canadiancow

I think he's saying when he flies something like YSB-YYZ-LHR on a J ticket, the first segment is all Y, and the Mrs. is forced to pay a preferred seat fee there.

cooleddie

I hate AC because they dont appear to provide consistent customer service training to their staff. Their people are great but I think the service attitude and issue is a training issue, not the quality of the individual. For example, on my last flight in economy, I asked what type of wine they had available. The answer was an abrupt "we have red or white wine". I'm like ... mind blown. I asked to read the label and she told me it was some sort of blend while handing over the bottle for me to read. It just show a lack of trainung, what wasted talent. She was really nice throughout the flight so I just assume they were not properly trained for customer service.

I hate AE because you have to be a Superelite to get decent redemptions. But even then availability sucks. If you are not superelite, availability and YQ really sucks.

cooleddie

Shows lack of training and regular professional development program for their employees.

Yukonprince

I am 70 years old now and stopped "hating" things in life about 20 years ago.

Life has become sooo much simpler and much more enjoyable since !!!!

A big smile and saying please and thank you does wonders in life...

LockheedElectra

I actually don't hate AC, although some things annoy me every so often. Hate is a strong word.

I do get annoyed with the AE web site on a regular basis though. And WTH is this Diamond program? If you're SE it seems to be completely irrelevant, and how many Diamonds are not SE anyway?

Wpgjetse

There are a lot more Diamond members than SE. Not everyone Flys, but a lot of people charge.

OttawaMark

Yes this is the case.

When I pay cash for J for, say, YOW-YVR-YYJ I get complimentary preferred seats on the YVR-YYJ segment. When I pay for the same itinerary with an Aeroplan J redemption I would have to pay extra $ for preferred seats on YVR-YYJ. It just makes no sense to me.

jerryhung

hate is too strong, it's part of the game

AC (and I'm a shareholder) - go high-density, but don't go that high on Mainline.
ACr, it comes with the low price game.


AE - IT and Fees/YQ, what else...
I can find acceptable availability/routing mostly...

canadiancow

So when AC receives $2000 for the itinerary, they give you a free $20 preferred seat.

But when they receive $30 for the itinerary, they don't.

It may be annoying, but I can certainly understand their reasoning.

Diabeetus

AC: The constant devaluation of the Alititude program, without sufficient forewarning.

AE: The difficulty in booking flights if you are not SE100k.

24left

Yes, wouldn't that be nice.

The universe seems to roll differently. Forewarnings of price increases (not just for flying) often tend to drive consumers to make alternate choices - even if only temporarily.

IMO, forewarnings of devaluations would be the same. In the case of AC, it would give some fliers more time to think about leaving the program, which of course is not AC's objective.

OttawaMark

I can't understand it at all. On a J award they give you everything else - Zone 1 boarding, MLL access, priority security, priority baggage and yet they scrimp on a preferred seat. I don't think it's a matter of AC saying "no preferred seats on a Y flight on a J award because you haven't paid us enough" but rather they simply haven't thought to include a preferred seat or that their IT system can't currently handle it.

And on a flight such as YVR-YYJ the only reason that a J award does not give a J seat is because there is no J seating.

I can understand not offering a preferred seat when you choose a Y segment on a flight that offers J, as much as I think it should still be offered because, well, the client is paying J points as well as J fees.

canadiancow

Well I assume what's happening is that on the J ticket, you're booked into Y on YVR-YYJ, and Latitude includes free preferred seats.

Whereas X does not (unless you're SE), which is what happens on an Aeroplan ticket.

But back to my point, I can't seem wanting to invest the money into something that's just going to lose them more money on the cheap tickets.

OttawaMark

This.

My main complaint about AC was the hold times on the phone but this issue seems to have been solved. I had to call AC about a reservation for my wife last Wednesday around 5pm and I was on hold for less than 2 minutes which to me is perfectly acceptable.

Aeroplan phone hold times should be an embarrassment to Aimia, however.

I can't say I hate AC for any good reason. I wish their business class service within North America was a little more attentive, however. But then maybe I'm comparing current AC transcon J service to the old CP transcon J service and CP was always better in my mind.

OttawaMark

Oh I'm sure your right about latitude and X. And when it comes to a flight such as YVR-YYJ I don't really care where I sit. I still think that AC should offer preferred seating on such a flight on a J award however, however.