Air Canada: booking check, check-in and Canada transit rules

How to look up a booking on Air Canada

1. 1Open Manage my bookings on aircanada.com.
2. 2If you are not signing in to Aeroplan, choose “Access a single Flight Booking”.
3. 3Enter the booking reference, six letters and/or numbers, and the passenger’s last name.
4. 4To change or cancel, be ready for the site to ask for the credit card used to book.
5. 5Add passport information in the booking; Air Canada collects Advance Passenger Information for travel to Canada.

No fare hold, only a 24-hour cancellation

Air Canada sells no fare lock or hold; a search of aircanada.com turns up no such product. Its customer-support page offers a different safety net: “If you cancel your flight within 24 hours of purchase, you will receive a refund to your original payment method.” That works only after you have bought a ticket.

Since 15 October 2026, booking by phone through the Contact Centre, Aeroplan included, costs CA$30 plus tax per passenger, non-refundable, while booking on the website or app stays free. A ticket bought online and cancelled within a day therefore costs nothing, but it also leaves no live booking behind, which is no help to a visa file assessed over several weeks.

An Indian applicant bound for Canada can show a flight reservation instead: the Air Canada flights they plan to take, in their name, for the day they submit. Whenever an Air Canada fare is bought, the 24-hour cancellation lets you start again if you spot a mistake after paying.

Canada transit rules for Indian passport holders

Canada has no airside transit for Indians. IRCC says you need a transit visa if you are from a visa-required country and your international flight stops in Canada, you connect between two international flights, your transit lasts 48 hours or less, you do not hold a valid visitor visa and you are not eligible for an eTA. Transit without a visa is limited to passport holders of China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan who meet conditions; India is not on the list.

A valid Canadian visitor visa covers transit too. If the stop is longer than 48 hours, you need the visitor visa itself, at CAN$100 plus CAN$85 for biometrics. IRCC’s fee list shows no charge for the transit visa; it is widely described as free, which we could not confirm.

This matters when Air Canada is the connecting airline rather than the destination. An itinerary through Toronto or Montréal to the Caribbean or Latin America needs a Canadian visa on top of the destination’s, and the eTA is no shortcut: Air Canada’s eTA page says it is for visa-exempt nationals, and travellers with a valid visa do not need one.

Checking in for Air Canada at Delhi

Online and app check-in open 24 hours before departure, airport kiosks 12 hours before, and international bag drop three hours before. Check-in and bag drop close 60 minutes before international departures, a deadline in force since 4 September 2024. Be at the gate 45 minutes before; it closes 15 minutes before departure.

We found no Delhi-specific exception on Air Canada’s check-in times page, though that is not proof none exists. The flights are long: Toronto–Delhi services avoid Russian airspace and are reported to take up to 16 hours 35 minutes. In May 2025 Air Canada let customers change trips to, from or through Delhi free of charge because of a South Asia airspace restriction.

Air Canada and India in 2026

Delhi is the only Indian city Air Canada serves with its own aircraft: from Toronto year-round, and from Montréal on a winter 2026/27 service reported to run from 25 October 2026 to 26 March 2027, four times a week from 1 November. Toronto–Delhi was reported at twice daily between 7 and 21 March 2026 on the Boeing 777-200LR.

Air Canada’s India site sells fares from Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi, but those are fare offers with connections, not non-stops. Its one-stop Toronto–Mumbai service via London Heathrow is reported to have ended in March 2026. When fuel prices doubled after the Iran conflict, Air Canada’s April 2026 suspensions hit domestic, US and other international routes, but no India route.

Amritsar and Chandigarh have no Air Canada service, so a Canada itinerary from Punjab usually starts with a domestic flight to Delhi. Show that domestic leg in the itinerary too, with timings that leave a realistic connection at Delhi.

Air Canada questions, answered