eigenvector

Well I've used the French line a grand total of 3 or 4 times so if you are a native French speaker that uses it all the time your experience is probably far more representative than mine.

segacs

I'm a bilingual Montrealer, and I often use the French line. It's hit-or-miss whether it's a shorter or longer wait. Sometimes if one has a long wait time I'll hang up and try the other. I have generally found that the agents on the French side tend to be Quebecois with a first-language command of French, though.

MasterGeek

Ever used a privilege or promotion that was NOT targeted for you, such as Hotel instant elite status enrollment code (Hhonors, Accor, Fairmont), targeted promo codes that worked for everyone, mistake fares, etc.. ? It's all part of "Travel hacking"

It's not fair that the common person has to wait 40+ minutes to get hold of an Aeroplan agent while the 1% can get in within 2 minutes

Stranger

Often in English too, they speak English with a Quebec French accent.

jaysona

How far does travel hacking go?

How about is someone hacks your travel....? Hmmmm........?

Who ever said business is fair? Where have you ever seen that concept?

canadiancow

Not knowingly.

I'll add the caveat that sometimes, it's hard to tell whether something is a mistake fare or a sale fare. When the fare disappears the next day, I'm more willing to accept it's a mistake (though I cancelled all three of those after the fare disappeared but within 24 hours - the reservations agent was astounded at the price, but it wasn't an obvious mistake).

In the same way that stuffing a few items in your jacket pocket when you're shopping, and walking out without paying, is "shopping hacking"?

By "the 1%", I assume you mean the top 1% of Aeroplan's customers, right?

We literally pay for that privilege.

YOWgary

Not only is it absolutely fair that the "common person" gets lesser service than high-volume customers, that's precisely how the system is designed.

ffsim

CC took the words right out of my mouth: no, not knowingly.

Is it fair that "the common person" has to wait in the "riffraff" (to use one of your words) check-in line? Or board in zone 5? Or pay for checked luggage? Or be turned away at the Maple Leaf Lounge?

You seem to understand that there's a difference level of service available to "the 1%" yet you expect to use those benefits without paying the cost of entry. That's entitlement at its worst (and believe me, I don't use that word lightly). Furthermore, admitting that you take advantage of benefits, services or privileges to which you're not entitled is cheating (read: fraud) by any definition.

You obviously see nothing wrong with your approach to finding "hacks," so I won't bother trying to convince you otherwise. Happy hacking.

segacs

Well wait a second here. I agree that it's not fair to help yourself to the elite line without having earned or paid for the benefits. But I also agree with OP that it's not fair for AC to have such long waits on the regular line that it's nearly impossible for anyone to get through.

The long wait times on AC and Aeroplan's regular lines, combined with terrible IT making it impossible to do most common tasks online, are driving people to desperation tactics.

ffsim

Desperation tactics? The long wait times on the regular lines should drive people to the competition.

If I don't like the service I'm willing or able to buy from a vendor, it doesn't mean I should steal something I'm unwilling or unable to buy.

What's next? A lie flat TPAC seat is too expensive so let me "travel hack" my way into the forward cabin after takeoff? Let's be serious here.

Adam Smith

A mistake fare is a pricing error by an airline that's available to anyone.

If you are getting elite status by using promo codes you're not entitled to, and using elite phone lines that you're not entitled to, that's a different ball game. That's not travel hacking so much as it's low-level theft or fraud.

Life isn't fair. Business isn't fair. What company doesn't give better treatment to its best customers than nobodies off the street? If I get simultaneous requests from a client who generated $10MM of revenues for my company last year and another from a client that generated $250K, who do you think gets my attention first? Is it unfair that sports teams give season ticket holders first option to purchase seats for playoff games? Nothing wrong with sneaking past security to get in to the next Leafs playoff game then, is there? After all, they left a door unguarded, and it was so unfair that you couldn't buy a ticket! National lets its top-tier customers choose any car in the aisle and go. So, the next time you get stuck in a long line at the check-in counter, are you just going to go get in a car and drive off without paying because why should their elites be treated better than you?

I agree that a 40-minute hold time sucks, but your response shouldn't be to steal benefits that someone else (Amex) has paid for for the benefit of its own customers. It should be to switch business to the competition, go complain on Facebook, tweet AC, etc.

SparseFlyer

Speaking of French priority, who uses the francophone line at YYZ immigration?

0 wait.

segacs

I've got to defend OP a bit in this situation, since the entire forum seems to have jumped on him to accuse him of "theft" because he found a phone number by googling that gave him quicker access to a live human being.

I agree that elite lines are reserved for elites. But let's not pretend that those privileges are available to everyone and only a few elite or privileged customers chose to pay for them. Airline status is only available to a select few who are rich enough, fly frequently enough and are able to bill it to a business, have enough time and money for long distance travel, etc. Yes, they happen to be the most profitable customers from the airline's point of view. But all this talk of "we earned this" is rather tone-deaf and comes across as really unaware of the privileges enjoyed by most of the people in this forum.

Meanwhile, AC and AP fail to live up to their most basic obligations to the majority of their clients. You pay a cheap fare for an economy ticket, that means you'll get a smaller seat, lesser meal, no priority boarding, etc. It shouldn't mean the complete and utter inability to reach a human being when something goes wrong.

Yes, taking your business to the competition is an option. Except we have no meaningful competition in the airline industry. Airlines -- like telecoms, banks, etc. -- operate as oligopolies, with the power to abuse their customers pretty much however much they want, until the point where they run up against (inadequate) regulatory protections. I've taken most of my business elsewhere from AC/AE wherever possible because I hate how they treat me. But sometimes I don't have a lot of choice.

Who among you hasn't phoned back a couple of times to get a better agent when the first one couldn't solve your problem, or asked for a supervisor? Who hasn't used Google to find a way past a convoluted phone system at the post office, revenue service, government department ABC, etc.? Who hasn't posted on a forum looking for a little advice on how to get something done?

Enjoy the benefits that come with your privilege. Just stop being so blind to the privilege itself.

jaysona

It's "not fair"? Compared to what? I think it's perfectly fair that people who spend a comparatively greater amount of money receive a comparatively greater level of service - that's how business works.

Desperation tactics??? Why is there any level of despair at all? I don't see any evidence that AC is forcing anyone to do business with them. Everyone here is free to choose which ever airline they want. If people are unhappy with the way AC is conducting its business, then best way to tell AC to shove it is to spend money on another operator.

Every-time someone spends money with AC, they essentially reaffirm to AC that they approve of ACs business model and business practices.

You don't like AC/AP, spend your money somewhere else - it really is as simple as that. -_-

jaysona

Bilingualism FTW!!