Canadians to pay extra $50 on select Air Canada flights starting April 6, travel agents say

Canadians booking packages with Air Canada Vacations to designated “SUN destinations” will pay an extra $50 per passenger fuel surcharge, starting April 6, 2026, travel agents are saying.

Air Canada Vacations is the airline’s subsidiary offering vacation packages. It has notified travel agents about the fuel surcharge, which will be reflected in the taxes and surcharges at the time of booking. The airline uses “ SUN destinations ” to designate its sunny getaway markets, mainly Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and some U.S. sun spots.

“Given the current fluctuations and rising costs in the global fuel price, a surcharge I believe was inevitable,” Ontario travel agent Sherri Michell, founder of Unique Travel Escapes, told National Post in an email on Thursday. “My clients, for the most part, are very well travelled, and therefore, have not really been asking about this. In fact they have been anticipating them.”

Brett Tabor, a travel agent with the Stewart Travel Group in Charlottetown told the Post in a Thursday email: “I think Canadian travellers are seeing the higher gas prices at the pump, and understand that this also means prices will rise on their airfares and vacations as well.” 

“It’s great that Air Canada Vacations disclosed this increase,” he said, adding some travellers have been reaching out trying to book ahead of increased fares.

Michell shared the Air Canada Vacations notice Wednesday on Facebook .

Despite the inevitability of increased fares, Michell notes several concerns have come up in client conversations about transparency and consistency. “Will surcharges be dropped when the global fuel price settles and/or stabilizes. How will clients be compensated if they book now and don’t travel until a later date and the surcharges have been dropped?” She is also concerned about fuel surcharges when a client has “a flight independent of a cruise, independent of excursions … Will surcharges for them be layered?”

National Post has reached out to Air Canada for comment but has yet to receive a response.

In late March, Porter Airlines notified VIP members via email of “a temporary fuel surcharge on all VIPorter flight (point) redemptions” to be applied as a “Peak Surcharge,” as of March 23, 2026.

WestJet has also remarked on the rising cost of fuel and the impact on fares. “Airfares reflect current operating costs and typically fluctuate based on market supply and demand. In recent days, fuel prices have continued to rise, and fares have adjusted accordingly,” according to WestJet spokesperson Julia Kaiser .

Air Transat was the first Canadian airline to offer a response to skyrocketing fuel costs. The airline’s chief financial officer, Jean-François Pruneau, stated the airline will be increasing fuel surcharges for flights to Europe.

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