Originally Posted by
Symmetre
Biggest cost would be in terms of goodwill to all 25k, 35k and 50k elites. Someone who actually did display loyalty to AC and fly their tail off to properly earn 75k would likely be extremely upset - and rightly so - to see another flier who should be at 35k or 50k get the same benefits. I know I would be.
I mean then you're getting back to all the promotions they ran. The only year I didn't qualify for SE was 2020, and that was because multiple flights I was booked on were outright cancelled and I had to book other airlines on other ticket stock, but I still took "the trips". I still qualified for 75K in 2020, but I maintained SE (without having to use a banked year). And then there were all the people who had their business travel curtailed, did not actually fly enough to earn the status their previous status from 2020 through 2022, but maintained it regardless.
I believe there's a whole thread about the many times AC gave free status to people, while others were still actively earning it, and the annoyance a lot of us felt.
So while I agree with you about being "extremely upset", AC has demonstrated on multiple occasions that they don't care.
Originally Posted by
billdokes
Cow brings up some more tangible hard costs in terms of *G lounge access, baggage fees (a potential cost towards partners, but we're not sure) or lost revenue to AC on their metal...are there others?
Beyond lounge access I actually don't know.
Everything on AC metal probably has an accounting value, but the monetary cost of moving a "fake 75K" into an empty J seat rather than a "real 50K" is 0.
Preferred seat benefits could prevent someone else from paying (or take it away from a lower status pax who would get it free at check-in).
But it's much harder to measure anticipated loss of revenue than it is to look at the size of their bill from LH for Senator lounge access.