Did anyone else get the 'Take off for the Border' promo letter last week?

It reads in part ...

'... earn EXTRA Aeroplan Bonus Miles when you fly between Canada and the USA on designated routes. Simply travel with AC or AC Regional in J, C, Y, M, B, H or V booking class from September 1 to October 31 2001 and receive 2,500 Aeroplan Bonus Miles for every 2 non-stop segments you fly'

I'm assuming this is distinct from the Waves promotion mentioned in another thread.

If my calculations are correct, lets assume a simple YYZ to ORD return trip in M class ...

Base Miles = 1,000
Waves Promo (Double Miles) = 1,000
YYZ Waves Promo Bonus = 1,500
Take off for the border promo = 2,500

Total = 5,000 miles

Of course, only 1000 are Q miles but still not too shabby.

Anyone else get the promo I mentioned above and is my calculation correct? I'm assuming that these promo's are cumulative and not mutually exclusive.

Nothing for me... seems like a targeted promotion. What designated routes are they talking about?

It's pretty vague. It states ... 'between Canada and the USA on designated routes'.

The small print says it excludes UA flights and that the segment must be non stop between Canada and the US. That's it.

It must be a targeted promo ... I'll call the SE desk to get clarificaton.

FWIW - I received the same mail today ...

SimonC

At these fares, nobody's taking off for anywhere

I got the same letter. Mine does not say
"designated", it applies to all transborder AC and regional (but not UA) flights.
Of as much interest is the "Plus" offer...
Complete 20 transborder segments in J,C,Y,M,B,H or V between Sep 1 and Nov 30 and qualify for 2002 SUPER ELITE.
What is the lowest cost flight from YYZ which would meet these requirments? It looks like SE could be had for around $4K. (10 roundtrips @$400).
Am I missing something?

Hmmm ... the lowest transborder V-fare I can find (after looking for all of 2 minutes) is $367 YYZ-CLE. This requires a Saturday night stay, and assumes that you will want to fly on the weekend (cheaper fares are available mid-week). With taxes, surcharges, airport improvement and immigration fees, and whatever else, the fare will rise to about $550 return. You need 10 of these, which means flying almost every weekend and paying for a hotel in CLE. But it could be done for maybe $7K.

geordie,

Seems like a promotion like this (SE for 20 transborder segs in 3 months) could really annoy a lot of SEs who earned their status the hard way. I know many Prestige or Elite members (myself included) who fly 2 transborder segs weekly, making the 20 segments in 3 months a fairly easy task to accomplish.

Could you perhaps give a few more details on your situation, so that we can tell if this promotion is targeted at a specific group? i.e., were you SE last year, and have flown less this year? Do you fly often on paid J tickets? etc.

-Zombie-

My wife got it too. Although hers says:

Plus, get an extra month to earn an automatic upgrade to Aeroplan Elite status for the 2002 benefit year! Just complete a total of 8 of these segments between September 1 and November 30, 2001.

This seems to be targeted at Prestige members. Pretty stupid of AC because she got her elite status about 2 months ago.

I have been Elite/Gold for 5 or 6 years. Most of my travel is North American. Usually make Elite before mid year, but never quite get the miles for SE.
Q miles for 2000 were about 65K which was a typical year.
So far this year 44K, a little better than previous years.
I have no idea why I would get this promotion, and other elites would not. Maybe others who did will post their travel pattern.
I will have 5 or 6 business trips in this time frame and will look to "top up" with some extra trips to finally make the elusive SE. (I do sympathise with those that make it the hard way)

Are they really desperate? I thought they would never do something like this for SE. 20 segments is a piece of cake if you have the money!!

Rememeber they are talking V or higher... Even a short YYZ-ORD would cost you $442 base fare (V21XNR), 21 days advance purchase. Add on the ridiculous US taxies, you will be looking at $550-$600 for 2 segments...

Don't forget about YVR-SEA. A quick check on Expedia shows the lowest V (VWKND) at $176 RT(+taxes etc. of course). Interesting - there's no min stay requirements on the fare

Could someone post the exact wording of the second bulleted paragraph of the "Take off for the border" page which was sent to Elites. I'm beginning to wonder if we might be misinterpreting this. I have a copy of the one sent to Prestige members and it states:

"Plus, get an extra month to earn an automatic upgrade to Aeroplan Elite status for the 2002 benefit year! Just complete a total of 8 of these segments between September 1 and November 30, 2001."

The phrase "get an extra month" is really quite incomprehensible to me. Does this simply mean if a Prestige member flies the 8 segments that his qualifying period will be extended from December 31 to January 31?

So for Elite, would this mean that to qualify for SE you would still need to meet the usual SE requirements (100,000 miles). But you will get an extra month (January?) to qualify if you have flown the 20 cross border segments?

[This message has been edited by After Burner (edited 09-08-2001).]

I see no contradiction in the wording. The promo goes through October 31st for the bonus miles. The additional month to earn Elite status from Prestige permits you to fly the required number of return flights over 3 months -- i.e. to the end of November -- rather than just within the promotion period of 2 months. If you fly the special number of segments identified in your customized/targeted letter, you will move up to the next elite status level. You do not have to meet the 35K or 100K miles accumulation requirement.

I suspect there several of variants to this offer, being customized to both spur flight activity among those who travel transborder -- based on AC's scan of your flight activity patterns in their data base -- and to show a willingness to retain you at your current status, or promote you to the next tier.