Originally Posted by
drvannostren
Guys,
Just looking at the Altitude page today...does anyone use ALL these benefits? I don't mean that sarcastically, I honestly don't even know what some of these are.
I don't know that I've ever been in a situation to use "Priority Reservation Waitlist", not even sure I get what it is.
Priority seat selection, does that mean the ability to buy preferred seats? All fares on AC have the chance to buy preferred seats and chose any free seat in the back as far as I know.
Don't think I've ever had the "guaranteed reservations in economy class" thing either. Not sure I understand that one completely.
Priority standby...what fare is eligible, is there a fee with it?
Accelerated status recognition with travel partners, altitude partner offers.
Maybe I'm missing out on a bunch of stuff, I just don't know that I'd ever be in the situation to use some of these things. I had enough trouble just using the duty free coupon!
I've been E or SE for years on mainly domestic travel and have used many of the benefits!
Priority seat selection means, as I understand it, that you could reserve a seat in the "elite" section of economy class. This was always the first few rows in Y, but is not being replaced with "Preferred Seats," which are different. I have noticed this still around on express flights without J though- You can only book rows 1-5 with a latitude fare or as an Elite.
As has been mentioned, the guaranteed reservation perk is nice. I used it a few times as an SE. I remember once using it to make it to a funeral in Toronto- I had a meeting in Winnipeg that went all afternoon, so I had one choice of flights out in time...It was expensive, but worked. I admit though- I'm surprised AC still offers this, considering all the negative publicity they keep getting for overbooking. That being said, the actual priority reservation waitlist perk is a mystery to me...
Priority standby is great on commuter routes- YEG-YYC, YVR-YYJ, YYZ-YUL, etc. As I understand it, the standby list is open to all eligible pax based on fare- so you have to be on a latitude fare (or lower on certain routes), but based on that, you can move to the front of the line. Its nice on YEG-YYC for me, just because there are always a lot of mis connects on flights so being able to jump the queue is great. Plus, sometimes there can be multiple elites on the line, so giving the SE a step up over a P25K is good.