AC refunds are here: As predicted, Air Canada will now fully reimburse your non-refundable flights in order to get the federal government bailout this week. Any tickets bought since February 1st, 2020 where you cancelled the flight because of the pandemic, or the flight was cancelled by Air Canada, are eligible. Just go to aircanada.com and follow the big link section at the top of the home page. You have until June 12th to do so. They are also offering a voucher, but that will not make you a free agent – take the money back on your credit card! Westjet will follow soon if and when they agree to their bailout plan.
Cell rates: In response to Shaw entering the cell carrier market with their almost unlimited $25 plan if you are a Shaw customer, most other cell carriers have now dropped their rates. If you’re a free agent, make the call and simply tell them that you’re shopping around for a reduced monthly plan. If you’re not a free agent and locked in a contract – bad idea – and you’ll need to keep overpaying. If you deal with the big 3 of Rodgers, Telus or Bell you’ll likely also be out of luck. The main carriers (unlike their secondary providers) have a majority of customers and business clients that are not price sensitive).
My call was to FIDO (the secondary outlet of Rogers) and my plan went up 20 fold in data (2gig per month), added unlimited Canada-wide calling and free, full North America wide texting. and went from $45 down to $35! A $120 savings (23%) a year for a five-minute hassle-free call! PS: With Rodgers buying Shaw, the rate drops will likely stop in a year when the government approves the sale – and they will. Until then, enjoy the lower rates because of the competition in the industry!
Netparcel.com update: Wow! We talked about this Canada Post parcel alternative a few weeks ago and a bunch of people have already tried it. I hadn’t when we talked about it – but did use it for the first time last week. It was a 28 pound parcel Edmonton to Kelowna. The site is super easy: Do the quote, set up an account, and a bunch of courier offers pop up. Mine was $18 from UPS. Enter the details and print the label I print my labels on normal paper and then tape it onto the parcel. The site, based on your postal code, then pulls up the closest 10 drop off depots or stores for you. Even with my Canpar Courier national book sellers association rates it was almost half the price!
(Note that it’ll be a different courier and different rate each time, even for the same parcel size and weight. This is dynamic pricing so you’ll get a different rate from different couriers depending on whether they want the business that day or that hour, how busy they are, where you’re shipping from and to, etc., based on supply and demand!!)