Air Canada has quietly removed checked baggage from its cheapest Economy airfares on trans-Pacific routes, including from Australia and New Zealand to Canada.
Many airlines around the world now charge extra for checked bags, including ostensibly full-service carriers in some markets. But Air Canada becomes the first airline to remove checked bags as a standard inclusion on trans-Pacific flights between Australia and mainland North America.
Previously, the only airline flying between Australia and the USA or Canada not to automatically include checked baggage was Jetstar, which flies from Australia to Hawaii. But Jetstar is a true low-cost carrier, and its Starter airfares are priced accordingly.
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Air Canada’s fare brands
Air Canada offers several different types of Economy fare categories which each have different inclusions:
- Basic
- Standard
- Flex
- Comfort (available to/from Australia since 21 January 2025)
- Latitude
Air Canada’s Economy Basic fares can’t be changed or refunded, and don’t include seat selection, but used to at least include a checked bag if you booked a ticket to or from Australia. Since 21 January 2025, that’s no longer the case.
This change only affects tickets issued on or after 21 January 2025. If you bought your ticket before this date, you’ll still receive the checked baggage allowance advertised at the time of booking.
This change also affects Air Canada bookings between Canada/USA and Asia, as well as other South Pacific destinations.
This change comes just a few weeks after Air Canada stopped allowing passengers on short-haul Economy Basic tickets to bring even a carry-on bag onto the plane. Yes, seriously.
How to get a checked bag in Air Canada Economy Class
If you’re flying with Air Canada and know that you’ll need to check in a bag, you could purchase an Economy Standard fare instead of Economy Basic. This fare category is approximately $180 more expensive on a return trans-Pacific flight.
Alternatively, Air Canada charges CAD75 (~AU$83) per direction to check in a bag on an Economy Basic ticket. That’s only slightly cheaper than simply buying an Economy Standard fare in the first place.
However, if you have Star Alliance Gold status, you can check in a bag for free on a Basic fare. If you live in Australia, an easy way to get Star Alliance Gold is with the HSBC Star Alliance credit card.
Get Star Alliance Gold status without flying…
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- HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card
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- 1
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- Annual Fee
- $0 in the first year, $450 p.a. thereafter (Please note: the annual fee will increase to $499 effective 11 March 2025^)
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on everyday purchases
Unfortunately, this benefit does not extend to Velocity Gold or Platinum members. Although Virgin Australia partners with Air Canada, Velocity members only receive very limited reciprocal status benefits on the Canadian national carrier.
Virgin Australia codeshare flights still get an included checked bag
Virgin Australia codeshare flights operated by Air Canada still get an included checked bag on Economy Choice tickets. However, you might end up paying a lot more to book the Virgin Australia codeshare.
For example, on the dates we checked, Virgin Australia was selling Economy Choice fares on the Air Canada-operated flights between Sydney and Vancouver for $3,831 return.
If you booked an Economy Standard ticket directly with Air Canada (which does include a checked bag), the price would be $2,771 return.
As an aside, these kinds of price differences for Virgin Australia codeshare flights is one reason why some Velocity members are unhappy about the upcoming Velocity program changes that will penalise members who don’t book the VA codeshare. With that kind of price difference for exactly the same flights, why should Velocity members book the VA code?
Other airlines still include checked bags across the Pacific
Air Canada competes between Australia and North America with Qantas, United, Delta and American Airlines, which all offer non-stop services. It also competes with one-stop options on Air New Zealand, Fiji Airways and Hawaiian Airlines.
All of these other airlines still offer a free checked bag on all fares between Australia and mainland USA/Canada. This even includes United Airlines, which was an early adopter of Basic Economy fares that exclude checked luggage on long-haul trans-Atlantic routes.
Delta’s website has a similar warning if you choose a Basic Economy ticket…
So, why would Air Canada remove checked bags?
Almost everyone travelling between Australia and North America is likely to have at least one checked bag. Air Canada knows this, and there’s a good chance that it doesn’t actually want anybody to buy the Economy Basic fare anyway. They want customers to buy-up to a more expensive fare type.
At the same time, offering the very restrictive Economy Basic fare allows Air Canada to advertise a lower lead-in price. Even though the airline probably expects almost nobody to book it, it could mean that Air Canada appears as the cheapest option on aggregators like Google Flights.
At the same time, airlines could risk losing customers if they come across as too stingy.
Now that one airline has already gone down this path, it will be interesting to see if any more “full service” airlines follow Air Canada’s “lead”. My money’s on United to be the next…
