A University of Ottawa business professor says an Air Canada marketing tactic is crossing an ethical line.

Mike Miles, director of the MBA program at the University of Ottawa, said Air Canada offers frequent flyers, like him, coupons to upgrade their flights to business class. However, travellers have to purchase their tickets at a higher fare to qualify for the upgrade.

Miles said because much of his travel is for his work as a business professor, those extra costs would be passed on to the university, and it's unethical for the airline to put him in that dilemma.

"Here we are at the university, we're suffering like any other business in the economy. We're encouraging people not to travel at all and, if they have to travel, to travel on the lowest possible fare they can.

"And here's Air Canada saying, 'No, no, no.… We'd like you to upgrade.… Buy a higher level of fare.'"

But Doug Reid, associate professor at Queen's University's business school in Kingston, Ont., said he doesn't understand Miles's ethical dilemma.

"Organizations do the type of thing [Miles] referred to all the time, which is to try to up-sell customers. That's as natural and justifiable a tactic as any I can imagine."

Officials at Air Canada agree with Reid, saying the airline uses the same marketing tactics that other companies — like Hertz and Staples — employ.