The ultimate guide on bid upgrades with Air Canada

Bid upgrades are an excellent way to travel more comfortably for a fraction of the cost. Indeed, many carriers allow passengers to move to a premium cabin through Air Canada bid upgrades using cash or points.

Airlines prefer to sell these seats to consumers willing to pay full fare, but they also prefer to let them go at a discount via bid upgrades rather than leaving the seats empty.

This article focuses on bid upgrades with Air Canada.

Air Canada Bid Upgrades – Eligible Flights and Fares with Air Canada and Rouge

To find out if you have an eligible flight and fare for an upgrade with Air Canada or Air Canada Rouge, you can visit the AC Bid Upgrade webpage.

Not all flights are eligible for an Air Canada bid upgrade, for example:

You will need to visit the partner airline’s upgrade page for partner segments. When I traveled to New Zealand, I placed a bid upgrade for the AKL-LAX leg on Air New Zealand and separately on Air Canada for LAX-YUL.

Air Canada Bid Upgrade – How to make an offer?

As soon as you have booked your trip, you can find the “bid upgrade” option after logging into your Air Canada reservation with your reference code and last name.

You can place bid upgrades with Air Canada at any time up to 48 hours before departure.

You can also modify or cancel them until that window, unless they have already been accepted.

Bid upgrade prices depend on the original fare class, with higher fare classes generally having a lower price range.

As you can see here, there is an indicator of your bid’s “strength.” Obviously, the further you slide to the right, the better your chances of getting it. Your offer amount is per person and includes all taxes and fees.

And on this screen, you can click the toggle to make your offer with Aeroplan points.

If you are hesitating between making an offer in points or cash, check the valuation you are getting compared to what you estimate they are worth; the system will generally give you 1¢ per point while Milesopedia values them at 2¢ per point.

You may also receive an email inviting you to place a bid upgrade with Air Canada as departure approaches. Additionally, you may have the option to purchase a last-minute upgrade during check-in.

Regarding this last point, if a bid upgrade has already been confirmed and you decide to purchase an upgrade at check-in, you will not be refunded. For example, you bid for an upgrade from economy to premium economy, which was approved 48 hours before your flight, and you see an offer for business class during your check-in 24 hours before departure.

Approximately 48 hours before the flight, you will be notified by email if your bid was accepted or not, and your credit card will be charged if you obtained it (you keep your original seat if your bid is refused). Once confirmed, you cannot cancel it, and if it is rejected, it will be too late to adjust your bid.

If you must be rebooked on another flight through no fault of your own, Air Canada will try to maintain your upgrade if it is confirmed. However, if there are not enough seats or if alternative flights cannot accommodate you, you will be refunded if you return to your original class.

If your flight has more than one segment, you must make an offer for each segment individually. Check carefully what you are bidding on so you are not disappointed. For example, if you are traveling from Quebec to Montreal, then to Tokyo, the YQB-YUL bid will likely be much lower than the YUL-NRT bid you must place separately.

The instant upgrade option is also available on certain flights and allows you to secure the upgrade immediately, with confirmation sent within two hours of the request. If both upgrade options are displayed, you can only choose one.

Check the cost! The confirmed instant upgrade option could be close to the minimum requested for the bid. For example, on this itinerary to Tokyo, from economy to Premium Economy, the minimum bid for the YUL-NRT flight is $450, while the instant upgrade option is offered at $492 (while the offer for the return flight is $480 versus $1,179).

The original ticket’s fare conditions, including cancellation policies, rebooking fees, and frequent flyer mileage accumulation, will remain in effect even if you won the upgrade. You will benefit from a better baggage allowance, lounge access, etc.

Air Canada Bid Upgrade – The strategy for flying business class

Since the company wants to fill as many seats as possible and generate as much revenue as possible, you can get a general idea of your bid’s success through standard knowledge of supply and demand; if the cabin is almost empty, you can get away with a low offer, and if it is almost full, you risk being rejected even if you try the maximum.

For information on flight loads, Expertflyer is your friend. When you use the “Flight Availability” tool, you can check the seats available for sale. On Air Canada, the following letters represent unsold seats in each cabin:

For example, on flights AC303 and AC305 shown here, the maximum bid might not be enough, whereas the minimum bid should be more than sufficient for flight AC301; not only is the business class cabin rather empty, but economy also looks very open, meaning there are more seats to take at the front and fewer people competing with you for them with a bid upgrade!

Although the highest number you can see is 9, it does not exactly represent the actual number of passengers but remains a good indicator since there are still at least 9 unsold seats; some aircraft have 12 business class seats like the A-220 while a wide-body can have 32.

On that note, make sure you know the aircraft type you are bidding on before doing so. You might be disappointed if you win a bid on an A-220 bound for Los Angeles when you had the lie-flat pods of an A-330 in mind.

Last-minute Air Canada upgrade at a lower cost

Sniper strategy: wait until the last minute to place your bid upgrade with Air Canada; you will have a clearer idea of your chances and might be able to get away with a reasonable offer. Similarly, do not put the lowest amount, but a bit higher, to weed out everyone who placed the minimum bid.

Air Canada Bid Upgrade – Is the price worth it?

Certainly, Air Canada bid upgrades are a way to travel in a superior cabin without paying full fare.

The range of offers will vary depending on the fare you purchased; the fare you paid will impact the minimum and maximum amounts. Indeed, if you purchased a premium economy ticket, you will be able to bid less to be upgraded to business class than someone sitting in economy.

Here is a cost breakdown based on four bookings of the same YUL-NRT round-trip itinerary, but booked at different fares. Yes, Japan is super trendy and I was able to compare several bookings from my friends.

Friend	Price	Total cost	Bidding range for J
A	Economy Standard	$1,400	$1,300 to $2,500
B	Flex Economy	$1,200	$1,200 to $2,400
C	Premium Economy Standard	$2,500	$850 to $1,900
D	Economy Standard	85,000 Aeroplan points	$1,300 to $2,500

There is no error in the table; friend B managed to get a flexible economy fare at a lower price than friend A in standard economy; the itinerary is the same, but the dates are different. However, we can see that even though friend A paid more initially, their bid range is higher than friend B’s. This is because the tickets are on different fares (letters).

Friend D, who redeemed Aeroplan points for their standard economy flight, has the same bid upgrade range as friend A, who purchased the same fare but paid in cash.

Friend C ensured a minimum of comfort by purchasing Premium Economy, and their price range is lower than my friends who booked in economy.

Since the cost of bid upgrades is added to the original ticket price and is calculated separately for each leg, here is what our friends could pay to be moved to business class if their offer is successful:

Friend	Initial cost	Bid cost	Total cost
A	$1,400	+ ($1,300 to $2,500) x 2	From $4,000 to $6,400
B	$1,200	+($1,200 to $2,400) x 2	From $3,600 to $6,000
C	$2,500	+ ($850 to $1,900) x 2	From $4,200 to $6,300
D	85,000 points	+ ($1,300 to $2,500) x 2	85,000 points + $2,600 to $5,000

A full-fare round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo costs between $7,000 and $8,000. Therefore, if you can win an upgrade with Air Canada with a low offer, it amounts to getting about a 50% discount on your fare.

On the other hand, if you really want business class and are willing to bid the maximum, it may be worth checking what the actual cost of a confirmed business class seat is and evaluating the difference.

This would be a good deal if you were paying in cash, but check out the following options for cheaper and more predictable solutions.

Air Canada Bid Upgrades – Comparison with eUpgrades and Reward Fares

eUpgrades

When you want to travel in a premium cabin, what is the best option between using eUpgrade credits and making a bid upgrade with Air Canada?

With eUpgrades, it is possible to know the cost in advance (number of eUpgrade credits with or without a cash supplement). Additionally, you can get an instant upgrade if space is available; you can find this information on Expertflyer and directly on the Air Canada search results page, where you can see “Eligible for upgrade” or “You will be on the waitlist.”

I consider the latter solution to be like improvising a bid upgrade since you will only know shortly before departure. If getting an upgrade is a bonus and not important, you can do either.

This type of control with immediate confirmation can be worth it if business class is very important to you.

Upgrades on Air Canada without being on the waitlist

eUpgrades may also be available earlier, depending on your status and the ticket price. This means that Air Canada will access bid upgrades after all eUpgrades are confirmed, which is at the latest 3 days before the flight, compared to 48 hours before.

Furthermore, eUpgrades credits have a 24-month validity period if you hold a premium Aeroplan card such as the Aeroplan^MD* American Express^MD Prestige Card.

It is therefore wise to use them if you do not have such a credit card in your wallet or if you have too many eUpgrade credits before considering a bid upgrade.

Similarly, bid upgrades can be practical for short or daytime flights when you prefer to be at the front but do not mind staying in a seat that is not lie-flat.

On the other hand, if you do not have access to eUpgrade credits, you will have to make an offer in cash or points with the bid upgrade option. Although it depends on your offer amount and the fare paid, it remains a way to turn left at a lower cost.

Upgrading on Air Canada with Aeroplan points

The basis of travel hacking is to avoid paying with your hard-earned cash, and when you consider all the ways we can accumulate points in Canada with credit cards, a strategy with points also makes more sense.

If you are just starting out, many credit cards offer excellent welcome bonuses to get you started in this hobby. For example, the TD^® Aeroplan^® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card can allow you to fly one-way to many destinations in business class if you want to taste the experience of a first-class flight without breaking the bank.

You can also look to cards such as the American Express Cobalt^® Card to accumulate a steady stream of points for your future travels, whether in economy or business class. Its 5X accelerator on organic spending is the best you can find, and these points are transferable to Aeroplan, among various other programs.

You must always do the math; calculate the value of your points and evaluate your options; the bid upgrade system may ask you for a minimum of 40,000 points to move from economy to business class from Montreal to Vancouver, whereas you could book a confirmed ticket for about 25,000 Aeroplan points.

As for our Tokyo example, I admit it is sometimes difficult to get reasonable prices with AC’s dynamic chart, but there is often a little gem here and there waiting to be found. For example, I found this fare of 73,600 Aeroplan points a few days before the flight; that’s all you would have to pay compared to buying an economy ticket and a bid of $1,200 or 120,000 points to hope for an upgrade.

Conclusion

Upgrading with Air Canada is an excellent alternative for traveling comfortably at a lower cost, and it is offered by most airlines worldwide. Given that Air Canada has a very good system with eUpgrades and it is very easy to earn points, I prefer more predictable options.

However, if your only way to travel in business class is to pay full fare in cash or an outrageous dynamic fare in points, rather than improvising on a bid, I would think about it over and over again.

I have placed successful and unsuccessful bids in the past; you just need to have the right mindset and know that you can win or lose. Bid upgrades should be used when the upgrade in question is not that important, but would still be very much appreciated.

Have you ever placed a successful bid upgrade with Air Canada or other airlines? Join our community and share your wins!

Full terms and conditions regarding offer upgrades with Air Canada can be found here.