Originally Posted by
EdmFlyBoi
I am not sure I understand your answer. As an AC flier, I still have other choices to get to FRA either on AC metal or partner metal. If I want to fly to all of the locations you suggested, I can do that on AC metal via one of AC's hubs, or I could choose to fly to FRA (as an example) and connect on a partner carrier. To me it makes more sense to provide connectivity to a much larger network. And YYC-FRA is included in A++ so it's metal neutral. And there are some benefits to premium fliers through the AC hubs that they may not get elsewhere.
We can fly to FRA on Discover, or on LH through Vancouver. But no upgrades and no miles toward million/2M/3M miles.
Or of course we can connect at YYZ or YUL. However then the longer flight is only about 6/7 hours. Not really a good night sleep.
I did switch all my bookings from the YYC-FRA flight to YYC-LHR. But then, problem of course is with connections. On LH, typically an extra leg to FRA or MUC. IIn our case, not too bad since two bookings involved LIS so we ended up on TP. Also, ITA should join Star soon, which might mean that LHR would also work for Italy.
Earlier in this thread there were comments on AC starting a flight to MAD while cancelling YYC-FRA. The one aspect that was not mentioned was that AC codeshares on the Discover flight. The bulk of the business at the cheaper end will just fly Discover and barely see the difference.
It's really people flying in J and frequent flyers who will feel the pain. Even though Discover is switching to a 332 with no real J to a 333 with a 2-2-2 J section.
Anyway, bye bye FRA, which was my favorite airport in Europe. :-(
(Written on board a FRA-YYZ flight, having missed my connection to YYC because of an LH delay....)