Tag: Air Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Aeroplan hack causes two Ontarians to lose years worth of loyalty points

Two men from Ontario found themselves without their Aeroplan loyalty points after their accounts were hacked by thieves who redeemed the points for gift cards.

The two men, Richard Chen and Ritwik Ray had both been collecting loyalty points from the company for years, with Chen revealing that he lost 150,000 points when they were taken from his account.

Aeroplan was acquired by Air Canada in early 2019, with the airline company saying that weak passwords are partially at fault for the breaches. Air Canada also said clients caught in phishing schemes contributed to the account hacks.

A spokesperson for Air Canada has said that the company has looked into the issue and has confirmed that both customers were victims of fraud.

The company has gone on to say that they continually remind its clients of safety protocols to protect them from instances of fraud, including the importance of updating passwords.

“Whenever possible ensure Multi-Factor Authentication is enabled on your online accounts. Passwords should never be the same for multiple services and customers should ensure the password being used is strong and not easy to guess,” a spokesperson for Air Canada told CTV News.

Air Canada has confirmed that the fraudulently redeemed points have been returned to the affected customers.

Via: CTV News Toronto

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Mobile Syrup

Select Air Canada passengers can skip usual boarding process under digital ID pilot program

Air Canada has launched a new pilot project allowing select travellers to board flights and use services with digital credentials.

Travellers headed to Winnipeg on select flights from Vancouver International Airport and eligible customers at the Air Canada Café at Toronto Pearson International Airport can use facial recognition technology to confirm their identification.

Craig Landry, Air Canada’s executive vice-president, said the program is voluntary.

“We are very excited to now take a leadership position in Canada and test digital identification using facial recognition technology to validate customer identification quickly, securely and accurately at select airport touchpoints,” Landry said in a press release. 

Eligible customers will receive an invitation to use digital identification before they arrive at the airport. Air Canada is the first airline in Canada to utilize the feature with federal approval.

“This project has great potential in making gate boarding easier and faster for Canadian passengers, while maintaining strong safety measures,” Omar Alghabra, Canada’s Minister of Transport, said.

Image credit: Air Canada 

Source: Air Canada 

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Mobile Syrup

The Weather Network launches Travel Planner, includes historical weather info for over 50 cities

The Weather Network has announced the launch of its new app Travel Planner. The tool launches in conjunction with French counterpart MétéoMédia. The Weather Network’s tool provides historical weather info to desktop, mobile browsers, and Android devices.

Travel Planner provides useful weather information for over 50 cities in 11 different countries. The tool features travel content curation to “inspire Canadians to explore the world.” The tool is utilizing 20 years of historical weather data, providing them to the user. This will help them determine when the most appropriate time of year is to travel to a certain destination.

With many destinations having unpredictable weather conditions, Travel Planner can assist travellers with avoiding historically rainy periods or more unsafe conditions altogether. Weather Source provides the available weather data. It’s also responsible for making local weather and climate data available around the world.

Travel Planner marks the first collaborative effort between the organization and Pelmorex Corp., the parent company of The Weather Network & MétéoMédia, since Pelmorex Corp. made a majority investment in Weather Source in 2019.

“As Canada’s most trusted source for weather information, we are continuing to innovate and deliver products that will help Canadians make smarter decisions,” said Sam Sebastian, the CEO of Pelmorex Corp, in a recent press release.

The Travel Planner tool also supports Air Canada and Aeroplan as partners. Their partnership includes a 100 percent share of the voice of the new travel content hub. Additionally, ad placement and sponsored content will be featured on The Travel Planner.

Image credit: The Weather Network

Source: Newswire

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Air Canada eyes discount market again

Air Canada may be looking at starting a new discount airline with reduced fares to select destinations, reports the Globe and Mail.

The news was revealed during contract negotiations with current Air Canada pilots. As part of a tentative agreement put forward by the company, the pilots are being asked to sign a letter of understanding about a decreased wage for those who would work on the new, low-cost airline.

To start, the company is ready to devote ten planes to the new line, and may eventually dedicate up to 50 A319s and Boeing 767s to the endeavor, which it says should create up to 462 new jobs for pilots.

This will be the carrier’s third attempt at branching into the discount market. Their first subsidiary, Tango, folded in 2003 after only two years of service, although its legacy lives on as the name of Air Canada’s cheapest class of tickets. A second try, Zip, also lasted only two years.

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Air Canada to fly out of Toronto Island on May 1

Starting today (March 7), Air Canada customers can start buying tickets for their first flights out of Billy Bishop Airport on downtown Toronto Island.

Since 2006, Porter Airlines has had a monopoly on flights to and from Billy Bishop, but now, Air Canada will fly up to 15 daily direct return flights between Toronto and Montreal effective May 1.

"Air Canada is extremely pleased to return to Toronto Island and expand the range of travel options for our customers," said Ben Smith, executive vice-president.

For now, the least expensive flights for May 1 are available from Porter Airlines at $129, while Air Canada is priced at $159. Additional fees and taxes are not included in these prices. Once all the fees are added, the total price for the cheapest Toronto-Montreal round-trip is $410.70 from Porter Airlines, while Air Canada is $444.60.

Toronto-based Porter is Canada’s third-largest airline and has the majority of landing slots at Billy Bishop. Porter and Air Canada continue their rivalry for frequent flyers in the highly lucrative business travel segment.

"We’re already used to competing directly with Air Canada and other carriers," said Porter president and CEO, Robert Deluce.

 

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

CBC News now available on Air Canada flights

This month, Air Canada is adding English and French daily news from CBC-Radio-Canada to its passenger’s entertainment roster.

The national broadcaster has created two daily 30-minute programs, one in English and one in French, that will cover daily news, weather, business, sports and entertainment. Passengers can select and view the content from the touch screen in front of their seat.

Alain Saulnier, General Director of Information Radio-Canada, says the national broadcaster is proud to offer its services in more places and on more platforms than ever before.

At Air Canada, Craig Landry, Vice President of Marketing, the airline said: “Air Canada and CBC / Radio-Canada have a similar mission, which is to build bridges between Canadians and between Canada and the world. We are pleased to expand our programming on board with the addition of daily news from CBC / Radio-Canada.”

 

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Air Canada adds fee for second bag

Following WestJet’s announcement last week, Air Canada will begin charging $20 for a second bag for all destinations including the Caribbean and Mexico. The airline already had the fee in place for the U.S., Europe and other international destinations.

The new fee will apply to economy class tickets starting yesterday (November 11) for flights after January 18.

According to the International Air Transport Association, North America passenger traffic has been steadily increasing, finally reaching pre-recession levels in September.

Air Canada said the fee will not apply to Air Canada Prestige, Elite, Super Elite members or Star Alliance Silver and Gold members. Executive Class and Executive First customers will continue to receive an allowance of three checked bags on all flights, regardless of destination.

 

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Air Canada to accommodate passenger food allergies

 

 

 

An increasingly common food allergy to nuts has put pressure on Air Canada to accommodate passengers with the condition.

Air Canada has developed a policy in response to complaints over the last few years, and now has 30 days to accept or reject the formal recommendations of the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).

The airline plans to create a nut-free buffer zone around the affected passenger—effectively banning nuts with a certain radius of the passenger. If you’ve got a seat nearby, you could be informed that no nuts will be available on your flight.
 
According to a document issued by the CTA, when passengers notify the airline within 48-hours of their flight that they suffer from a nut allergy, the airline must do everything in its power to create a buffer zone around them.
 
“At this point, we’re still having our legal people look at it," Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said. “It will help us to have this decision to form a policy to accommodate people with severe peanut and nut allergies.”

 

 

 

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Air Canada takes off from Toronto Island

 

 

 

A few years ago, when the new Porter Airlines settled in at the Billy Bishop Airport, commonly known as the Toronto Island Airport, near downtown Toronto, Air Canada was unconcerned.

However, the proximity between the airport and the country’s largest business center in has worked extremely well for Porter and propelled its rapid growth. In allowing customers to bypass long, expensive journeys by taxi from Toronto Pearson airport, located much further from the business center, Porter Airlines has a lot of fans.
 
Since then, Air Canada had a change of heart, wanting access of the small island airport, but was prevented by Porter’s controlling interest of the terminal.
 
Air Canada, in collaboration with Continental Airlines who also wanted to land its planes there, filed a complaint with the Toronto Port Authority. The airline was successful in its bid to use the airport and will, as of February 2011, offer 15 non-stop daily flights between Montreal and Toronto.
 
Porter previously held 112 of the 202 places available and the Toronto Port Authority has allocated the remaining 90. Of these, 44 will go to Porter, 30 at Air Canada and Continental has the last 16.

 

 

 

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Barbados nonstop on Air Canada this summer

Quebecers may want to consider Barbados if they have an urge to enjoy the southern sun this summer. Now there is a direct weekly flight to the Caribbean country.

After a brief hiatus, Air Canada has decided to restart a nonstop weekly flight from Montreal to this gem in the Caribbean. Barbados is renowned for its culture, cuisine and nightlife, not to mention its beautiful beaches during the summer.

Air Canada will fly to Barbados every Sunday until September 5. The air carrier has been travelling to this destination for the past 60 years.

The airline carried over 63,000 Canadians to the country last year. It wants to increase the number of passengers this year and a summer flight will help achieve this goal.

In a 2008 survey, TripAdvisor ranked the island the eighth best destination on its Top 100 list.