@
Brenjoa
I understand that you did not receive what you thought you should based on whatever prior experience you had buying tickets and flying with AC.
Only a few posts later after others asked questions about how you booked, you then admitted that you booked with a travel agent.
You then wrote:
Originally Posted by
Brenjoa
....The chart has worked for decades but obviously Air Canada now is making things worse under the pretence they are improving their program. I just can't understand why airlines treat customers so badly.
Perhaps whoever you spoke to at AC was not helpful in answering your question, but the information is out there and yes, it required some work to get at it. I don't see where AC treating its customers badly applies here. Yet.
As for the "chart worked for decades", well, there have been frequent changes to that chart so keeping up is one thing we all need to do. Every single airline has made changes to their charts for mileage earnings, and the outrage on all the various airline forums on FT are there for everyone to see.
Then you wrote that it was an online travel agency that you dealt with. OTAs don't always offer the service the regular TAs do and further, there are many in both groups that don't bother to educate their customers given the low fares they offer. I don't know who you bought your ticket from and perhaps that OTA is not one that is known to be helpful in these areas.
Further, AC, like many other airlines, has changed their fare classes and created new ones, some of which earn little if nothing. These changes are complicated even to seasoned flyers. There is an entire thread here on that topic.
As others here have pointed out, your fare may be a highly discounted fare sold only by OTAs that do not qualify for any earning in the first place.
Finally, although you already bought your ticket, I would recommend to anyone else wandering by this thread, that it is worth some time in ADVANCE of purchase, to either ask the questions here on AC FT, and/or do a mock booking on AC and click the fare on the summary page which will then lead you to a Fare Rules window, which then has a link to the full Fare Rules and Conditions where the exact fare basis code is listed. This information can also be obtained on EF (Expert Flyer). Or one can call AC and ask a res agent.
My intent here is not to blame you alone for your negative experience but to point out that we as flyers have to take some responsibility for our purchase decisions and especially keep up to date with the myriad of changes to FFPs.