Seat assignments with Air Canada?

[JustinPlusLauren]

We have a flight booked coming up with Air Canada and we aren't sure if there are seat assignments already for us or not. Does anyone know if we get to choose our seats or when we can find out this info? When I sign in on the website there is no way of telling, and our TA isn't answering any of my questions about this.

Thanks!!

 

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[CruiserBruce]

Do you have a booking number? You can log in, although I admit the Air Canada website isn't the most friendly, particularly if on a code share.

[OVgirl]

Air Canada has different ticket fares. If you booked Tango, there is a charge to pick your seat before check in, but it can be done. If you booked Flex or higher, you should be able to choose your seat for no charge..

 

Just go to the Manage My Booking tab and enter your booking number.

Then you should find a tab to view/change seat selection.

You should be able to see the seat you have been assigned and change it.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited January 1, 2014 by OVgirl

[JustinPlusLauren]

The view/change seat selection is grayed out, and I am not able to click it. My TA made the booking under a special travel agent group way (I'm not too familiar with it!) to get us a better price. It won't let us see where our seats are, or if we're able to choose them or change them.

[kenish]

Although I'm not too familiar w/ Air Canada, it sounds like the lowest-tier fares do not allow seat requests for free. From your description of events you may have a bulk or consolidator (unpublished) fare. In that case it may not be available at all.

 

Why won't your TA answer the question? That's their job and I'd be very peeved if they wouldn't / couldn't provide an answer.

 

What's the complete fare code for your ticket? Here's a list of fare classes: http://www.flyertalk.com/the-gate/blog/25110-several-air-canada-fare-classes-migrate-from-flex-to-tango.html The complete fare code is the first letter (S,W,K,etc) and all the letters/numbers that follow. Someone can look up and tell you what you've bought...since your TA won't tell you!

[FlyerTalker]

Remember, "better" price often means that you are getting a ticket with considerably less than what a normal priced ticket would cost. But, if price is the main object, then you get what you paid for.

 

As for your T/A not responding....it could very well be that they don't know themselves. If they are basically a "cruise agency", their knowledge and skills for air may be quite limited. Which again leads to....you get what you pay for.

 

Before I would have ANY agent work for me, I would be doing due diligence on the skill sets of the staff that would be working on my behalf. And if they won't give you that info either, that says much in itself.

[Gunner22aa]

I fly AC often for both business and pleasure. If you booked your ticket at their lowest fare class Tango you will not be able to select your seat until 24 hours prior to the flight when it opens up for online check in unless you pay for it earlier. Also some seats will not be available to you unless you pay extra for them as well. Exit rows and bulkhead seats that have a bit more leg room are considered premium and they charge extra for them.

[RickT]

If the seat selection section is greyed out it seems unlikely that you can choose or even find out what seats you have been assigned. It might however be worth a quick call to Air Canada to see. I've had this happen before and once or twice I was able to choose my seats, and another time I wasn't until 24 hrs prior to check in.

[Ashland]

This is all very surprising...I booked (myself) using Air Canada for my last May (2013) outbound Alaska cruise flight LAX-YVR and had no trouble selecting my seats (Tango) when I booked with no extra charge...unless things have changed...Seating location is very important to us and would never leave it (up-in-the-air) :D

[JustinPlusLauren]

It was definitely booked through a consolidator at a lower price. I haven't been entirely pleased with my TA and I did book through a cruise agency at their retail location. I will likely choose a different TA for my next cruise. It would be nice if he did get back to me about this, but it sounds like I'm going to have to choose seats 24 hours before when we check in online... If we are allowed to do that! I hope so.

 

As for the fare code on our tickets, is that our booking reference number? In that case it begins with a Q.

 

Thank you for all of your help everyone!

 

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[kenish]

It was definitely booked through a consolidator at a lower price.

 

As for the fare code on our tickets, is that our booking reference number? In that case it begins with a Q.

 

Thank you for all of your help everyone!

 

If it's a consolidator ticket it's excess inventory that AC sold off in bulk months ago to stop any further expense of marketing and processing the reservation. Definitely read the sticky at the top of this forum for more info. You're the consolidator's customer, not AC's so the bad news is you may not be able to request seats at all. Best bet is to call AC...they should be able to explain it and will either accommodate you or point at the consolidator for further assistance.

 

The fare code might be the "booking reference number". Per the earlier post, the first letter is the booking class and won't help in determining the exact rules. The entire fare code is required...but since it's a conso ticket the fare rules may be unavailable since the fare is unpublished.

 

No matter what, IMHO it's completely unprofessional and even negligent for your TA to not provide an answer. If it happened to me, I'd give my TA one last chance before going to their supervisor or filing a complaint with the board, association, or government agency the TA is accountable to.

Edited January 2, 2014 by kenish

[JustinPlusLauren]

Yes, I'm not too happy with my TA... I'm definitely the planning type who likes to get answers when I ask, and I find he is a bit slow or flaky about things! I might try bugging him one more time and then I will try calling AC to see if they can explain it to me. I guess my main concern is that I want to be seated beside my boyfriend and not somehow seated apart from him! We did book the seats together so hopefully they know to seat us together. Fingers crossed for a window seat, too.

 

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[RickT]

Yes, I'm not too happy with my TA... I'm definitely the planning type who likes to get answers when I ask, and I find he is a bit slow or flaky about things! I might try bugging him one more time and then I will try calling AC to see if they can explain it to me. I guess my main concern is that I want to be seated beside my boyfriend and not somehow seated apart from him! We did book the seats together so hopefully they know to seat us together. Fingers crossed for a window seat, too.

 

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Hate to say it but having a higher class ticket doesn't even guarantee that these days. My friend just flew to FLL for a cruise and had seats pre-selected months prior. When they went to web check in they found they had their seats reassigned and were no longer in the same row. Same thing happened to me with Porter.

[Ashland]

Hate to say it but having a higher class ticket doesn't even guarantee that these days. My friend just flew to FLL for a cruise and had seats pre-selected months prior. When they went to web check in they found they had their seats reassigned and were no longer in the same row. Same thing happened to me with Porter.

Checking on flight changes to my reservations frequently has worked for me..especially when doing the 24 hour boarding pass checkin...Although changes of equipment does happen even at the last minute.

[JustinPlusLauren]

I think I'll do the 24 hour boarding pass check-in .... going to even buy some printer ink for the printer just to print off the boarding passes lol. My TA did get back to me and said that he is on vacation at the moment but will look into it when he gets back...at least that explains why he wasn't getting back to me!

[em-sk]

I think I'll do the 24 hour boarding pass check-in .... going to even buy some printer ink for the printer just to print off the boarding passes lol. My TA did get back to me and said that he is on vacation at the moment but will look into it when he gets back...at least that explains why he wasn't getting back to me!

 

Q use to be Tango + and included free seat selection. They changed all the code in the last year and I am not certain what it i now.

 

What I have found in is if the reservation was made by a travel agent and is still under the control of the travel agent it cant be changed online. If you don't want to wait, you need to give Air Canada a call, there agents can take over control of the reservation from the TA and then make changes.

 

If you like using smart phones when you do the online check-in you can sent the boarding pass to your smart phone, and use the phone for security and boarding. Also if you do online checkin and don't printout the boarding pass you can still print it out at the airport from one of those checkin machines.

Edited January 3, 2014 by em-sk

[Hyundaigirl]

We have a flight booked coming up with Air Canada and we aren't sure if there are seat assignments already for us or not. Does anyone know if we get to choose our seats or when we can find out this info? When I sign in on the website there is no way of telling, and our TA isn't answering any of my questions about this.

Thanks!!

 

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

 

Hi if you do have a booking reference or locator code - it's a 6 digit combo of letters and numbers - call air canada reservations now and ask to select your seats. I did this recently on choice air flights to Rome. Choice air couldn't select seats for me and I couldn't do it on line on their site either. But it was a piece of cake to call AC give them the booking reference and I had my seats in a matter of minutes. Even if you don't have the number trying calling anyway as there might be some other way to locate the booking code.

[FlyerTalker]

Hi if you do have a booking reference or locator code - it's a 6 digit combo of letters and numbers - call air canada reservations now and ask to select your seats. I did this recently on choice air flights to Rome. Choice air couldn't select seats for me and I couldn't do it on line on their site either. But it was a piece of cake to call AC give them the booking reference and I had my seats in a matter of minutes. Even if you don't have the number trying calling anyway as there might be some other way to locate the booking code.

WRONG.

 

It depends on the fare basis of the ticket, not if you have the locator.

 

Perhaps it was the correct fare basis in your case, but that is NOT the case for all AC tickets.

[Hyundaigirl]

WRONG.

 

It depends on the fare basis of the ticket, not if you have the locator.

 

Perhaps it was the correct fare basis in your case, but that is NOT the case for all AC tickets.

 

I still think its worth a try.

[em-sk]

Looking at the Air Canada info (Miles Chart) "Q" class looks to be flex. Flex usually have free seat selection.

Edited January 4, 2014 by em-sk

[FlyerTalker]

I still think its worth a try.

"Try" is a lot different than "I had no problem doing this, so you should be able to as well". Which was the message in your post.

 

Locator information is just that....the way to locate the ticket. It is not a) the ticket number, b) the fare basis, c) the fare rules, or d) anything else other than the way to find the reservation. And even then, it's only the locator for one airline/GDS system - I've had itineraries with five different locators, each for a separate airline in the ticket.

[Hyundaigirl]

"Try" is a lot different than "I had no problem doing this, so you should be able to as well". Which was the message in your post.

 

Locator information is just that....the way to locate the ticket. It is not a) the ticket number, b) the fare basis, c) the fare rules, or d) anything else other than the way to find the reservation. And even then, it's only the locator for one airline/GDS system - I've had itineraries with five different locators, each for a separate airline in the ticket.

 

Hey FlyerTalker - I'm not going to get into an argument with you. But if the original poster has concerns about being able to book the seats then all I'm suggesting is its worth a try calling the airline. Thats all I meant.

[kenish]

Looking at the Air Canada info

 

"Q" class looks to be flex. Flex usually have free seat selection.

 

You're correct that Q is the fare class. But as posted earlier, that could mean almost anything. The *full* fare code (all the letters after the Q) needs to be known to be meaningful. Most likely, published Q-class fares are as you and the AC chart state...but unpublished Q fares (which OP's seems to be) may have a fee for a seat request, or may not allow them at all. Devil's in the details.

[Coolcruise02]

Hey FlyerTalker - I'm not going to get into an argument with you. But if the original poster has concerns about being able to book the seats then all I'm suggesting is its worth a try calling the airline. Thats all I meant.

 

Some people just like to be difficult. Ignore them!

[travelplus]

You have two options.

 

Option 1 is to pay the seat assignment fee now.

 

Option 2 is to wait until the 24 hour mark(and do it early) and select your seat during online Checkin.

 

The final and not the best option is to get your seat on the day of departure at the airport.

 

Consolidator Tickets for the most part do allow seat assignments and upgrades to extra legroom seating.

 

I have booked with a Consolidator and I was able to select my seats online with the Passenger Record Locater Code.