yycworldtraveler

I know I've seen this discussed here before, but I don't think anyone knew for sure. This is from todays Daily:

ACE facts - Did you know? Aeroplan is Canada’s premier loyalty marketing company with approximately five million active members. Aeroplan members can accumulate Aeroplan Miles through a network of more than 60 commercial partners, representing more than 100 brands, in the financial, retail and travel sectors and redeem those miles for rewards, including airline seats to more than 700 destinations worldwide. Other travel rewards include hotel rooms and car rentals, selected electronics merchandise and a diversified selection of experiential and specialty rewards. Depending on the number of Aeroplan Status Miles collected over the year, a member can reach Air Canada Prestige, Elite or Super Elite status. To make Super Elite status a customer has to fly 100,000 miles a year. There are 9,000 Super Elite 68,000 Elite and 57,000 Prestige customers.

Zinzan

Nice find, yycworldtraveler! There are slightly more SEs and rather fewer Ps than I would have guessed from earlier discussions.

Ken hAAmer

Keep in mind that there's only 10K miles difference between P and E.

I'm guessing that

a) many people who fly 25K might not be as avid when it comes to FF programs, and
b) people who are avid find the minimal requirement for an additional 10K miles easily worth the big jump in benefits to go from P to E.

Shareholder

Thanks for the revelation. It has been a matter of speculation over the past several years as there have been no official numbers since 2001 (pre-9.11 and the .com collapse, etc.). Back then there were: 10K SEs, 83K Es and 210K Ps. My speculation as posted many times on such threads was that post-9.11 and through last year there were: 8.8K SEs, 65K Es and 150K Ps.

These new numbers reveal the impact of upping PRESTIGE to 25K from 18K, going from around 210K in 2001 to just 57K in 2006. This certain does save AC/AE a big chunk of money supporting with kits and other services. But it also shows a big drop in ELITEs from 83K down to 68K as well.

As to KH's observations, it actually shows a decline in both Es and Ps, the latter for the reasons I've already mentioned. However, why the drop in Es? If they moved the requirement to 50K, I suspect this would drop to about half the current level, and of course pump up the number of Ps. SEs seem to have returned to a steady level, though how much of this is attibutable to fast-track promos versus a steady upper end base is anyone's guess.

AnselmAdorne

We have sometimes discussed whether the AC FT community is representative of AC's upper tier members. Well, there might be a couple of hundred of us who post here, so that's only a tiny fraction of the 134,000 SEs, Es, and Ps.

That's probably good news for AC. Just imagine if the other 133,000+ upper tier members were like us ... scheming opportunists looking for every Q mile and staying up half the night to call in upgrades. What a nightmare.

anti_ice

Hmmm, I guess this why I felt I belonged and better get out of the shadows.

AnselmAdorne

You are obviously one of us. ^

Welcome aboard.

why fly

Welcome... aboard!

ACePJB

I would say that the jump in benefits is not that significant between P and E. With a few hundred dollars you can buy lounge access and priortiy check-in.

PJB

Ken hAAmer

But you can't buy the upgrade options or time thresholds.

Joe Airman

Buddy of mine got E status by mid-november and got the E package in time for a vacation in FLA (MCO). I don't know what the hype is about the upgrade coupons - he couldn't use them for the fare he had (I guess he tried at check-in). As it turned out, they were oversold in coach and he and his wife and kid were UG'd anyways (and at the gate the bone-heads didn't ask for the coupons he tried to use at check-in).

For those of us who NEVER fly on full-fare economy tix, the UG coupons are worthless, as they have been for all the years I've ever gotten them.

tcook052

A serial speculator?

painintheuk

I used to think the same, but SSWUs are actually very useful for international travel. I used 6 of them last year - ALL on deep discount fares from LHR. This year I'll only get 2, but I have no doubt that I'll be able to use them. I may even get a chance to use SWUs, but only if I can get a good deal.

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

painintheuk

I think that the drop in P's is almost surely due to people who used to do one big trip per year (India? Australia?) and just get over the 18k. The drop in E's probably comes from it being much more difficult to get miles on domestic trips. Lots of people who used to just buy the lowest fare might well get Elite if they had 100% miles. With 50% miles on some fares they just don't have enough. I assume that when I move back to Canada I'll have to give up the joys of Elite status pretty quickly.

Thanks,

Dr. PITUK

Prestige

They’re not bone-heads; you don’t need a cert when on an operational UG.