A Canadian airline is putting a price on phone calls.<\/p>\n
Travellers booking an Air Canada flight via its call centre should brace for an extra charge of $30 per passenger, as the airline encourages customers to opt for its \u201cdigital tools\u201d instead.<\/p>\n
The new fee \u2014 which took effect on Oct. 15 \u2014 does not apply to customers who purchase tickets through its website or app.<\/p>\n
But for those who do call to reserve, the fee is non-refundable, even after cancelling a ticket or booking, according to Air Canada. For a booking with two passengers, the fee would equal $60.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe booking fee will appear as its own charge \u2026 not included in the airfare or carrier-imposed charges associated with your ticket,\u201d the airline says on its webpage announcing the fee<\/a>.<\/p>\n Air Canada is highlighting its \u201ceasy self-serve options,\u201d encouraging customers to use its website or app to book flights.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing these digital tools for everyday travel needs helps reduce wait times and allows our Contact Centre agents to focus their expertise on situations that require personalized support,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n Some flyers exempt<\/p>\n Call agents remain available over the phone for bookings \u2014 and some customers can forego the additional fee, which already applied to Aeroplan flight reward bookings made by phone.<\/p>\n \u201cCustomers who require specialized care and support, including those with accessibility needs, are exempt\u2026\u201d Air Canada says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is also no change to the support available to you, and no booking fee will apply if your trip is affected by a delay, cancellation or other travel disruption,\u201d the airline adds on its website.<\/p>\n \u201cThe booking fee will continue to apply for Aeroplan flight reward bookings made through our Contact Centre.\u201d<\/p>\n Customers can still call Air Canada for help with existing reservations, travel disruptions and other questions without paying the new fee.<\/p>\n Other Canadian airlines, including WestJet<\/a> and Flair<\/a>, already charge a service fee for bookings made over the phone.<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Canadian airline is putting a price on phone calls. Travellers booking an Air Canada flight via its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":["post-940004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}