Originally Posted by Always@YVR
This is really a poor show from Aeroplan. While I am not in the air as much as most of the members in this community, I still racked up 21,323 status miles and 27 segments in 2004, spend many thousands of dollars with AC, and am then told at the end of the year that although I made Prestige, the threshold has been effectively raised to 25,000 status miles to gain a package. So much for rewarding customer loyalty. Why wasn't the 25,000 threshold disclosed at the start of 2004?
Even though this years targets for 2006 status are set, would you/we still believe them when we get told what they are over the phone or even when finally on the website, given the amount of flip flops and changes of heart that seems to have sadly become the norm we expect from Aeroplan?
I'm not an apologist as I give a good kick when they deserve one, but I admit I'm a little surprised at the amount of angst about the P packages there is around. (In this poster's case though, I understand totally where he is coming from with 27 segments. See below.)
I'm relatively new to Aeroplan being the Ansett orphan that I am, but wasn't last year the first year packages options/choices were offered as opposed to standard kits, at least for P?
Why would anyone expect they would be offered again as a norm for this year? I know I certainly didn't as I thought given the lowering of thresholds for last year & the packages choices were some sort of special deal thrown in, as they hadn't been offered before, but it appears most thought they were a new standard.
I also had the impression the 2004 packages were created to stimulate traffic back for AC given the CCCA and SARS problems and not as a new standard.
Then there is the not so trivial matter of 15,000 q miles required for P last year compared to what the SE's in particular, as an example, lost last year.
Why should the once a year traveller who just did one SYD-YVR-SYD return trip in 2003 suddenly be offered P and a whole range of nice little goodies to select from, like the 30% discount which when placed against the lowest Y/M fare from here to say YYZ/Eastern NthAM, became very attractive when the SWU's could be applied immediately? SWU's taking C seats away from the true road warriors of E and SE levels or even domestic flying P levels.
Most importantly I
do certainly realise many P's in Canada did it the hard way by segments or a lot of domestic mileages combined. I'm talking more about the SYD-YVR-SYD one trip, 2 flights only for the year version of P getting so much in the way of status perks.
In typing out the inequity of the once a year flyer in the last paragraph I'm thinking maybe that's the key here to restore some sort of fairness and balance - define hard yards segment earning and lot's of Domestic/TB flying opposed to easy earn International mileage. Someone who flew 25,000 miles gets choices, but someone who flew 29 or 27 segments doesn't ? Heck, 25,000 can be earnt with as little as 5 segments on AC. (SYD-YVR-LHR-YYZ-YVR-SYD for AUD1900.00 on a current nett deal against 29 segs at let's say CAD150.00 as an average. You do the math! Let's say CAD100.00 as an average and do the math if you don't have a calculator or majored in arts & humanities rather than maths & science!). Am I advocating a $ spend based FF - certainly not, but there has to be some sort of checks and balances of which there are none at the moment.
With the expansion of AC's network to far flung places like Oz/SthAm/DEL with lot's of miles between segments and the relatively cheap Star RTW's getting you P or even E in just one trip, the lines between true flying and mileage flying are not defined enough.
Nor are the hard yards members recognised or rewarded as such.
That's true for any of the status levels and I am the first to readily admit and recognise that because of the location of my home in AC's network I barely have to work at all to getting to a required level. Do I think that's fair? Hmmm, no it's not, but until the lines are defined to recognise and reward appropriately the different levels of loyalty and commitment needed to get to a status level, I'll certainly take the easy option they offer me. (Sometimes there are advantages to living so bluddy far away from anywhere else!)
I guess I personally see 2005 P as being returned back to what the standard P levels were before the 2004 "one-off special deal" that was offered and don't quite understand the hullabaloo about it all - apart from those like the poster I quoted who should rightly feel hard done by. It should have been a "one in, all in" P kit of either the package choices or just the standard kit rather than splitting the P's into "have's and have not's".
Another way to look at it is to look at the ratio of what a P flyer got last year compared to the ratio a SE or E got.
One cheap wholesale package deal SYD-YVR-SYD (around low 1K AUD) in 2003 and paying for one 30% cheaper Y/M fare level SYD-NYC-SYD with flying in the J cabin using instantly upgradeable SWU seemed to be recognised as loyalty and reward in 2004 and I think they've corrected that.
Can anyone remember what P got in 2001/2002/2003 etc ??
Flame suit on - I can take it.
Come on you coward - it's only a flesh wound.
