I appreciate the sentiment, but do we really need another thread?
I think the biggest problem right now is that they've not released the
details of the elite benefits for 2021. I recognize they said something about things weren't really changing, but it would have been nice to just get everything out there now. As a status-holder, most of the changes appear pretty negative. Elite benefits may help offset some of the overall negative changes to the awards program, but we only have hints at what those might be.
Originally Posted by
Jasper2009
Aeroplan points accruel on international, premium cabin flights:
Based on the recent announcements, it is clear that AC wants to "reward" pax who spend a lot of money on expensive, short-haul flights while offering far fewer benefits to travelelrs on long-haul, international flights.
At the same time, AC has invested a lot of resources to attract international travellers, and in particular sixth-freedom traffic, during the last few years.
As a SE for eight consecutive years, my travel is almost exclusively international, booked in Latitude / Premium Economy / Business Class.
According to the new AE miles earning system, I would earn 60%-70% fewer AE miles.
While directly linking AE miles earning to spend may make sense (or not), it fails to take into account that international travellers have the most flexibility to choose between airlines and FFPs.
May I suggest that AC introduce a higher multiplier (4x/5x) for Latitude / Premium Economy / business class fares? Or offer any sort of incentive for choosing an AC operated flight over another airline when booking an international itinerary in PE/J?
I'm not sure I follow this point.
The other revenue-based programs award miles strictly on spend, with no multiplier for premium cabins, so the precedent doesn't support this, for whatever that's worth.
But it seems to me that those with status should generally earn more miles on international premium tickets under this system, unless they're buying the tickets
very cheap.
Let's look at a cheap P fare that I booked to Europe a while back. YYC-FRA-MUC; VIE-FRA-YYC. I got 14,596 base Aeroplan miles (AQM) plus 9,465 bonus Aeroplan miles thanks to the SE bonus, for a total of 24,061. AQD was $3,502. Under the new system, that would be 38,522 miles - 10,506 base miles (3x base), 14,008 SE bonus miles (4x), plus an additional 4x for the SE 100% bonus select privilege.
That ticket wasn't actually quite as cheap as I remembered, so let's look at a different one. This one was a lower base fare and one on which I used a promo code; YYC-FRA-FCO; VCE-FRA-YYC. 23,987 Aeroplan miles (14,512 AQM + 9,475 SE bonus). AQD of $2,399. With the new rules, that would still work out to 26,389 miles.
So even on a cheap ticket with a promo code, it's a few more miles.
I won't say that it's
always going to be more miles under the new system - a YYC-YVR-TPE round trip in PY with $2K AQD would be 28,692 miles under the old system but only 22,000 under the new system, but that's the whole point - buy cheaper tickets, get fewer miles.
This would also significantly
increase the amount of miles on expensive premium cabin bookings. All those times I've had to fly last-minute on business, man, it's sad how many miles I missed out on. Here's one example. YYC-YYZ-MAD; FCO-FRA-YYC. I got 25,656 Aeroplan miles. The $7,249 AQD would have earned me
79,749 Aeroplan points under the new system.
I had a YYC-LHR round trip with a higher base fare that would have had an even higher gap to the new program too, sadly.
I appreciate that for someone who only buys premium cabins at their absolute cheapest (i.e. when AC's margins are lowest), this may result in fewer miles, but that's pretty much what AC is trying to accomplish - better align points accrual with spending.
Your incentive to book a premium cabin is that you'll get to sit in a premium cabin; or if it's Latitude vs cheaper fares, it's the benefits of Latitude, inlcuding upgradeability.