Frequently Asked Questions

One place you’re guaranteed to find our lowest prices is aircanada.com. When you complete your purchase on our website, you can change or cancel your booking with ease, request an upgrade, and even shop for your hotel or car rental -  right from our homepage. You can even confirm the status of your flight or check in up to 24 hours before your flight.

If you prefer to purchase your ticket with the help of an Air Canada agent, contact us - we’re there to help.

Travel agents are another great source of personalized service. Be sure to ask what fare type you'll be travelling on, and any important conditions on changes or cancellations. In North America, Air Canada has a very simple fare structure, but important differences exist between each fare type.

Travelling as part of a group?

If you're part of a group of 10 or more, you may be interested in our Meetings and Conventions or Group Travel services.

Like all other airlines, we’re required to collect taxes, fees and charges for a variety of purposes, including national security, infrastructure enhancement and airport maintenance. Other foreign taxes, fees and charges are collected on behalf of foreign governments. Airlines also collect surcharges in an effort to partially offset the volatility of and fluctuations in operating costs, such as the costs associated with the use of Canada's and other foreign countries' air navigational infrastructure and services, the costs associated with the price of fuel (including more expensive alternative fuel) and the costs associated with our environmental compliance obligations.

The amount you pay in taxes, fees, charges and surcharges on a ticket is based on your itinerary (e.g. the number of times you board a new flight and at what airport).

For example, on a typical ticket for an international itinerary, you can expect to pay:

• Canadian and provincial sales taxes
• Foreign taxes, fees and charges
• An airport improvement fee (levied by various airports across the country to fund airport improvements),
• A federal air travellers’ security charge to fund security personnel and security equipment
• Navigational, fuel or other surcharges
  

We’re committed to being as transparent as possible about which taxes, fees, charges and surcharges are collected with your purchase. For this reason:

• Our Special Offers and Select Flight pages display the base fare amount in addition to the approximate taxes, fees, charges and surcharges associated with a given itinerary, as well as the total price associated with the itinerary.
• You can see the total price you’ll have to pay and the breakdown of the amounts of applicable taxes and fees as well as other charges and surcharges for your itinerary:
  • prior to purchase, on the Review Booking page (just click on the ‘See details’ link)
  • after purchase, on your itinerary-receipt

Your travel agent should also be able to explain taxes, fees, charges and surcharges to you.
 

Air Canada will cancel any purchased ticket and provide a full refund without penalty up to 24 hours after purchase.

Beyond 24 hours of purchase, a non-refundable ticket offers no options in the event that an unexpected medical emergency or other unforeseen circumstance forces you to cancel your trip or modify your travel plans. And we can’t make any exception to the fare rules.

The best advice is to prepare and plan for the unexpected. Many travellers consider the purchase of cancellation insurance as a good investment against such risks. Some payment cards also cover trip cancellations; check with your bank or service provider. The time to make these decisions is when you purchase your ticket.

Ticket refundability depends on a variety of conditions, such as your itinerary as well as the fare type you purchased. Learn more about your fare options and our refund and cancellation policy.

Please note, no matter what type of fare you choose, Air Canada will cancel any purchased ticket and provide a full refund without penalty up to 24 hours after purchase.

We’re happy to help meet your medical or mobility needs at each step of your journey with our accessibility services. This includes:

• Helping you check-in, board, deplane and proceed to the arrivals area, as well as providing other assistance services.
• Handling your mobility aid (e.g. cane, walker) with priority, and disassembling and reassembling your battery-powered mobility aid.
• Providing individual safety briefings if you are deaf or a person with hearing loss, or if you are blind or have low vision.
• Offering a variety of special meals to meet your particular dietary needs and providing buffer zone seating for certain severe allergies.
• Accommodating service and support dogs aboard our flights.

So that we can make your travel experience as smooth as possible, we strongly recommend contacting Air Canada Accessibility Services at least 48 hours before departure, even when advance notice may not be required. We will, however, make a reasonable effort to accommodate requests made within 48 hours.

Here’s how you can reach the Air Canada Accessibility Services:

Phone:
1-800-667-4732 (toll-free for Canada and the United States)
1-514-369-7039 (long distance charges apply)

Fax:
1-888-334-7717 (toll-free for Canada and the United States)
514-828-0027 (long distance charges apply)

Email: accessible@aircanada.ca

Hours of operation (Eastern Time):
Monday to Friday: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The wonder of flying is infectious to people of all ages, and to none more so than a young child.

But if your child hasn’t quite caught the wonder of travel yet, there are a things you can do to make the flight as stress-free and entertaining as possible. For starters, it’s a good idea to arrive at the airport early, and make sure you bring your child's favourite food and a small quiet toy or blanket. And, of course, a good dose of patience and a smile will always go a long way.

You can also find a wealth of useful information and travel tips by going to our Children and Travel page.

We offer an Unaccompanied Minor (UM) service for children age 8 and up who are travelling alone. The service is available on non-stop flights only.

When you purchase this service, we’ll make sure your child is accompanied by our staff in the airport and that they are looked after on board by our in-flight crew. At destination, our airport staff will ask the person meeting your child for proof of identification in the form of a photo ID.

It is imperative that the unaccompanied minor service be requested at the time you complete your child’s reservation, so we can get all the information we need and make the necessary arrangements. Kindly note that the UM service cannot be arranged on the day of departure at the airport.

Our unaccompanied minor service is highly personalized. Accordingly, a fee applies each way per child.

Air Canada offers reduced bereavement fares if you need to travel because of an imminent death or a death in your immediate family.

You’ll be asked to submit appropriate documentation. This is simply to help us make sure that those benefitting from bereavement fares are the ones for whom it was intended. While we apologize for this extra step, it’s necessary to maintain the integrity of this important program.

Just the facts:

• Our Travel Documents page provides important information on passports and other documents needed when travelling for landed immigrants, permanent residents and passengers travelling with children.
• To find out about additional entry requirements for your trip, contact the local consulate or embassy of the country you plan on visiting.
  • You'll find a list of embassies on the Embassy WorldOpens in New Window website.
• For more information, visit the Transport CanadaOpens in New Window or Passenger ProtectOpens in New Window websites.

Beyond the facts:

Don't wait until the last minute to check your travel documents. Do this well in advance of your travel dates in case some of the documentation requires preparation and lead-time.

One key thing to remember is that your name on your travel documents must perfectly match your name on your ticket. (That's a legal requirement, not an airline rule.) Out of concern for security and because of heavy government fines, we will refuse boarding to passengers who are deemed to have improper documentation. 

Just the facts:

Code sharing refers to a practice through which a flight operated by one airline is jointly marketed as a flight by one or more other airlines. Through our codeshare partnerships, we place our designator code (AC) on flights operated by our codeshare partners, which allows us to provide you with worldwide services through an extensive network of convenient flight connections.

Your Air Canada itinerary receipt or your travel agent will tell you if any portion of your trip is on a non-Air Canada airline.

Behind the facts:

Airlines, including Air Canada, codeshare because it's a way to share resources and offer more frequent service. The effect of code sharing on our customers is minimal because we only codeshare with high-quality airline partners. But, we do believe it's important for customers to know which airline they will actually be travelling on, and that's why we will tell you at the time of ticket purchase if any part of your trip is actually on another airline.

Learn more about code sharing and what it means to you, the customer.

In the aviation industry, a direct flight is any flight between two places that carries a single flight number, but which may include one or more stops where customers don’t have to change planes.

Customers travelling on connecting flights need to change from one plane or airline to another at an intermediate point, called the connecting point, en route to their destination.

There are a few ways to choose your seat ahead of your flight:

1. When booking a new flight 
Select your seat from the seat map when you reach the Seat Selection screen.

2. After booking
From the My Bookings tab on the homepage, retrieve your booking and then look for the Change Seats link.

If you’re booking through an Air Canada reservations agent or your travel agent, you can also take advantage of advance seat selection. If you don’t choose advance seat selection, then you can select the best seat available by checking 24 hours in advance on aircanada.com or at check-in time at the airport.

You can also select your seat when you check in for your flight online, on your mobile device, or at an airport check-in kiosk.

Remember that advance seat selection comes included with some fares, whereas a fee will appy for others. Learn more about advance seat selection.

Looking for more space and convenience?

You may want to choose a Preferred Seat.

Yes, they’re critical to the on-time departure and, more importantly, the on-time arrival of your flight.

Online check-in is simply the best way to check in for your flight, and You can check in and print your boarding pass as early as 24 hours before your flight.

You can also check in at one of our airport kiosks up to 12 hours in advance, and print your own baggage tags at airports across Canada, in the U.S. and at London Heathrow.

Learn more about Check-in and boarding times.

Behind the facts:

Customers sometimes question the need to arrive so early for check-in and boarding. The fact is there's a lot that goes into making sure a flight leaves on time. For our part, we need to have an aircraft and crew ready to leave at the scheduled departure time. When you respect the check-in times, you're giving us a tremendous advantage in terms of getting every checked bag on the plane and issuing all the boarding passes - without a last minute rush. That's something we really appreciate.

Early check-in also gives you the time you need to pass through the various security screening points en route to your gate. These security processes and procedures are a fact of life in today's airports and they often take time. In the case of flights to the United States, you may also need to go through U.S. immigration and customs formalities before boarding.

Just the facts:

It depends on where you're going, the length of your flight, and the cabin you’ve chosen to travel in.

Take a minute to see what meals and beverages are typically served in all of our cabins, from Economy to Business Class. You can also learn more about our policy regarding customers with allergies, as well as our NutriCuisine products.

Just the facts:

Our prime objective is to let you know as early as possible if there's a schedule change or delay, so please make sure to provide us with accurate contact information at time of booking. We can't contact you if we don't have the right telephone or email information.

The best way to stay on top of the latest arrival and departure information for your flight is to sign up to receive an automatic email or SMS text message on your cell phone with one of our Flight Notification services. Real-time flight information is also available on our Flight Status page, or by calling our automated flight information system at 1-888-422-7533.

Passengers hate to arrive at the airport only to find that their flight has been delayed, and we hate to have to tell them. But, if you've already arrived at the airport, we'll do our best to let you know what's going on at regular intervals and keep you updated about the status of your flight. In the case of last-minute cancellations, we'll help you rebook on the next Air Canada flight with available seats, or cancel the ticket and refund you if you prefer.

Please refer to our General Terms and Conditions of Carriage for more information.

Just the facts:

In the case of delays caused by Air Canada, which are expected to last longer than 2 hours, we’ll offer a voucher for use at an airport restaurant or for our Air Canada Bistro service. We’ll also communicate with you at regular intervals to provide an update on the flight status with the latest, most accurate information available. In the case of an unplanned overnight stay caused by Air Canada, we’ll provide out-of-town customers with meal vouchers, transportation to and from the airport as well as hotel accommodations (subject to availability).

Behind the facts:

Without a doubt, long delays are one of the worst airline experiences, and we do everything we can to avoid them. But, they do happen.

We can't control the weather, power outages, acts of God, riots, traffic congestion, airport construction or security-related situations. In these cases, we won't provide compensation, but we’ll do our best to get you on your way as quickly as possible.

But when it's our fault, we'll take full responsibility for the situation. If the delay continues for a matter of hours, we’ll do our best to see that you get something to eat and drink. We’ll look after out-of-town customers who are trapped at the airport overnight and find them hotel accommodations (subject to availability).

Please refer to our General Terms and Conditions of Carriage for more information.

Just the facts:

Checked baggage allowances are fully outlined on our Checked Baggage page.

Please note that we can’t check your bag for delivery to another airline to carry it to your destination unless you can show a single ticket for travel on both Air Canada and the other airline.

If your bag was damaged

If you notice that your baggage has been damaged, it’s important to report it to an Air Canada baggage service agent within 24 hours for domestic travel and 7 days for international travel. Here’s what you need to know.

If you can’t locate your bag

If you've arrived on an Air Canada, Air Canada Express or Air Canada Rouge flight and you can’t locate your checked bag, it’s important that you notify an agent at the Air Canada or Air Canada Express baggage service counter immediately upon arrival at the airport. This will help accelerate baggage tracing.
If you arrived on a flight operated by another airline, you’ll need to notify a representative from that airline.
About travelling with valuable items

Because bags do sometimes get misplaced, the following items should always be stored in your carry-on bag:

• passport or other travel documents
• medication
• money, jewellery or other valuables
• cameras and electronic devices
• business documents or samples
• fragile and perishable items

It makes good sense to store these items in your carry-on baggage for your own protection and convenience, and because these items are excluded from our liability.

Identifying your bags

One of the best ways to protect against misplaced bags is to clearly identify them by attaching identification tags to the outside of your bags and placing this handy Baggage ID card inside them.

Regulations and liability

You should know that there are existing regulations and legislation which govern airline liability on domestic and international flights. The Warsaw Convention, for example, is an international convention that regulates liability for international carriage of persons, luggage or goods performed by aircraft.

Like most international airlines, we settle claims for lost or damaged baggage in accordance with these regulations. The Warsaw/Montreal Convention's international rules for liability are listed in the 'Insurance and Baggage Liability Limitations' section of the Delayed or Damaged Baggage page.

You may want to consider purchasing additional liability insurance if the standard liability limits don't meet your needs.

Our Restricted and prohibited items, carry-on and checked baggage pages provide essential information. We also encourage you to visit the Canadian Air Transport Security AuthorityOpens in New Window (CATSA) website.

Just the facts:

Yes, we do.

Behind the facts:

Airline passengers place a high value on refundable tickets (in case they can't make their flight, don't show up or decide to change travel plans). In these cases, overbooking is a means (certainly not perfect but, on the whole, pretty viable) that lets us offer refundable tickets without losing a lot of money.

In the rare circumstances (and it is rare) where you can't get on a flight due to overbooking, we offer compensation (in the form of a travel voucher or cash) and we make alternate arrangements to get you to your destination as quickly as possible.

Air Canada has committed to a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goal from all global operations by 2050, demonstrating its commitment to advancing climate action throughout its business. Our environmental approach to sustainability is two-fold: Leave Less and Do More. We aim to:

• Leave Less throughout the airline’s operations — less carbon in our atmosphere, less waste in our land and water, and less noise in our communities.
• Do More to address environmental issues — more collaboration and participation with industry partners, more involvement in communities the airline serves and with valued employees and customers to have an even greater impact in its efforts.

Learn more about what we're doing.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have an impact on climate change. You can make a difference by offsetting the estimated GHG emissions generated through your flight. We have partnered with CHOOOSE to provide verified carbon offsets to reduce the environmental impact of your flights. Through this program, you can help fund certified environmental projects which have a measurable impact both in Canada and around the world. Learn more*

* By clicking this link, you will enter CHOOOSE’s website. CHOOOSE’s terms and policies, including privacy and data gathering practices, will apply.

Just the facts:

Our Customer Relations page has all the information you need.

Behind the facts:

Start with our Customer Relations department! Some people want to send their letter right to the President, but, our Customer Relations employees are the experts at making sure that your comments get to the right people at the airline, and are shared with the appropriate department or group. If you have specific comments or complaints, give us as much information as possible, including any documentation you have, so we can follow up. You can expect to hear back from us within 30 days.

To find everything you need, like your points balance, profile information, and transaction history, simply sign in to your Aeroplan account using your Aeroplan number and password (or do the same on your Air Canada App).

If you’ve misplaced your Aeroplan number, you can retrieve it online, or call the Aeroplan Contact Center at 1-800-361-5373 for assistance.

NOTE: We have paused expiry of points until November 30, 2025. This means that between now and November 29, 2025, any Aeroplan points which would have expired, will not. Effective November 30, 2025, our normal 18-month expiration policy will apply.

Staying active is easy! Just earn or redeem at least 1 Aeroplan point within an 18-month period. Discover some of the interesting ways you can use your points, and find out more about our points expiry policy.

Have you been inactive for more than 5 years?

If your Aeroplan account has been inactive for 5 consecutive years, it has been closed. So, create a new Aeroplan account today! It’s fast and easy, and you’ll be back to earning points in no time.

We’ve got answers to many of the questions you may have about buying, gifting and transferring Aeroplan points.

Although Aeroplan points cannot be willed, you may request that the member’s points be transferred into your Aeroplan account if you are a named beneficiary of the late member’s estate. If you don’t have an account, we’ll open one for you using the information you provide.

Find out more about Aeroplan’s estate policy.

If you are missing points for a flight, please fill out our missing points request form.

If you are missing points from one of our financial, hotel, car rental, retail or special services partners, please visit this page.

Keep in mind, it can take up to 2 months for points to appear in your account in some cases.

Yes! You can use Aeroplan points to book a flight reward for anyone, even if you’re not travelling with them.

We understand plans can change quickly, so Aeroplan flight rewards can be changed or refunded up to two hours prior to departure. Flight reward changes and cancellations may be subject to a non-refundable fee. Learn more about change and cancellation fees. 

We currently have long-standing and important partnerships with TD, American Express and CIBC, and you can apply to them for an Aeroplan credit card - today. Visit aircanada.com/aeroplan-creditcards  to learn more about the cards available.

For airport benefits, including your free first checked bag, Priority Airport Services and Maple Leaf Lounge Access, just make sure your Aeroplan number has been added to your reservation. You can do so at time of booking, before travel via Manage My Booking, or while you check in. 

Bonus and Annual Worldwide Companion Passes, Maple Leaf Lounge One-Time Guest Passes and Status Qualification Boosts will be automatically credited to your Aeroplan account once the bank determines you are eligible. To use your companion passes or lounge passes, simply visit the 'Benefits' tab on your Aeroplan dashboard  and select the benefit.

Aeroplan Family Sharing enables family members to combine their points, without transfer fees, and make redemptions from the shared balance at no additional cost. Learn more about Aeroplan Family Sharing here.

If you wish to transfer points to another Aeroplan Member, you can do so at any time for a fee. If you are part of a family sharing pool, the transfer will come from the total pool balance and not your individual account.

To leave a family sharing pool, please contact the Aeroplan Contact Centre  by phone to be removed. The Family Lead can also call on behalf of a Family Member to request removal. Remember, you must stay in the pool for a minimum of three months before you can leave. The pool will end if all members leave or are removed.