Enjoy extra comfort with eUpgrades

If you’re travelling on a codeshare flight (i.e., a flight marketed by another airline but operated by Air Canada), please see an Air Canada agent at check in at the airport on your day of travel to request an upgrade.

Note: For some codeshare flights (like those marketed by United Airlines) the eUpgrade must be requested before check in.

In some cases, an eUpgrade add-on may apply. An eUpgrade add-on is a supplementary payment in cash, which may be required depending on the fare paid. Add-on rates apply per direction and per upgraded passenger and include all applicable taxes.

Should an eUpgrade add-on apply, we’ll ask you to provide your credit card details for payment when you request your upgrade. eUpgrade add-ons are priced in the currency used to book the itinerary, but are charged in CAD.

Only credit cards are accepted as a form of payment.

We’ll ask for your credit card details regardless of whether the upgrade clears in advance or on the day of departure at the airport. Rest assured, though, that your credit card will only be charged if the upgrade is successful once the flight departs. You will then receive a receipt by email indicating the eUpgrade add-on payment status.

Cancelling an upgrade in advance

You can cancel a waitlisted eUpgrade request any time before the flight closes by going to your eUpgrade account, or with the assistance of an Air Canada representative.

To cancel a confirmed eUpgrade, you'll need to contact us directly. If you choose to cancel your upgrade and your originally purchased Economy or Premium Economy booking class is no longer available, you may need to pay an applicable fare difference. If you're travelling on a Latitude Flight Pass, you can cancel your confirmed eUpgrade subject to the terms and conditions of your Flight Pass.

Cancelling an upgrade after the airport standby list has been processed

Once the flight has closed and your eUpgrade has cleared to a higher cabin, you can ask to be downgraded to your original cabin, and we will be happy to assign a seat to you in that cabin if one is available.

We cannot guarantee that you will be reassigned the seat you had previously selected or were assigned.

In cases where you are entitled to a refund, such as when your upgrade doesn’t clear, your eUpgrade credits will be returned to your eUpgrade account within 96 hours of the arrival of your last flight. If, after 96 hours, the credits have not been returned to your account, you can report an eUpgrade discrepancy via our online form.

It takes approximately 48 hours for credits to be deposited once an eligible activity* has been completed.

Following an eligible Flight Pass activity, it may take up to three weeks for eUpgrade credits to be deposited into your account.

* Eligible activities include achieving a higher status, completing benefit selection, or meeting a Threshold level.

There’s a specific allotment of upgradable space available per flight. Once space is gone, all non-confirmed eUpgrade requests are waitlisted and transferred to the airport standby list for assessment at time of departure.

More about clearance windows

The expiry date of your eUpgrade credits varies based on when you earned them. eUpgrade credits are valid 12 months from their date of issuance. Status members who are the Primary holder of a Premium credit card enjoy Extended eUpgrade Validity – their credits are valid for 24 months from the date they were earned. Learn more about the Premium credit card benefits you enjoy as an Elite Status Member.

This benefit automatically extends the validity of eUpgrade credits you earn by an extra 12 months. This means that a 24-month validity will automatically apply to all credits earned as an Elite Status Member. If you cancel your Premium Credit Card, any eUpgrade Credits you earn from that point forward will be valid for 12 months, as per our regular published policy.

When requesting an eUpgrade, members will always be awarded the best available seat.

For instance, if you request an upgrade to Business Class but no seats are available in that cabin at flight departure, you will be assigned a seat in Premium Economy (if one is available) and the eUpgrade credits required will be adjusted automatically.

If you do not wish to accept the change in cabin, you may, once the flight has closed, ask to be downgraded to your original cabin, and we will be happy to assign a seat to you in that cabin if one is available.

We cannot guarantee that you will be reassigned the seat you had previously selected or were assigned.

If you are all booked on the same itinerary:

You can request an upgrade for yourself and up to two of your travel companions in advance. If you’re travelling with more than two companions, the additional travellers will need to be moved to a separate reservation. We can help with this – please call us.

If you are on separate itineraries:

You can request an upgrade for up to two companions by speaking with an Air Canada agent at the airport on the day of departure.

Yes! You can use your remaining eUpgrade credits for yourself on flights booked in a Latitude or Premium Economy (Flexible) fare. However, you can’t use your credits to upgrade a travel companion.

Please call us to request an upgrade from your individual accounts. The clearance window will be based on whoever holds the highest Aeroplan Elite status.

If you choose to request your eUpgrade via your account, credits will be deducted from the account of whoever is signed in, and the clearance window will be based on the status of the sponsoring member.

If you don't like the seat you were assigned as part of your upgrade, you may, once the flight has closed, ask to be downgraded to your original cabin, and we will be happy to assign a seat to you in that cabin if one is available. Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that you will receive the exact same seat you originally had, as it may have been reassigned to another passenger.

If you and your travel companion(s) are waitlisted for an upgrade, you may not all be cleared when the flight closes. It’s possible that only some of the members of your party are upgraded when the standby and upgrade lists are processed by the system.

If you want to avoid being split from your travel companion(s), please speak to an airport agent before the standby and upgrade lists get processed* to remove your waitlisted eUpgrade request.

Once the standby and upgrade lists are processed, the upgraded passengers are split onto their own reservation separate from the rest of the party. It also may not be possible to provide you with the same seat that was originally selected or assigned.

* At least 90 minutes before the scheduled flight departure.

If you board your flight prior to the standby list being processed, your name will be removed from the list and your upgrade request forfeited.

When booking your itinerary through our website you have the option of applying an eUpgrade filter. Once applied, this filter will show you the eUpgrade credit and add-on requirement, as well as the upgrade availability, for each fare on any given flight.

You must use the booking flow that matches your itinerary. If you are querying the availability of an eUpgrade for a revenue booking, then the revenue booking flow should be used. Should you be curious about a redemption booking then the redemption booking flow should be used. Using the incorrect booking flow will cause inaccurate information to be displayed.

Yes. If confirmed, Bid Upgrade is non-refundable and the eUpgrade request needs to be cancelled prior to your flight. This can be completed through your eUpgrade account online, by contacting Air Canada Reservations, or with an agent at the airport.

eUpgrades can only be requested on flights that are operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express, or Air Canada Rouge and are ticketed in an eligible fare option (Premium Economy Flexible, Premium Economy Lowest, Latitude, Comfort, Flex, or Standard) and booking class. Even if your itinerary is ticketed by us (beginning with 014), eUpgrades can't be used on flights booked in a non-Air Canada fare option.

For waitlisted requests that are transferred to the airport standby list, upgrades will be accommodated if there is seat availability for the entire journey. Partial upgrades on flights operating with the same flight number are not permitted.

In this example, as there's no availability on the entire journey from Sydney to Toronto, a partial upgrade cannot be accommodated between Sydney and Vancouver.

As you are no longer travelling, your friend can no longer be considered a travel companion and is therefore not eligible for an eUpgrade.

The eUpgrade request must be cancelled and, if necessary, you'll need to contact us so your friend can be rebooked into their original booking code; if not available, they can be rebooked into the original cabin subject to any fare difference at current fare levels and availability.

As your itinerary contains a flight within North America as well as an international flight, each flight will be processed independently of each other. The clearance window for Ottawa-Toronto will open 14 days prior to departure, whereas the clearance window for Toronto-Dubai will open 7 days prior to departure.

All eUpgrade requests made within 36 hours of flight departure are waitlisted, regardless of whether there is eUpgrade space available. They are then assessed at the airport once check-in closes for the flight.

It's not possible to use eUpgrade credits with the purchase of a Bid Upgrade or Last Minute Upgrade. Only one type of upgrade can be processed for each individual flight segment.

eUpgrade credits must be valid on the date of the flight for which you wish to request an upgrade. It is not possible to request an upgrade using credits that expire prior to the flight's departure.

When you make an eUpgrade request, credits are deducted based on your entire journey (inclusive of connections). For itineraries where only certain flights received an upgrade, credits and add-on fees will be re-assessed after your trip and will be based on the upgraded segment(s) only.

For example:

• Upgraded and flew Business Class from YVR-YYZ-LHR: 18 credits + $750
• Upgraded and flew Premium Economy from YVR-YYZ-LHR: 11 credits + $250
• Upgraded and flew Business class from YVR-YYZ only: 11 credits + $150
• Upgraded and flew Business class from YYZ-LHR only: 18 credits + $750