Air Canada Business Class Basic: Is It Worth the Savings?

Jenn: [00:00:00] Hey, everyone, and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug Podcast. I am Jenn, joined by my partner in podcasting, Meggan. Hello, Meggan.

Meggan: Hello, Jenn

Jenn: Hello. I am here today to talk about an announcement that Air Canada made at the end of July, and that is two new fare options, and they are called Premium Economy Basic and Business Class Basic.

First of all, what are they? What are we even talking about? What are we even talking about? Okay, so Premium Economy Basic, uh, you still get to sit in the wider premium economy seats, you still get an upgraded meal, and priority boarding and baggage, same as you would with Premium Economy Standard is now what it is called.

But you give up being able to pick your [00:01:00] seat for free. You can pay to pick your seat, um, or they will assign one to you, and you will not have access to the lounge at all. In addition, you will only get one complimentary checked bag instead of two, and changes, if you wanna change your flight, uh, it's for a fee, and no refunds.

So you still get to sit in the seat, you still get the, the experience, but you lose some of the perks. Business Class Basic is similar, so you still get the business class onboard experience, which includes those business class seats, uh, upgraded meal, priority boarding and baggage. You do get Maple Leaf Lounge access, but you do not get access to the Signature Suite, which I think is just in Toronto and one other airport, m- Vancouver maybe. Don't quote me on that, people. You can look it [00:02:00] up. Um, and you, same as the Premium Economy Basic, you will need to pay for your seat selection if you want to do that, and you get one complimentary bag instead of two, changes are permitted for a fee, and no refunds. I do wanna mention that you are not eligible for upgrades, uh, for eUpgrades with either of these ticket classes.

Uh, but with both of them you do still earn Aeroplan points and SQCs same as usual. So these fares are available of flights that go to the Caribbean, Latin America, Mexico, South America, and Air Canada's Transatlantic joint venture markets. There are a few exclusions. So Meggan, I think the big question is, like, how much am I saving, right?

Right

Meggan: think th- I think this is a big one, yeah

Jenn: Yeah, this is the big one. So I did the research a little bit, looked [00:03:00] around on Air Canada's website and on Reddit, and it looks like both options are $100 cheaper compared to the standard versions of Premium Economy and Business Class. So Meggan, what are your thoughts? Would you, would you go with these options to save $100? I guess two, $200 if you're doing it both ways.

Meggan: I mean, that's a great question. First of all, I know people listen to this podcast, so I have to be diplomatic, but I think this is an embarrassing idea. Um, I, I think that it, I think they should have just kept that one in the vault, um, to save $100. Uh, that's, that's silly. I never book either of those fares, so I don't think this is I'm the target audience.

But honestly, anyone booking those fares probably aren't the target audience. Could, who would give up those things for $100 if you're booking business class anyway? So I, this affects me in zero ways, but I [00:04:00] am slightly embarrassed for the Air Canada company.

Jenn: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think that, you know, if you n- don't want a refund, you know, if you're not gonna want a refund, if you're not gonna change your flight,

Meggan: your money

Jenn: you don't... Well, you know, if you're like, "I'm definitely going," and if you don't care where you sit, and if you don't need a second bag, maybe you can save the 100 or $200 or whatever it is.

But, like, in general, I think, i- especially if you're gonna pay for the seat selection, you're already getting, you know, over the, the amount that you would just pay to be at the standard, um, premium economy and standard business class. So you really have to do the math to make sure that it makes sense. I, I will say, like, Air Canada is bringing themselves in line with other airlines do offer, like, a basic version of premium economy and business class.

So I understand why they're doing it

Meggan: $500 or something. Don't save me [00:05:00] 100.

Jenn: Ha-

Meggan: y- I know you're good cop and I'm bad cop, but save me more than $100

Jenn: Meggan, have you booked flights within Canada? There's no way they're gonna do that.

Meggan: Have you,

Jenn: Anyway,

Meggan: Canada?

Jenn: have you met Canada? Uh, that's all we have for this week's travel tip. Uh, if you wanna learn more about Aeroplan and Air Canada status, we have a full episode on that, so I'll link that in the show notes below.

Otherwise, you can find us on social media at Travel Mug Podcast and let us know what you think of these options. We'd love to hear your take. You can also find us on our website, travelmugpodcast.com. You can support the show through Buy Me A Coffee or by leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

And we will chat with you next week. And until then, don't forget your travel mug

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