Stickers - How to use them?

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie to this Board, so please don't flame me :P. I've never used CP stickers because I got my CP Gold qualification from flying CX JFK-HKG for the past 2 years.

I have 2 black SWA stickers and lots of those red and gray stickers. I'm planning to fly NYC-YVR-HKG-NYC on AA&CP sometime in June to use the stickers. What should I do to ensure (or increase my chance!) for getting upgrades? Is there anyone who flew this routing before and got an upgrade?

TIA for your help!

You've not mentioned if you are booking the trip through CP or AA (using a travel agent or not), but this could be important. Your best option is a CP booking with CP flight numbers on each segment. This means you just need your single black "utimate upgrade" for both segments. You just call CP Gold desk and tell them what you want to do. They'll take care of the rest and check availability from upgrade inventory. You may have better luck on the NYC-YVR than YVR-HKG, and if you do not get the HKG, confirm your upgrade using a grey sticker and save the black until the day before, or day of the flight, to see if space has opened up to HKG and they can confirm you all the way.

However, if the NYC-YVR is booked as AA, then the following applies:

Remember, there's no guarantee of an upgrade, though your itinerary will require a variety of stickers. Assuming from your colour references that these are last year's and valid through Feb 2001. To see what flights have likely availability, check out the ITN process. This has been explained many times, on this and other fora, so pleased go back 60-days and check out any ITN postings.

First, your AA flight between NYC-YVR. Again, at 72-hrs prior to your AA departure call the airline that issued the tickets (or through whose res system your travel agent booked the flights) and indicate you are Gold and want to use the "old" stickers. The AA flight will require 2 grey system-wides or 4 500-mile stickers. AA limits system-wides to max of 1,000-miles. (I assume NYC-YVR is about 2,000-miles distance.) You can then also request the YVR-HKG on CP by telling the agent you are using the system-wide black sticker.

Because you are flying two separate carriers, unless the AA flight is done as a CP codeshare, you won't be able to use the black "ultimate upgrade" for the entire set of flights out and back. And if the CP flight is booked as an AA codeshare, you won't be able to use it at all, since AA upgrades are for domestic or transborder flights only. This is critical, so it would likely be best to get your ticket via CP not AA.

Also, make sure you are not on an AC codeshare CP flight, operating with an AC aircraft. (These will have at least four digits, versus the CP flights which will have just one.) If so, you won't be able to use last year's upgrades, and can only fly with this years on the restricted list of full-fare economy tickets.

You also didn't mention if you were renewed as Gold through 2001. This is important, because if you reverted to Club -- or basic -- you can only pre-book upgrades 24-hours ahead (Club) or standby at gate (basic). While non-Gold and EPs can still use the domestic stickers (reds and greys), the "ultimate" may be restricted to the top two elite tiers, which means if you did not requalify for the current year, you may not be able to use them at all.

EMPRESS does this routing (YVR-HKG) quite a bit, so can probably offer you some tips. Sure he'll be heard from later today. Good luck.

Try to avoid any CP code-shared flight operated by AC, as you have no way to use your stickers (assuming that you don't have any new white and blue stickers).
If you are traveling in June, your chances of getting upgrade on CP 7 is not too high, but you can still try at the airport

Hi Shareholder and all,

Thanks for all the great info. My Gold membership is valid thru Feb 2001 and so are the stickers. I guess I'm going to "save the best 'till the last" for those Black stickers and use them at the last resort.

I'm going to book my tickets with CP and the AA flight segments JFK<->YVR would be a CP codeshare flight (CP 6xxx)so it's easier to book upgrades. AAdvantage operators at AA are helpless/clueless most of the time.

did I just read that Black stickers are useless if I have been demoted from Gold to Club? I was promoted to Gold early in 99 for lots of travel at that time, but was recently (march 1) demoted back to club. I/m still holding a mit-full of old (exp 2001, black) stickers with upcoming transatlantic travel.Help?!
(and we don't flame people on this forum)

[This message has been edited by dirkster (edited 04-04-2000).]

If you are in fact demoted to CLUB then the Black stickers are in fact useless. They can only be used by EP and GLD. I don't think there's any way to work around it.

Just a suggestion: If you don't need them or can't use them, I'm sure some of us could use them. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Dirkster,

Why don't you put your black stickers up on the block. I'm sure that there are many golds and eps who would what to do a trade of some sort.

Is there any chance Dirkster could become Gold again before the expiry? Or is it true that status is now only given at year-end?

andrew

It really depends. Many times before, my mother would suddenly received the gold package telling her that she was now gold member, even though she didn't travel enough.

Things keep on changing, no one knows

I received my Gold 1999 qualification at around Aug-Sep 1999, in the letter they said I had travelled 35,000 miles in the past few months and also qualified me for Gold in 2000 (valid until Feb. 2001 on the card.)

So I think they will give you Gold status in 2000 and 2001 when you reach 35,000 qualifying miles, anytime of the year.

[This message has been edited by ssw207 (edited 04-04-2000).]

Believe it was noted elsewhere that AC has changed the policy of mid-year status upgrading, and even if you achieve a higher level than your current year status, you will not officially assume that elite status until the next membership year, i.e. 2001-2002. I can only assume CP will also adopt that rule as they have all AC's other ones relating to Aeroplan. The accelerated Gold was always used by CP to get Aeroplan members to defect, or to encourage basics and Clubs to fly more. With no competition, such fast tracks to elite are no more.

(Once more must be bearer of bad news.)

Thanks, Shareholder.

I thought AC did the same thing. I didn't experience it myself, I qualified for Elite in December of 1998, but my memory was that some of my co-workers qualified earlier and got their packages early (then again, I made Elite for this year, last June 6, and didn't get anything until February, so maybe I'm wrong).

andrew