Air Canada Named Best Family-Friendly Airline in North America and Best Family-Friendly Frequent-Flyer Program at the Wherever Awards

MONTREAL, Sept. 24, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada was named Best Family-Friendly Airline in North America, as well as Best Family-Friendly Frequent-Flyer Program at the 2019 Wherever Awards, an international award that recognizes the best in travel by the readers of the popular family travel website whereverfamily.com.

"Air Canada is proud to receive recognition from family travelers around the world. Traveling with loved ones is always an occasion and leads to life-long memories. This is why we have recently introduced new services for families and we look forward to supporting and creating more special moments as we relaunch Aeroplan in 2020," said Mark Nasr, Vice President, Loyalty and eCommerce, Air Canada.   

Air Canada was presented the awards at a ceremony for the Wherever Awards in New York City. Whereverfamily.com is a web publication aimed at the modern traveling family and part of the FXExpress Publications, Inc., family of publications, which includes Global Traveler and Trazee Travel. Reader votes for the best in travel across a broad range of categories were collected September 1, 2018–March 31, 2019.

Air Canada supports a number of family-friendly features and programs to make family travel fun and convenient. This includes:

• Travel goodies – children receive a rotating collectible item at Family Check-in at the concierge offices prior to boarding and on-board such as a luggage tag, colouring or activity book and games;
• Air Canada Altitude Skyriders - register your child for Air Canada's Altitude Skyriders program to help them track their travels. Each child gets a Skyriders starter kit that consists of a friendly introduction letter, a sturdy luggage tag and a logbook to keep a record of each one of their flights;
• Children's meals – on international flights, children receive a complimentary revamped menu that includes favorites such as macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets and more. Going forward, all kids' meals will also be chosen by children of employees through a new internal Skyriders Foodie panel. Pre-booking is required 18 hours prior to travel;
• Children's meals are available on all international flights and a special Bistro Junior meal is available for purchase on both Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights, where Air Canada Bistro is offered, for children 12 years old and under;
• Dedicated family check-in counters – available at Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver where families can check-in hassle free;
• Complimentary, standard seat selection within each cabin of the aircraft for proximity seating for family members when travelling with children under 14 years of age;
• Pre-boarding between zones 2 and 3 for families travelling with children under 6 years of age;
• Earn Aeroplan Miles while you shop online with our family-friendly eStore retailers. The Aeroplan eStore features over 170 online retailers such as family favourites: Amazon.ca, Apple, Indigo, Hudson's Bay, Gap, Wayfair, Lego and many more. In addition, Aeroplan Members can earn miles at family friendly partner retailers including Costco.ca and Home Hardware.

The Wherever Awards are the latest awards to be won by Air Canada, which was rated the Best Airline in North America at the 2019 Skytrax World Airline Awards for the third consecutive year and remains the only Skytrax Four Star international network carrier in North America. Other recent awards include:

• The Trazees – Favorite Airline in North America in 2019
• 2019 Skytrax World Airline Awards including: World's Best Business Class Lounge Dining, Best Airline Staff in Canada, Best Business Class in North America and Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness in North America;
• Global Traveler Leisure Lifestyle Awards - Best Premium-Economy Class and Best for Onboard Entertainment;
• The Freddie Awards' 210 Award for the airline in the Americas whose loyalty program value vote rating was trending higher, recognizing the growing appeal of Aeroplan;
• PAX International Readership Awards - Outstanding Food Service by a Carrier in North America and Best Business Class Amenity Kit in the Americas;
• TripAdvisor Traveller's Choice Awards – Best Business Class in North America;
• Business Traveler USA - Best North American Airline for International Travel and Best North American Airline for Inflight Experience;
• And Frequent Business Traveler GlobeRunner Awards - Best Airline in the Americas and Best Business Class Airport Lounge (both awards shared with Star Alliance partner United Airlines).

About Air Canada 

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving nearly 220 airports on six continents. Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2018 served nearly 51 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 62 airports in Canada, 54 in the United States and 101 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,250 airports in 195 countries. Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax, which also named Air Canada the 2019 Best Airline in North America. For more information, please visit: aircanada.com/media, follow @AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook. 

aircanada.com

SOURCE Air Canada