3) Ensure that the Aeroplan and Air Canada fuel surcharges are in sync. I realize that these are 2 different companies but I don't understand why the Aeroplan fuel surcharge can be significantly higher. Better yet, include the fuel surcharge in the base fare!
Ah Ah. The fuel surcharges (that should be included in the quoted fare any way) effectively devalues our AP points. Its a way of generating revenue even on a reward flight. My opinion is they should be dropped but I would be surprised to see this happen at any time.
Even if the YQ charge was included in the main fare I am sure we would see the cost of reward redemptions going up; but something has to be done. The surcharges are widely perceived as a tactic to squeeze more revenue from the flying public rather then being honest and quoting the fare as it should be, YQ included.
Most of my travel is booked by a corporate travel agent. I've never understood why this precludes me from accessing my booking on ac.com for seat changes, upgrade requests, etc. Why should it matter who made the booking? If necessary, put some restrictions on the financial aspects of managing the booking, but not seat selection. With AA, CO, US, UA as soon as my T/A hads made a reservation, I can access the booking file via my FF# and change seats, request upgrades, pay for upgrades, etc. to my heart's content.
On a recent round trip, I called AC res within hours of my T/A booking the seats asking to pay the difference on my own credit card to move up to an SSWU eligible fare. The CSR advised "no can do" because you are on a Corp fare. I was trying to willingly give AC more money and they would not take it.
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13F
Just maybe I do not know where to find them but...
As an example I found out through the "FT rumour mill" that Aeroplan D standby went initially from first priority, to last priority to now not being allowed at all.
There should be one specific place to go where one can see all the rule changes that are being made and on a timely basis as well.
__________________ When the plane you are on is late, the plane you want to transfer to is on time....
I am sure the FT folks here would love to hear your views just the odd time in this forum.
I realise your time is precious but a personal note to some of your better customers on this forum - rather than or in addition to the usual PR announcements - would buy you a lot of credibility.
...Peter
__________________ When the plane you are on is late, the plane you want to transfer to is on time....
In the same vein, please find a creative way to limit the announcements made by inflight staff. There must be a way to keep those to a strict minimum.
My ears are assaulted every time I get on board and I find that, as self preservation, I tune out the inflight announcements and this is not good from a safety point of view.
How about providing some sort of threshold bonus for those Es/SEs that have reached a certain number of segments, rather than providing bonuses based solely on miles. Puts the segment flyer at a disadvantage.
Programs: AE*SE, HH Silver, Marriott Silver, Priority Club Gold
Posts: 108
1. In addition to a transition to an e-cert system from a paper cert system, I would like to see more of an open window on the validity of certs acquired in the last 1/4 of the flying year. Currently, if you earn a cert in October or beyond, you need to use it by the end of February or else it is null and void. I think it would be nice to have any cert earned after Sept. 30th or an appropriate date be valid throughout the entire next status mileage accrual year (the following February). Many times I have earned certs in November or December and have to somehow attempt to use them within January or February. Worse yet, you earn certs in December and they don't show up until in the snail-mail until mid-January and you only have a few weeks left to use them.
Alternatively, put a 16-month validity period on all certs acquired, regardless of their date of acquisition.
2. Possibly introduce a "500-mile" upgrade certificate based on # of segments flown, which will recognize the short-haul frequent flyer who does routine commutes from YYZ-YUL/YOW or YYC-YEG/YVR. For every 5 one-way segments flown, you earn a "500-mile" upgrade that can be used on a short-haul shuttle or commuter flight. Or you can do 8 (the equivalent of 4 round trips, get a free upgrade to Executive First on your next Tango Plus or higher fare). And as to not "devalue" the SWU NAU or SSWU, you can make this special 500-mile upgrade only exercisable at the time of check-in, regardless of status. Or you can apply the same SE and E windows as with existing certs.
3. Maybe current newspapers on morning flights? I know that can sometimes be a challenge, especially here at SFO. I think I might prefer to read today's paper (the Chronicle, the NY Times, something...) then yesterday's Globe or National Post. Maybe I am being too picky, sorry.
4. I echo the sentiments on the IFE volume - the commercials are extremely loud and really can hurt the ears, not to mention the loud announcements.
5. AC.com needs some improvements as already noted - customers should be able to access all booking functions on-line regardless of whether or not the original booking was made online. It should be fairly simple to upgrade a flight on-line if you have the correct fare and cert, regardless of whether or not your travel agent made the booking. That would minimize call traffic and allow the agents to handle "more important" issues (which is what I've been told on more then one occasion when I have had to call in for the upgrade because I couldn't do it on-line).
6. I wanted to say thank you again for that really nice gift that we SEs received last year (the noise canceling ear-buds). I was quite shocked and very pleased to see such a nice token of appreciation. Others might have laughed at it or thought it was "too little, too late", but I really liked it. So thank you again.
Programs: AC*SE, AA, M&M, SPG-P, Golden Circle Exec, HHonors
Posts: 852
Quote:
Originally Posted by mugatu
6. I wanted to say thank you again for that really nice gift that we SEs received last year (the noise canceling ear-buds). I was quite shocked and very pleased to see such a nice token of appreciation. Others might have laughed at it or thought it was "too little, too late", but I really liked it. So thank you again.
Programs: Aeroplan SE, AAdvantage, HHonors Gold, Mariott Silver, SPG Platinum, PC Platinum, Idine Elite
Posts: 2,880
One thing AC is doing right is the Maple Leaf Lounges. 5 gold stars for the best lounges in North America.
Do not change the lounges. Please and thank you.
What would make me happiest is get rid of the 30% premium on IKK for SEs. The ONLY change you made to the Aeroplan program (that I am aware of) from 2008 to 2009 was to target your best customers! IKK was 90% of the reason for me to strive for SE status with AC. And yes, I've already been stuck paying the premium on the only 3 tickets that I redeemed for since March 1.
Last edited by margarita girl; Aug 13, 09 at 3:00 pm.
Programs: AC *E, PC:PLAT, HH:GOLD, SPG: GOLD, National: EXEC
Posts: 54
[quote=YZF_Elite;12197989]5. Seating - It bothers me to no end as a priority customer that the middle seats are filled in the front of the plane before the middle seats in the back. I think the system should be programmed to only offer middle seats ahead of row 18 on the narrow-body fleet once all others are full. There may be a weight/balance issue here, but I doubt it. This is a small item that most non-priority customers wouldn't even notice, yet it would go a really long way to make frequent customers happy.
Absolutely +1 on this. I know everyone hates the middle seat, and if you're getting stuck with it, you at least want to be able to get off quickly, but offer your premium customers the no-cost perk of having empty seats in the priority rows. I can't tell you how many times I see empty seats in the back, but rows 12-16 are packed solid, and I can't believe that SE, E and P's would choose a middle seat over a window/aisle further in the back. Leave as many priority seats empty as possible. If there's a balance issue, I understand, but I don't think there would generally be.
Also, how about a Priority Screening Lane for YYC? They are just completing renovations to security at Pier A. How about one of the new lanes for your premium customers?
Otherwise, I think things are going well from the YYC perspective. GA's are very good about keeping flight status info up to date, and are very friendly overall. I know YYZ and YUL are far busier and higher stress positions, but YYC agents are still the best in the system in my books.
Last edited by VoodooYYC; Aug 13, 09 at 1:40 pm.
Reason: Grammatical Structure
I have had this particular problem on TATL flights ex-Canada for about the last year or so: I order a VGML meal and it is served with margarine and salad dressing that has dairy in it. I order this particular meal as I cannot tolerate any dairy. Ex-LHR, the margarine and other extras have a little sticker on them that identifies ingredients. This is a great system as people who have intolerances or allergies--like me--tend to get a little paranoid about the food they eat as the consequences can be dire. Because of my intolerance, I know that the brand of marg, etc, on ex-Canada flights has dairy. I have found this to be the case in J and in Y. On two flights ex-YYC (to LHR) in J my meal and my spouse's had cheese on them, though they were clearly marked VGML, and on other flights recently it has been hard to tell. We are now paying J more than upgrading for TATL as we love the lie-flats, but have given up on eating on the flights due to allergy/intolerance. I really do not want to get sick in-flight or upon arrival
Here is my suggestion: have your meal suppliers in Canada do what the LHR suppliers do: stick an ingredient label on the individual items. Also, instruct FA's to ensure that they do not add extras to the trays that the special meal is not supposed to have (I know it is tough for an FA to know all the ingredients in things, but the aforementioned ingredient labels would help; I suspect that in some cases we have been given add-ons to the trays because the FA's want to be nice...).
