist-ranking/ - Steve
35k being waitlisted is quite risky, as there are lots of people ahead of you to get upgraded. We stick by our philosophy of finding an instant-upgradable seat with latitude fare if possible
@@PrinceofTravel That's what we did. We had enough eupgrades for the outbound and booked Lattitude and that upgrade went through, but the inbound has been waitlisted since we applied them (we applied for the eupgrade afterwards as we didn't have enough for both legs initially). The inbound flight still shows (we applied for the eupgrade in January) that it is within the window, but AC still has us waitlisted. They claim no R1's available, but not sure why they say it is eligible. I can't cancel the inbound and rebook because we used a companion pass (and the rate has skyrocketed).
Usually if you are transiting from an international flight to a domestic flights, you will need to pass through that country's immigration. So you will need to check if you need a visa to enter that country or not.
They started having more instantly confirmable space with cash bookings (vs points), but I recently even found eUpgrade space on points to Japan. - Steve
So true on the bumps. eUpgrades are Not always guaranteed. I have been downgraded from a confirmed eUprade at the gate more than once in 2023. My Wife recently on a Jan 2024 BKK to YVR was upgraded to Business and had a hard copy of Her boarding pass in hand. She was stopped at the gate and given a Premium Economy Seat instead. Plus they did not have a meal for her, so she got a economy class meal. Best of all, No refund on the eUpgrades.
The no refund on the eUpgrade is just kicking someone when they are down.
Sadly its not surprising that airlines screw people over by not refunding the eUpgrade. They should at a minimum refund the limited eUpgrade credits given they failed to deliver the product. Airlines really need to be regulated when it comes to selling tickets, upgrades and refunding people.
Well that just sucks!
Why do I get the feeling that Ricky is laughing at me in the thumbnail because I can’t seem to get to elite status…
It has been very confusing on their site. Thanks for the clarification.
Spot on, Ricky! Latitude attitude and eups are the way to go! Can you do a video on "R" space availability when eups are applied? If J is already full for example, latitude attitude may not apply.
You can even get bumped as a paying in full-business class customer. Happened to 3 out of 4 of us flying back from the DR to YYZ. All we know for certain is my assigned seat was broken but I still got a business class seat presumably because I was the only one of the 4 of us that had an aeroplan account. No other seats were inoperable so not certain why the rest of the travel companions got bumped.
Finally - after being either 50k or 75k for the past 10 / 12 years - and paying $599 year for a premium Visa Aeroplan Credit Card I have learned more about e upgrades than all the conversations I’ve had with AC agents! Until I retired the majority of my international travel was paid by the corporation I was an executive of. And what personal flights I was simply too lazy to figure out how to fly at lower price. Now as a retired person I have the time and interest to use the nearly million areoplan points and the 125 e upgrades I have. I just booked a return Vancouver- Sydney Australia departing Jan 25. 2025. Using points and e credits was so confusing and my calls with Aeroplan were long and confusing. Finally it turns out that the majority of my e credits expire on Jan 16 - 9 days from my flights! I wish I had starting watching these videos prior to getting started. I also question whether my long term loyalty to AC and the credit card I hold with TD is worth it.
It also depends where you live and which airlines is the most accessible from your location to other destinations. My guess is, Air Canada is still the most accessible to you. So it's probably still a good idea to maintain your loyalty to them. Naturally, if you live in London, then you can choose either British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, or Lufthansa if you live near Frankfurt and Munich. In Canada, there's really just Air Canada and westjet, and westjet doesn't give you these "Aspirational Travel" much.
this is amazing! i wish i had watched this years ago!
Thanks for the valuable content! Love your channel!
What I learned. F Aeroplan. Just going to fly a different airline.
being waitlisted seems like such a headache, essientlly giving up your orginally seats for a gamble. I was also told by air canada customer support that even if my ticket was to be instantly eupgraded that it was still not confirmed until the plane takes off. I honestly feel that on busy routes on long huals, this program will only be causing problems for travellers especially if there's more than one of ya.
i only save eupgrade for my long flight such as YVR-BKK/SYD/SIN. I can live with eco from YVR/YYC to YYZ or short flight
This is exactly the video on e-upgrade I was looking for. (I felt I have lost a million of chances of upgrading my flight to business class after watching this)😂
Can you use the upgrades for your spouse if booking their ticket?
In most situations you will need to be on the same itinerary as the person you’re looking to upgrade. Check out our guide here: princeoftravel.com/guides/air-canada-eupgrades/
- Steve
When you get only like 20 eupgrades and then a bit more based on status, spending 13 on a one way to sao paolo with 64k points seems too much considering the effort it took to get these points and eupgrades. All gone in one flight. The whole thing seems a bit silly given the often months or years of effort for a few hour experience.
Support! Everytime!
Missing; bumping from Premium Economy - to Business
Thank you Ricky!
Starting to wonder if chasing these statuses are even worth it. So much work just to get the status and the rewards are only okay. We still got to pay a large amount of points upfront too! In my case it only seems to make sense to use it for domestic travel within north America OR a one way ticket internationally. I do have a co branded credit card with most benefits already and 25k status.. but I also have a partner i am sharing points/credits with and the family sharing thing is still down. I also don't like how some flights show waitlist even for latitude attitude.. I would only book that if it guarantees me a business class.. but those are even maybes.. and I wouldn't book them otherwise.. would rather stick to economy flex flights. But the biggest issues is are these worth chasing when you can fly another airline economy for like half the price? or pay Air Canada economy prices just for status and points? So in a way you're paying for those eupgrades by just flying Air Canada when other airlines are half the price.
Status is never worth chasing, unless you can get it organically. Otherwise you are essentially paying more for the extra benefits.
~Chris
No, I don’t think I ever get an upgrade, I can never find the lounge take advantage of it
cuz u dum
If i book an economy class latitude or premium economy flexible and i use eupgrades to business classe but the flight showss waitlisted to business does it mean i still get instant to business class or i still would be waitlisted , can you help me understand this i am a little bit confused, thanks
You will be WL till you are at the gate and if there is room and depending on how many are in front of you (if you have 75k and some with 100k they go in front of you) you get the business seat.
I find that dealing with Air Canada Rouge does not have the same flow into Business via eUpgrades. Even when I purchase the most expensive selection in Rouge (Comfort in this case) I am still wait listed even when the page states that eUpgrades are available. This might work well with one ticket but not with a family of 3 with a 35k Status.
I have this same issue with a Lattitude fare on a regular Air Canada. The website says I'm within my clearance window (and has shown it this way for over a month since I booked but I'm still waitlisted. We called AC, and they said there are no R1 seats available right now, which means they probably shouldn't list it as being within the window in my opinion, but we are pretty new to the eupgrades so maybe that's how it always is? Air Canada twitter support refused to respond once we showed them that is still show within the clearance window.
@@JeffreyKolyn Yes, I was constantly having this issue. eUpgrade has only worked once for me. I was able to upgrade to Business from Economy on Air Canada Rouge from Toronto to Washington, DC. If you have ever flown Air Canada Rouge, going from Economy to Business is not worth it on Rouge planes, especially short-haul flights. I lost 60 credits because I "did not use them" within the year.
I finally spoke to someone in the know at Air Canada, who told me that most people and Air Canada Customer Service are left in the dark about exactly how it works. Her advice: buy the ticket when it states that eUpgrades are available, and buy the most expensive Economy or Premium Economy (Depending on what class you are trying to Upgrade to) Once you've purchased the ticket, do the eUpgrade if it states that they are available. If you get the upgrade right away, you are good and will be upgraded. However, if you are put immediately on the Waitlist, you go back online and get a refund for your ticket (By law, you have 24 hrs to do so). Then, go back and purchase a cheap ticket option. Still, do the eUpgrade and put yourself on the waitlist. If you go online, you can see how many Business Class or Premium Economy Seats are left. If there are quite a few seats left, you may get a chance, depending on your Status. The higher the status, the more likely it is to get upgraded. If you are still not upgraded by the clearance window, I would cancel and try to bid for an upgrade using points. I am starting to believe that eUpgrades are only as effective as your Status. If you are Super Elite, you will probably upgrade over the 25K holder.
Already I'm a business Class flyer
All this is useful information but not always working. Special routes are nearly impossible to get upgrade due to the lead factor. YVR to YYZ is one of the worst routes to get an upgrade if you are not a super elite holder.
Sometimes the cheapest business fare is cheaper than Latitude, the only thing is that you don't get a refund if you cancel.
In the last few years, it's getting worse and worse traveling in Canada.
Good luck all
I've had insane success between YVR-YYZ by traveling early morning or late at night. Seems like most of the SE business travelers fly during the day.
@@kyle604 I am connecting through YYZ so not much to choose from. Even flying via YYC makes it a challenge.
I have flight passes and noticed that more and more flights are full even for FP flyers too
Happy that you are lucky :)
Even as SE, I haven't been successful on the YVR YYZ route most flights.
@@mantekyeung313 Why is the route so busy?
I have booked a economy latitude from Delhi to Toronto for a trip in 2 weeks. I see that booking platform says waitlisted and You are inside the clearance window and eupgrade space is noy available. What are my changes to get upgraded to Business? or should i cancel this ticket and search for dates which has eupgrades available. I am 25K-silver member.
Your chances depend on how full
the flight is, and how many people are ahead of you in terms of waitlist ranking: princeoftravel.com/guides/air-canada-eupgrades-waitlist-ranking/
- Steve
I have 600,000 miles, but no Elite status!
If it shows me within my clearance window, should I be waitlisted with a lattitude fare and 35k status?
35k being waitlisted is quite risky, as there are lots of people ahead of you to get upgraded. We stick by our philosophy of finding an instant-upgradable seat with latitude fare if possible
@@PrinceofTravel That's what we did. We had enough eupgrades for the outbound and booked Lattitude and that upgrade went through, but the inbound has been waitlisted since we applied them (we applied for the eupgrade afterwards as we didn't have enough for both legs initially). The inbound flight still shows (we applied for the eupgrade in January) that it is within the window, but AC still has us waitlisted. They claim no R1's available, but not sure why they say it is eligible. I can't cancel the inbound and rebook because we used a companion pass (and the rate has skyrocketed).
i have a question, how would i know if i need a transit visa?
Usually if you are transiting from an international flight to a domestic flights, you will need to pass through that country's immigration. So you will need to check if you need a visa to enter that country or not.
i am from the us, and plan on traveling to philippines and be going through canada would i need a transit visa?@@PrinceofTravel
Please consult the appropriate government sources: www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/transit.html
If you say that you're going to link something below, then you should link something below!!!
You mention the link you will have below to the Air Canada website - can you point us in the right direction please Ricky? Thanks. 🙏
Which link are you referring to?
@@PrinceofTravelthe link to e-upgrade credits and charts on the air Canada website. You refer to it @ 3:40 in the video. Thanks!
www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/aeroplan/status/eupgrades/requirements.html#/
Never be able to use e-upgrade, useless.
They started having more instantly confirmable space with cash bookings (vs points), but I recently even found eUpgrade space on points to Japan.
- Steve
Sorry! You speak too far😂. There are many new comer in Canada. They can’t catch up the Content of your video
is that a bedbug egg on your lip???!!!🤮