How Do Air Canada Flight Passes Work?

Air Canada Flight Passes are pre-booked bundles of credits that can be redeemed toward flights between particular regions.

Flight Passes aren’t necessarily good deals for all travellers, but there are specific situations in which they can be valuable, and it’s worth understanding how they work to see if they’re something you wish to pursue.

Air Canada Flight Passes: The Basics

Flight Passes are pre-booked packages of one-way flights that may be redeemed for travel between specific geographical areas during a specific time period. 

In other words, rather than buying separate flights between two areas, either as round-trip or one-way bookings, you prepay for a bundle of one-way credits that may be redeemed at your leisure when you decide to fly. 

Air Canada is among the many airlines that offer Flight Pass products. Air Canada Flight Passes fall under two broad categories: Unlimited Flight Passes and or Fixed-Credit Flight Passes.

Unlimited Flight Passes

Unlimited Flight Passes are exactly what they sound like: you can travel as often as you’d like within a geographical area and during a specific time period. If there’s a time in your life when you need to go back and forth many times within a short timeframe, then these passes may be of use to you.

For example, if you were to purchase a three-month Across Canada Flex Unlimited Flight Pass, you’d be afforded the pleasure of flying across Canada to your heart’s content for three months.

As long as there are tickets available for purchase in the Economy (Flex) “M” fare category, you have up until one hour prior to departure to book your seat.

Doing so would cost you $4,508 per month, though, so you’d need to make sure that you’re flying often enough to make this pass worthwhile.

If you think this might be a savvy way to rack up a bunch of Status Qualifying Miles (SQM) or Status Qualifying Segments (SQS) to reach a higher tier of Aeroplan Elite Status, you’ll be sad to know that it doesn’t quite work this way.

Rather, with Unlimited Flight Passes, you’re awarded a fixed amount of SQM each month your credit card is charged, and the amount of SQM you get depends on the fare purchased. 

In the above example, as per the terms and conditions, 10,000 SQM would be deposited to your Aeroplan Elite Status account for each month your credit card is charged for the pass. Higher fares, such as Economy (Latitude),…