Guest Author - Jill Browne

Air Canada offers a variety of flight passes, but it takes some digging in their website to figure out exactly what's on offer.

From the Air Canada homepage, by selecting "Learn More" under "Flight Passes" in the left hand side menu, you will be taken to a screen with a list of the currently available passes in the left hand side menu, and the same list in the centre panel of the screen. In the centre panel, each choice has two columns, "Overview" and "Learn More".

Selecting "Overview" for the first item, "What's a Flight Pass", takes you to a video demo which may be watched with the sound on or off. It is slow and tedious to watch. The choice, "Learn more", failed to load when I tested it.

There must be a better way to find out about these flight passes.

From the left hand side menu (instead of the centre panel), clicking on your choice of pass takes you to a much more informative page. For example, the "Western Commuter Pass" has its own page where the prices, terms and conditions are spelled out in detail.

The prices and special offers will change with time, so (as with every budget travel offer), you must check at the time you actually want to travel.

The first selection on the menu is the Western Commuter Pass. There are four prices offered. The cheapest is the 10-credit Tango Plus pass at $1,390 (Canadian).

How does this compare to other fares?

Each of the 10 credits can be used for one flight, one-way, between any of the eligible cities. For the Western Commuter Pass, the cities are Abbotsford, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria. Typically in this region the most expensive routes would be those to Victoria from either Calgary or Edmonton.

Looking at the competition, WestJet, one-way fares from Calgary to Victoria for the week of January 21 through 27, 2007 range from a low of $94.00 to a high of $221.00. If you have the flexibility to travel mid-week, and can book your tickets far enough in advance to get the lowest WestJet fare, you would save $450.00 on your fare.

All of these fares are before taxes. Almost every dollar you save on airfare also saves you something on taxes.

There are other passes for other Air Canada routes, including service to London, England, and to sun destinations. To see if they offer a good deal, compare against the fare you would ordinarily purchase.