Wow, some pretty passionate views considering we're talking about a customer loyalty program to put things in perspective.

These programs cost a lot of money (though Aeroplan is the poster child for how to make revenue out of it), and you need to gauge the effectiveness in topline/bottom line lift, and or other salient metrics.

Many examples come to mind:
HMV abandoned their loyalty program years ago because they had no way of knowing if it increased traffic, conversion, basket size etc., and they didn't track information.

Some loyalty programs require you to pay to belong, one time or ongoing. The rationale is that if it's free, and you have 50 million members, 20 million of whom rarely purchase with you or may never again, that's an awful lot of overhead. If you charge people a nominal amount, and provide meaningful benefits, then you're going to get the real repeat customers.

I have been SE since the demise of CP, and I have noticed an erosion of benefits, but also positive changes, and I believe they have also adapted to market conditions.

Some changes, like personalized upgrade certifications, I view as positive. It effectively removes a secondary market that shouldn't really be there.

Some of the other changes have meant more availability for awards this year, and they did add back a lower fare class mid way through the year.

The addition of carriers to the alliance over the years has made it much easier to qualify and redeem as well.

So, instead of speculating and complaining, let's wait and see. I'm certain there will be changes, and perhaps, some of them will (or will be perceived to be) negative year over year for some/many people.

Conversely, I suspect loads will drop, especially next summer with less leisure travel and reduced business travel, and it may well be very difficult for AC to sell a lot of J seats. So, just maybe, they will make it easier, since the marginal COGS is likely minimal to bump a pax from coach to business.

AC isn't perfect, neither is any other airline or business. At the same time, your best customers generally provide a disproportionate amount of revenue, often at higher margins, so it's unlikely they will want to make radical changes.

With industry consolidation, possibly more open skies agreements, and the consideration of the entire *A, I think any changes will be gentle.

ckc