TORONTO — Air Canada’s rollout of its updated seat selection policy is on hold – for now – as confirmed by the airline with Travelweek.

Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick told Travelweek the implementation of the new policy is currently paused.

From the sounds of Air Canada’s statement, however, it’s likely a matter of when, not if, for the changes.

While Air Canada passengers have typically been able to select their seats for free at check-in (or for a fee pre-check-in), the revised policy assesses a fee for seat selection at check-in (or Air Canada would select the seat for the passenger at check-in, for free).

According to Fitzpatrick, Air Canada’s statement is as follows …

“Air Canada sells a variety of branded fares at different price points, such as Basic, Latitude and Business Class, each of which has different attributes that customers can choose to pay for or not, depending on the branded fare they buy. The ability to select your seat ahead of your flight is one such attribute (an extra bag, refundability are examples of other such attributes).

“For our branded fares that do not include free seat selection, customers have the option to choose a seat prior to check-in and pay a seat selection fee, or wait for us to assign a seat at time of check-in for no fee.

“Although we have paused implementation for operational reasons, the planned policy change … is consistent with our branded fares in that after seats are assigned at check-in for no fee, customers who would like to change to a different seat from the one we assigned them will have to pay the same fee they would have had to pay prior to check-in. This is the practice at other airlines, including other carriers in Canada. We will communicate further on this change at the appropriate time.

“Customers who are traveling with children can rest assured that we will continue to assign seats to ensure families on the same booking are seated together for no fee.”

Passengers looking for more details about Air Canada’s branded fares and the options available with each are asked to check out: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/book/fare-options-and-fees.html#/