Originally Posted by
sports1
I don't know how possible it'll be next year to hit 12k spend in airfare without flying paid J. I know that's definitely not a requirement to have hit 50k this year (because I flew exactly 0 paid J).
Certainly not something a lot of people will do. Hitting 50K flying only Economy would require something like the following:
- YYZ-YVR round-trip, every other week, all year, in Comfort booked well in advance.
- YYZ-LHR round-trip, eight times, in Flex.
- YYZ-SYD round-trip, five times, in Flex.
Or, more likely the kind of thing AC is hoping to see:
- YYZ-YVR, round-trip, once a month, all year, in Comfort, plus $125,000 in branded credit-card spend and a couple of hotel stays.
- YYZ-YVR, round-trip, once a month, all year, in Comfort booked on short notice.
Then, once that 50K has been reached for 2026, those 12 Comfort trips to Vancouver drop down to 10, and all of a sudden 50K's more achievable for a high-branded-spending business traveller. And almost completely out of reach for any leisure traveller NOT flying at least PE.
Originally Posted by
sports1
I also don't know if it even matters, because I don't think the carrot AC is dangling is worth the effort to consciously hit that threshold - ie. if you were going to spend the equivalent of 12k SQC in dollars anyways, it wouldn't be because you wanted to hit 50k.
I think you're exactly right. And if you're flying Y 26 times a year, the 50K perks are worth a LOT more to you than they are to someone booking a single J trip to Australia.
Originally Posted by
canadiancow
I can't remember the last time I heard someone say "I used the concierge for X", where X was something that no one would reasonably expect to be self-serve, couldn't have been handled by a more accessible agent, and wasn't a clear violation of AC's policy.
During overnight IRROPS the other night, our bags no-showed, then pinged in the app as "arriving on Carousel 4" two hours after we'd gotten to the hotel. Quick call to the Concierge got them located on the belt, recovered, re-tagged and put back on our next flight.
During the same icy IRROPS, the Concierge helped our J-booked, non-status friend rebook onto a longer-than-normal connection to avoid what experience (but not policy) predicts would be a high-probability misconnect at LHR. The rebooking app offered several legal connections, a human was able to offer something still within policy that was much more comfortable to actually fly.
Originally Posted by
canadiancow
I mean I was just listing the first few things that came to mind. I'm sure with an hour-long brainstorming session, we could come up with other things.
I have most of January off, stop by anytime and I'll buy the drinks.
Originally Posted by
YYJ _SLF
There is another cohort that spends $12,500 a year in legacy SQD on 2 long haul TATL or TPAC flights a year in PY or J for work and 2 or 3 short haul domestic flights in Y for work or leisure. This was the old me for many years a long time ago. Under the old rules they might have accumulated 24,000 SQM and not even qualify for E25K. Under the new rules, they will accumulate 50,000 SQC and E50K status. They are definitely better off under the new rules.
You and I completely agree on this.