Originally Posted by
adam.smith
As jaysona said, I think most people want confirmed J at time of booking, not a slight variation on aerolotto, and very few reward bookings are made day of/day before the flight.
I'd have to agree. Realistically, how many "I must have J no matter the cost" customers (ie: fat people, deputy ministers/public servants/legislators, corporate CEOs, hockey players, etc.) are going to reach for web browser, and accept a ticket that, at best, enables them to waitlist into J? Albeit at a very high priority as is accorded to AP tickets. Very few. The goal of revenue management is to maximize the number of situations, particularly at short notice, that will result in this very limited subset of passengers being forced to pay full fare.
Heck, half of us on this very AP forum can't even agree on what
canadiancow did as being possible, as evidenced by the various threads in which the topic has arisen (usually devolving to "you don't know what you're talking about" or similar). And I like to think that FT'ers are a bit more knowledgeable than your average J buyer when it comes to the practicalities of AP redemptions.
I agree you've identified an issue here, but this seems to me more an issue of poor revenue management by not allowing some I space than an IKK issue.
But if I space is allocated willy-nilly and always available for at-time-of-booking compensation, then you will the "J must-haves" buying AP points for $0.02 a piece, and enjoying confirmed J class travel for $1000-$1500 (+ $100-$200 in fees) roundtrip. Obviously not very viable when the going rate is around double that for "discounted J" on the transcon routes.
AC revenue management generally knows what they're doing. I don't see any evidence that they've done
canadiancow wrong, or left any revenue on the table. The only way AC could 'improve' this for themselves would be to, in their next 'contract' with Aeroplan, negotiate a tightening of the waitlisting policy and/or rules for AP J redemptions.