Air Canada upgrade

I was lucky enough some time ago to buy two roundtrip tickets via Toronto from Washington/Dulles to Dubai for a total of $1,340.

Yesterday I spent a total of $400 more to get all the legroom I could buy, on Row 18. I feel this was money well spent because we'll be on that 777 for ages, and a similar 777 flight from Buenos Aires to DFW in regular seats was less than comfortable.

So? Here's the trick. If you are like me and got a bargain from AC's partner United, you need to call United to get the AC "locator" code (different from United). I then spent time with an AC agent looking at upgraded seating arrangements. I'm lucky I was early enough to get good seats!

This is for Christmas/NYE. That's one reason for my doing this early.

I was lucky enough some time ago to buy two roundtrip tickets via Toronto from Washington/Dulles to Dubai for a total of $1,340.

 

Yesterday I spent a total of $400 more to get all the legroom I could buy, on Row 18. I feel this was money well spent because we'll be on that 777 for ages, and a similar 777 flight from Buenos Aires to DFW in regular seats was less than comfortable.

 

So? Here's the trick. If you are like me and got a bargain from AC's partner United, you need to call United to get the AC "locator" code (different from United). I then spent time with an AC agent looking at upgraded seating arrangements. I'm lucky I was early enough to get good seats!

 

This is for Christmas/NYE. That's one reason for my doing this early.

Not so much a "trick." Rather, SOP with Star Alliance partners. Nonetheless, thanks for bringing this to the attention of those folks who may not fly that much.

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If the flights are in total on Air Canada metal, one is probably better off booking on them directly than via UA.

UA does not list or sell PE seats on Air Canada. If one wants the upgrade from Economy to PE, they must follow the procedures outlined by the OP. Prices for the upgrade, like any ticket prices, can change daily and is based on the Class of ticket originally purchased. If one has a discount bulk rate ticket acquired from a consolidater ( cruise line) the cost to upgrade can be significant.

Also be aware, that if you have no status on Air Canada, they will limit the number and selection of seats for which you can later buy the upgrade. Just because a seat shows as available on their website, does not mean they will sell that seat to you on this type of upgrade situation.

I bought the tickets from United because they sold it for half the Air Canada price. I am the ultimate cheap Charlie.

I did what I said in the previous post and everything worked out well. The Row 18 seats, going and coming, were $100 each, or a total of $400. Worked for me.

Same with most codeshare flights. You need the PNR for the airline on which you are flying. For many AC flights, if you didn't book them directly w/AC, you can't do advance seat selection at all.

You usually don't have to call UA to get your other PNRs. Just go to your itinerary on UA's webpage and under your UA confirmation number it usually says, "this reservation contains partner flights" and there's a clickable link that says, "view additional confirmation numbers."

I am usually flying on SW and so reserving is so easy. Information like above is so foreign and new to me! I am having to fly from Denver to Toronto (only 3 hrs.) and only non-stop is Air Canada and United. I have booked with AC and then I read here that United is cheaper?! So I rush over to United's site and find the following: for the same exact flight in Business Lowest, I booked with AC and was able to pick my seat now for $450pp(only $40 more pp than Economy they were offering after adding on baggage and better seat costs, so went for Business!) it would cost me $2550pp on United and cannot pick seats ahead of time! Was I just lucky or what is going on? As I said, all these new decisions are foreign to me because of my always flying SW so far in a long time.

Pooh

You’re post is somewhat confusing. Here’s a couple factors.

1. Airfares change regularly. Often the fares on partner airlines are the same, but not always, so people can occasionally take advantage of pricing spreads. There is no UA being less than CA rule. Might happen or might be reverse on any given day.

2. Many airlines only allow one to choose seats on their metal. One can often take the flight info to the partner line and select seats. Some will allow that for free, others will charge for seat selection, while others won’t allow it (for Economy tickets) until just prior to checking.

I am usually flying on SW and so reserving is so easy. Information like above is so foreign and new to me! I am having to fly from Denver to Toronto (only 3 hrs.) and only non-stop is Air Canada and United. I have booked with AC and then I read here that United is cheaper?! So I rush over to United's site and find the following: for the same exact flight in Business Lowest, I booked with AC and was able to pick my seat now for $450pp(only $40 more pp than Economy they were offering after adding on baggage and better seat costs, so went for Business!) it would cost me $2550pp on United and cannot pick seats ahead of time! Was I just lucky or what is going on? As I said, all these new decisions are foreign to me because of my always flying SW so far in a long time.

 

Pooh

Yes since SW does not have business class and since they do not interline with any airlines they have a simpler business model.

Basically AC and UA are alliance partners. Airlines within a given a alliance will regularly sell each others flights. When they do this they pay each other a discounted rate. This is called an interline if it keeps the original operators flight number and it is called a codeshare if the airline doing the sale puts it number on the flight.

End result is it is sometimes cheaper to buy from one of the other partners. No different that a grocery store selling Starbucks ground coffee at a different price than a Starbucks store.

If you buy from a different airline in the alliance you may have to call the operating airline to reserve your seat. When you do that you need the operating airlines PNR number so the operating airline can find the reservation. If you don't have the PNR and a friendly agent on the phone they can probably search for your reservation based on other details.

For flights between North American and Europe - United, Air Canada, Lufthansa (and their subsiduries such as Swiss etc.) also operate as a joint venutre where they pool all their flights and split the profits.

The main reason for all of this is airlines (with some limited exceptions) only operate flights inside their home country or between their home country and another country. However, passangers want access to a global network. The airlines form these international alliances.

SW has focused more on being a domestic US airline and just recently started to fly internationaly. That has let them avoid a lot of this complexity.