Air Canada is now offering the Student Flight Pass to allow students to return to campus, return home or take in some last minute vacation breaks. These are pre-paid packages of one-way flights that have locked-in pricing, flexible bookings with no blackout dates and valid for 12 months.
What is it?
These pre-paid packages consist of four or six one-way flight credits in Standard or Flex fare.
When can you fly?
From the purchase date, you have 12 months to use them, including peak periods. Note however, that a peak surcharge applies on the Standard fare Flight Pass option for travel in North America from December 16, 2021, through January 6, 2022, inclusively.
Who can buy?
Full-time and part-time students with a valid student ID card and an Aeroplan membership.
Where can you use it?
Flight Pass zones allow you to enjoy flights within Canada, between Canada and the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Bonus
If you purchase these by September 22, 2021, you will also earn bonus Aeroplan points of upto 4x per $1 spent.
You do need to register online to earn the bonus Aeroplan points.
So what are the benefits of this?
Locked-in prices
The price per flight is guaranteed and will not increase based on dynamic pricing and if booking closer to travel date.
Flexible booking
You can book as late as 1 hour before your flight – 1 hour before a flight travelling within North America and 2 hours before a flight travelling to and from Europe and Asia.
Seat selection
You can pre-select a seat at the time of booking and not have to wait until online check-in to select your seat.
Ease of use
You can easily book, change or cancel with the Flight Pass app than can be downloaded from both the App Store and Google play.
Which one to buy?
There are 19 zones to pick from, depending on where you want to travel and an option to purchase either 4 or 6 Flight credits.
The prices range from $646 for 4 flight credits for travel within Alberta in Standard to $9066 for 6 flight credits between Asia to Eastern Canada in Flex.
The main benefit of booking Flex over standard is that you get 1 free checked bag. However if you already have a Aeroplan co-branded card that already gives you a free checked bag, you can opt for the Standard.
So, looking at an example of the Ontario zone, this is useful if the students family is in Toronto for e.g. and is going to University in Ottawa, then they can take 2 return trips from $827 or 3 return trips from $1240.
Some points from the fine print to keep in mind are:
– This Offer is valid for new purchases made between August 17 – September 22, 2021.
– 1 Flight Credit = 1 one-way flight, per person, including connecting flights.
– Bonus Aeroplan points are not Status Qualifying Miles (SQM) and do not count towards Aeroplan Elite Status.
– In order to participate, you must be a Canadian resident.
– The passes can only be used by the Purchaser and cannot be shared or transferred.
In conclusion, this is a good way to lock in fares for students and still have the flexibility to book later if circumstances change without having to worry about higher fares closer to travel date.
Written by Dominic Fernandes aka CanadaPointsGuy.
Image courtesy of aircanada.com.