I pretty much do it for the redeemable miles. I spend about $300k annually on my card, all personal, and about $100k to $150k of that is for my vacations. The VIP card does bring in extra redeemable points, which I'm able to make good use of. I'll switch the card between TD and CIBC about every couple of years, and they haven't clawed back my sign-up bonuses yet. Maybe they will one day, but switching bi-annually, maybe they don't see my 'light churning' behaviour as overly greedy.

Occasionally, I'll actually purchase flight with cash (or if I'm not flying with a Star carrier), but because I book trips a year ahead, I'm able to get the flights I want through Aeroplan for 'classic' points prices, because space in the "I" bucket is usually good far in advance. I don't always get to book the exact flight I want, but I always get to fly on the exact flight I want, because booking a year out, there's always a schedule change in the following months that gives me the free change to whatever I want.

I couldn't care less about the AC statuses in the current program or the future program, because as J flier, there is no benefit to the status. And, I wouldn't see the point in gearing a FF program to a high-spend J traveler anyway, because most of the perks of status are part of J/F tickets anyway, and they can just book whatever flight I want, based on schedule and quality. Build loyalty with them through offering a good product and service, and not through FF program benefits.

So, yeah, I like the VIP card. If redemptions are still there, the program works for me. I don't really care what they do with how you earn status.