How to Use Air Canada Same-Day Airport Standby

One option available to travellers booked on eligible Air Canada fares is same-day airport standby.

This feature lets travellers waitlist for an earlier flight than the one on which they originally booked.

If you need to get to your destination earlier, this can be a very useful option to take advantage of, especially since it doesn’t cost anything extra.

What Is Air Canada Same-Day Airport Standby?

Air Canada same-day airport standby is the ability to fly on an earlier Air Canada flight than the one you were originally booked on at no additional cost.

It’s subject to availability, and may be restricted to certain routes depending on the fare purchased. However, if you’re eligible, it applies to all passengers, regardless of Aeroplan Elite Status.

Flying on an earlier flight requires there to be multiple flights between two particular cities in a day. After all, it’d be impossible to standby for an earlier flight that doesn’t exist.

The routes for which you can standby depend on the original fare purchased, and you can find the availability outlined on the fare breakdown chart for your origin and destination.

All cash fares except for Economy (Basic) fares are eligible for same-day standby, but some are restricted to certain routes, as we’ll discuss below.

For tickets booked with Aeroplan points, you can standby for earlier flights, too. Since Aeroplan tickets aren’t available in Economy (Basic), you’re able to stand by with all fares, although some are restricted to certain routes only.

In the charts, note that free same-day standby in the Economy (Standard), Economy (Flex), Premium Economy (Lowest), and Business Class (Lowest) fare categories is restricted to “select routes” only.

In these fare categories, standby is only allowed on three particular travel corridors with many scheduled flights per day:

• Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa
• Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary
• Toronto and New York (Newark, JFK, LaGuardia)

Since there are multiple flights each day between each of the above cities, this means you can stand by for an earlier flight between Toronto and New York, Toronto and Montreal, or Vancouver and Edmonton, as well as the other cities within each grouping. 

There’s no additional fee for same-day airport standby between these cities, so doing so won’t put an unwelcome dent in your wallet.

Note that with the aforementioned fares, you cannot stand by…