Is Air Canada’s All-In Pricing that Good?

As Air Canada’s and Porter’s “All-In” pricing policies have been around since early February I was wondering if it had actually made any difference, except from offering something that just makes sense and probably should have been done long ago? What was that fanfare all about? And ultimately, do we as the consumers end up with more money in our pockets?

The Reasons Behind the Change

While these Canadian transporters claim they made the move to include taxes, fees and surcharges in their advertised airfare prices as part of an effort towards offering more “transparency and simplicity”, it is clear that they didn’t have much of a choice since American and European transporters have been doing it for years. The competition usually sets the standards of the industry and Canadian transporters simply had no choice but to follow.

It can also be argued that because the Canadian Transportation Agency is only months away from making it mandatory, this added even more pressure on transporters to make the move.

After the Dust Settles: What’s Really Changed?

This change in policy has been much talked about in the media since air carriers had been reluctant to advertising the full cost of airfare for years and all of a sudden it had become a race to see who would offer it first. I’m not saying this to criticize the carriers but this clearly wasn’t a new idea, and one can wonder what took so long?
In the end, a savvy shopper doesn’t end up with more money in his pockets does he? Maybe the word “savvy” is the key here. As a shopper in a hurry wouldn’t have necessarily paid much attention to hidden fees and would’ve fallen for the lowest advertised price available without necessarily realizing that there were other fees to consider.
I guess all we can do now is to appreciate the change towards increased transparency and the fact that we have one less thing to worry about when we shop around for plane tickets.