Not getting dragged into who’s what, where, but I think two points are beyond dispute:
- AC was labelled “too big to fail” by the previous government - over a strike by customer service agents, no less. That usually leads to regressive mindsets as corporate culture goes - i.e. customers exist to serve airlines, rather than the other way around. That was the previous CEO’s creed - with his whole “Canadian global champion” nonsense. That kind of thinking eventually infects the entire company. The service standards - especially for Y pax, who account for the vast majority of their passengers, is proof positive. Or, if you prefer something more tangible: “AC banana bread”.
- AC’s TB lounges are generally very poor - often even worse than the domestic ones. The last TB lounge I visited - LAX just before COVID kicked off - reminded me of UA in its darkest days. Except that AC was booking “record profits” at the time.
The good news for AC FF’s: I don’t think status-matches US FFs who don’t fly J exclusively are going to stick around for long, so that e-upgrade glut should be temporary.