Originally Posted by
kubees
Great so pay up and renew SE. Air Canada's most important customers are those who pay the most. That's the way it is when demand is high for air travel.
I am a high paying customer, compared to the general client pool. I anticipate that I will end the year at $30,000 SQD, 90,000 SQM. I have a basic Aeroplan card, with approx. $20,000 spend. I expect to go to $25,000 SQD in 2026 with $20,000 CC. I won't qualify for SE because I will only have 100,000 SQC, and unless I pay $599 for a higher tier no credit card SQC. I will be at 750,000 MM status, with little likelihood of achieving MM status for at least 6 years, now that the mileage is calculated on base distance. There is no incentive for me to keep flying or spending on Air Canada once I reach Gold status.
Originally Posted by
kubees
Did you forget the "premium leisure traveler" segment? As companies reign back corporate spending and continue laying people off en masse, their corporate policies are also tightening (both in spend and even more restrictive expensable classes for airfare).
It makes sense AC wants to go after the wealthy leisure traveler now (or just wealthy. e.g. those who spend $125K or more on their CCs). That's a much more durable base to get money from.
Outside of the FT group, I think I am more representative of the segment of AC customers who purchase premium fares and I have been alienated. I am the premium leisure traveler, and I have just been pushed to fly on other carriers without having any regrets. I will be giving up nothing now, once I achieve Gold status. And, as soon as I spend my $12,500 at Air Canada each year, I will then be free to spend an additional $12,500 or more at KLM/Delta that would have been spent at AC. I have Nexus and fly in business class, so am really not giving up any AC benefits when I change airlines. The changes will neither attract, nor retain wealthy leisure travelers. Service and onboard offerings will, and on that, Air Canada comes up short, particularly now with its surly FAs and crappy F&B.
FYI, outside of a small number of industries, there are no layoffs en masse, and the people losing their employment were not purchasing the expensive airfares. Corporate travel policies were already tightened tightened long ago. I have not flown for anywhere for general meetings in the past 2 years. There was a time when I was in the Rapidair corridor 1X a week. Not anymore.
Originally Posted by
Far Siren
My head hurts. As if I wasn't already spedning enough bandwidth trying to keep track of earning rates, benefit selections, SQM/SQD counters etc... they've made everything a lot more complicated especially with all the different milestone choices every 10k SQC. Sometimes too many choices is not necessarily a good thing.
Choices? It's basically a cull of the SE's (which most people knew was coming) and a pull back of the MM program. The refusal to boost for class of service for the MM is nasty.I shouldn't have to struggle trying to understand the program rules, but AC did just that. The result is that in 2026, I will be motivated to fly anyone other than AC.