I’m flying nonstop to Canada in the Fall. I can book directly with Air Canada or United and they are both using the same AIr Canada Express jet to get there. United is $499 U.S.$ and Air Canada is $647 CN $ (which I know converts to US when booked on my Visa. So, I was just wondering if there is any benefit doing one over the other?
If you are United Mileage Plus member, and you are trying to achieve status on United, then there’s a benefit to buying the ticket through United. United has a threshold of “Premier Qualifying Dollars (PQD)” that you must achieve for various status levels. While the actual flight miles qualify towards your United status level because AC and United are partners, the dollars you spend with AC directly don’t count towards your PQD level.
If none of the above applies to you, then I don’t think it matters. You should get both a United and an Air Canada reference number, and if your entire flight is on Air Canada, I believe you check in at the Air Canada counter even if you buy the tix with United.
Last thing, if you buy the tickets directly on the Air Canada website, I believe they will charge you in US dollars, but at today’s exchange rate, the fares you mention above are identical.
When I book on the website of the Asian carrier I frequently travel using the web address of that country (not the US site for the carrier) I am charged in foreign currency. It converts through my Visa card to US currency. Just saying, @conmama, that my experience has been what you mention. If I book through the carrier’s US site, I am chatged in USD.
If you happen to be flying to Toronto, and know what terminal is assigned to each flight, choose the one that arrives at Terminal 3. It’s smaller, there’s less walking, and getting out of there is almost always faster.
^^^^ I believe the OP is saying that this is a code share flight. Should she book thru Air Canada or thru United? The relevant consideration is which, if either, airline she is a frequent flyer with and any price difference. If the price is the same, book thru the airline where she wants to accumulate miles (as stated in post #1). Code shares will generally check in at the desk of the carrier, but there will be only one check-in location, not multiple covering all the possible code sharers.
Ok, thanks all. I think I’ll just check in with Air Canada, that way I’ll have the correct flight numbers to get my boarding passes, etc.
If you book with the operating airline (AC), it will be easier to manage the flight (e.g. seat selection or checked bags if you pay for that) with the operating airline, rather than going indirectly through the code share airline (UA). On-line check-in will work correctly with the operating airline’s record locator; if you book through code share, you will need to find the operating airline’s record locator, since the code share airline’s record locator will not work for on-line check-in.
I had that problem last month on another vacation @ucbalumnus , I couldn’t do online check in. Anyway, I went with Air Canada because I could select a seat. I had to pay for it, which I hate. So I went to Unifed and they didn’t have the option to do that. Since the plane only has 12 rows and 40% were gone, I didn’t want to take the chance of it being full and getting bumped. What a racket.
Twice recently I have flown to Europe on AA but they also code shared one link of the flight with British Air. AA said when I was ticketed that I had ‘to contact British Air’ for seat assignment. No number or way recommended. Even though on line I am registered on BA’s web page, I tried to do it myself but I still had to call them. And I paid for a seat assignment . I, too, did not want to be bumped off the flight. They said that I could wait and get a free assignment less than 24 hours before the flight. The t did not sound good to me.