The holiday season is typically one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. Songs from “Home for the Holidays” to “Driving Home for Christmas” have immortalized the concept and made travel and the holidays virtually inseparable. With that in mind, airline stock Air Canada (TSE:AC) gained fractionally in Friday’s trading on the strength of making travel a little easier with a new luggage tracking app.
Lost luggage is a major problem for travelers at any time of year, but the problem only amplifies when a lot more people are traveling. Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, basically opened up the tracking technology that its employees are using to the everyday traveler so that passengers will know just as much about where their bags are as an employee does.
Air Canada plans to bring the tracking feature to include flights to United States destinations in 2024 and certain international flights after that. Users will be able to track bags at key checkpoints, find out the next step for their bags, and even get advice on what happens when a bag is lost or delayed, complete with a ticket number automatically issued to follow up.
Making Flying a Little Easier
All this goes to basic points of customer service and should serve Air Canada well in the end. It will likely be more helpful now that Air Canada is expanding its itinerary. Air Canada plans to launch flights to Singapore starting in 2024, and tracking luggage all the way will likely prove a welcome feature. Moreover, Air Canada has also made some modifications to its loyalty plan that may prove helpful; automated scripts are no longer allowed to access the website, and those who sign up for accounts just to get a sign-up bonus will also find themselves out in the cold.
Is Air Canada Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on Air Canada stock based on 10 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 7% loss in its share price over the past year, the average Air Canada price target of C$30.11 per share implies 70% upside potential.
