Business Class Dilemma. Newbie. Please Help!
 

Hello!

I booked economy tickets for me and the wife on Air Canada from Tampa to Toronto to Tel Aviv in May, round trip. I've decided to splurge and change to business class.
Of course the price differential is HUGE! Instead of $3743, I would have to pay $12,036.

My question is, instead of upgrading now through an Air Canada agent, would I be better off
upgrading to business class when we check in to get a better deal? These business class seats are not exactly selling like hotcakes. Or should I just do it now and pay the big bucks?

We are both 68 and sitting on a 10 hour economy flight doesn't do it for us!

Thanks for the input!

You're paying >$3700 for economy tickets? That's close to business class prices. Economy should be under $2000 and business $3500-5000.

Suggest you take a few more looks at other airlines (better routing maybe, too). Post your dates of travel and I'm sure someone will find a great J price on another quality airline.....

NoFlyZone: OP is giving the price for 2 tickets.

hpowders: Business class on Air Canada should cost a lot less. I just tried some random dates (dep 7 May, return 21 May) on AC and the total cost is about US$9600. This would include business class on the Tampa-Toronto flights, as well. However, if you've already purchased tickets for economy, I have no idea what AC's rules and fees would be for upgrading to business.

Don't know whether AC sells upgrades at check-in. (If they do, you won't get an idea whether or not there'll be availability until about 3-6 weeks before the flight.)

I booked my economy tickets on Air Canada's website. May3rd-May 8th. Maybe that was a mistake. Too late now.

I was quoted $6018 per person roundtrip this morning, Tampa-Toronto, Toronto-Tel Aviv for business class. I notice there is also a $300 per person "change" fee. (UGH!)

Could I do better waiting for check in 24 hours before? Sometimes they offer "last minute" upgrades to business class at a much more reasonable rate.

I don't have a relationship with Air Canada and I don't want to get screwed (any more than I already have been).

I did purchase trip cancellation insurance with CSA. I could cancel and rebook from scratch, I guess. The trip is after all 5 months away.

The base fare that I paid for Air Canada coach round trip Tampa-Tel Aviv was $1675 per person, minus fees.

Thanks, Don ... I missed that. Numbers were ok, though.

"I did purchase trip cancellation insurance with CSA. I could cancel and rebook from scratch, I guess. The trip is after all 5 months away."

Don't be so sure. Unless you paid for "cancel for any reason" coverage (which is not typically included in basic travel insurance) you insurance is going to pay out for a "opps, I made a mistake" cancel.

Yeah. I won't cancel. Well, at worst I have coach seats with 32" pitch and 18" width. One of the long flights (10 hours) has my 5' tall wife sitting directly in front of me to prevent a recline. (I'm 6'2").

I'm hoping for a business class upgrade offer at a discounted rate from Air Canada upon web check-in a day before the trip. If not, a couple of 10 hour flights with a bit of discomfort in economy class isn't much in 68 years, I guess. Time to suck it up! LOL!

"I'm hoping for a business class upgrade offer at a discounted rate from Air Canada upon web check-in a day before the trip."

You're assuming seats will be available at such a late date. Israel's Independence Day falls during the time you'll be there. I'd imagine flights will be full and booked in advance.

Yes. You are correct, Jeff. My tour guide told me about Israel Independence Day and insisted this would be a great time to visit Jerusalem. To me it just meant unwelcome crowding and I tried to adjust my dates to avoid this, but couldn't get flights to my satisfaction.

The differential to the penny for the round trip/2 fares is $8293.64. Too steep, IMO.
I will watch the fares daily. Who knows? They may come down a bit. Fares are always changing.

<i>The differential to the penny for the round trip/2 fares is $8293.64. Too steep, IMO. I will watch the fares daily. Who knows? They may come down a bit. Fares are always changing.</i>

If you cancel your AC reservations outright you'll cough up $300 per person as a cancellation fee, so you'll have $3143 left to apply against a business class ticket with another airline.

On your days, I can see a round trip TPA-TLV via JFK and Helsinki on American and Finnair (a quality airline) for $4080 per person. Thus the total additional you'd have to cough up would be right around $5K, not $8300.

I like changing planes only once plus the time between flights on Air Canada is just right, so I'll stick with them, Gardyloo. About 16 hours both ways is as good as it gets for this route with changing planes. Thanks.

I've been on lots of business class flights, including one when it was only hubby and I in business. They don't automatically give them away cheap because there is nobody in them.

Do you want to take the risk that the flight is sold out and you are in economy?

MissGreen-I gave in and bought round trip Business Class on Air Canada (4 flights all together).
I don't think at 6'2" tall with a questionable lower back, I could endure two flights of 11-12 hours each from Toronto to Tel Aviv and back in coach. If they offered 34" seat pitch in coach, perhaps, but not with the given 32". That's deadly!

Thank you to all you kind folks who took the time to give me advice. It's business class all the way for me on this trip and given my height, age and lower back situation, I feel I made the wise decision. The business class Air Canada seat even has lumbar support from Toronto to Tel Aviv and back. Sounds great! As does the priority check-in, priority boarding and use of the exclusive Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge in Toronto between flights.

Good on ya, but a note that lounge access and all those other perks are standard with international business class on any carrier, and most current business class seats offer some sort of lumbar support.

Be sure you have a place for all the frequent flyer miles you'll accumulate, which will probably (depending on your plan) also earn a "class of service" bonus, usually 25%. You'll be flying over 13,750 BIS ("butt in seat") miles.

Hope that your business class seat is a lie flat business class seat for that price?

> Hope that your business class seat is a lie flat business class seat for that price?

Tha Air Canada business class seat is lie-flat, and excellent. I've flown it a few times, most recently last month to Tokyo.

Air Canada does not refer to it as a "seat". It's considered to be a "suite" meaning the seat is enclosed for privacy and yes, it lies flat. I have 5 months to practice drinking champagne horizontally. I don't want to look like I've never done this before! LOL!

Practice with a straw!
Have a great trip.