Sean Peever

Ben,

I read on the other thread that you are shooting to be more like many of the Asian carries in terms of product and service, and good on you guys for that! It's always important to improve, the new J in the 787 is a great step towards this for hard product.

Have you thought about sending some key intl service directors on a J flight on a competitor? i.e. CX, SQ, etc. Show them where the benchmark is and what it's like?

Don't get me wrong, your service directors are polite and professional (of course there is the odd exception but that will happen). But there is a big leap between being polite and professional and the level of attention and service provided in J on CX, SQ et all.

I think it's great that you're striving to be better! And I am glad you are looking beyond NA for the levels of service that you want to deliver (frankly I think we can all agree the bar in NA is very low). But how many of your SD's (the key people on those flights) have ever actually seen and experienced that true level of service you want to achieve?

YXUhomebase

With regards to the removal of the 500 mile minimum i get it but the rationale is a bit of a stretch - that you want to record the mileage flown.

Yet someone flying YYZ-YVR gets a credit of only ~500 miles on Tango. Thus some folks will fly far more than MM before they ever earn it.

YYCYYZ

Ben - I think this has been mentioned before, but I can't remember the resolution.

I booked a YYC-SFO-YYC ticket on the AC website which was operated by UA in the code-share. I picked the "Flex" bucket. I look at my Altitude page today and see:

Oct 22 2014 United 6414 San Francisco (CA) - Calgary (AB) S 509
Oct 21 2014 United 6273 Calgary (AB) - San Francisco (CA) S 509

So it appears that the Flex ticket (100% miles) booked into S (50% miles as per the Aeroplan website).

How do I go about getting my other 50% that I was sold when I booked through the AC website?

cooleddie

Hi

Will there ever been an option when you can log into Air Canada and click manage my bookings and it will show ALL flights booked using your aeroplan number, and not just the ones booked online?

It's very annoying to keep track of emails and reservation codes, etc at times.

Cheers,
Eddie

vacer

I have a question for the AC reps in regards to Rouge and AC's plans for Business Class. I typically travel Business Class as I'm a bigger guy and I find the Business Class seats far more comfortable than the very narrow Economy seats. I recently travelled from CUN to YYZ (Oct 23) and was appalled to see Premium Rouge as the replacement for Business Class (I paid for a Business Class ticket on what I thought was a mainline flight). I remain quite displeased with this forced downgrade and my reservation said nothing about this flight being a Rouge flight. The Premium Rouge seats are no different than regular Economy seats, with the exception of some additional pitch and the vacant middle seat. With the rapid proliferation of Rouge on more and more routes, and the threat of using Rouge on domestic routes, it seems that being able to buy a normal Business Class seat on an AC flight is going to get increasingly difficult.

Is it Air Canada's intention to make the Premium Rouge style of seating represent a new Business Class standard, eventually replacing the normal Business Class seat on all but long International routes? It seems like this is the case as Rouge takes over more and more routes.

What I'd advocate for would be a normal, modestly-sized Business Class section in the front of the plane (with normal Business Class seats), with Premium Rouge being the intermediary between Business and regular Rouge (like Rouge Plus is now). This preserves the ability to purchase a normal Business Class-sized seat, even on Rouge flights, for those who want it (and are willing to pay for it). This also keeps Business Class travelers from having to seek other solutions, like travelling on United, which has become the only viable Star Alliance carrier that continues to offer a regular Business Class to most of their destination.

scratchphysics

Anyone know why AC contact line is always busy? I tried both their 888 and 514 number. Gethuman also fails

sinalet

Hey Bens!

Just posted in the TSA Pre thread but wanted to see if AC could follow up: AC's paper boarding passes are NO LONGER SCANNING at TSA checkpoints at SFO. This makes everyone ineligible for TSA Pre as the barcode has to scan otherwise you're forced into the regular line.

Ran into this at the G gates this morning. TSA Pre agent mentioned this has been happening for the past couple of days. Ran all the way back to the AC checkin counters and had them reprint from 2 different printers. None of my 3 boarding passes scanned at any of the scanners at the G checkpoints.

On that note, any update on when mobile or print-at-home boarding passes will be TSA Pre friendly?

Thanks!

sinalet

YXXFlyer

Ben,

I really hope you haven't disappeared entirely from this forum. I'd be really sorry to see you go.

I am quite glad to see AC starting service YYZ-AMS. When will Europe flight passes be updated to allow booking on the new route? Will such update be retro-active (ie. valid for a FP I already bought) or only for new FPses going forward?

Thanks!

The Lev

Ditto for Istanbul.

AC77W

Hello, all

I've been lurking around these forums long enough and decided it was time for me to join.

My question: What is going on with YYZ-HND and YYZ-NRT? Is YYZ-HND being served with the 788 mixed with the 77L/77W on some days, and has YYZ-NRT been dropped completely?

A good friend of mine travels to Japan on average a few times a year and says that to get to Tokyo from NRT is a bit of a commute, saying HND is the preferred airport of travel to get to Tokyo; he was super excited about AC announcing HND this summer and says that he will no longer fly to NRT.

YOWie

Europe flex flightpass already works for Istanbul. I used it in May to get there.

RTW70

Bens,

If Air Canada broke all sorts of profit records in the past year, why not congratulate each other, thank your customers and just do the same again this year? How can you make record profits and then declare that the programme is unsustainable?

If Air Canada was making record losses based on an overly generous FF programme I would totally understand.

Maybe Air Canada made record profits because of loyal frequent flyers, not in spite of them.

I wonder (out aloud) if AC is killing the Golden Goose for short term gain. There will be a time when the economy isn't so hot and there will be an overcapacity in the industry and you'll need us again.

(PS - I'm taking this as a lesson for my own business. We're making really good profits now too and I think a lot of that is due to customers responding positively to our generous offering. Am I going to reduce that offering to make even more money? Not a chance! Steady as she goes - keep the customers happy and profits rolling in - long term play)

YEG_SE4Life

Hello Gentlemen,

Ben Smith indicated that it was the Pilot's agreement that kept the J class seating out of Rouge. Was this addressed in the new long term agreement?

Mauricio23

Are there plans to display the price of preferred seating *before* one commits to a booking? Based on the recent altitude changes, a number of us will drop out of status or, in any event, only buy Tango fares. When chasing the best combination of fares + ancillary products, as AC is pushing us to do, it is important to know the all-in cost, including preferred seating. Obtaining this information is straightforward with all US legacy carriers, but requires actually making a booking with AC.

yyzgigi

Deleted. Answered elsewhere.