Originally Posted by
Ms34
nothing was said in 2025 about cancelling the 2026 Elite Select Benefits, that had been advertised as rewards for everyone trying to qualify during 2025.
From August 2025 onwards the only communications we had from Air Canada were about the new system for qualifying to achieve 2027 status.
The 2026 year should in fairness have been a transition year to the new system.
It’s not too late to redress this - thousands of loyal AC flyers would feel valued again.
It is too late. Air Canada made its announcements on August 6, 2025. That's almost 5 months of notice and came after a bit of advanced indirect warning and hints. Their position is that instead of getting all the "optional" benefits upfront, the airline is providing them as they are earned, which is more within the intent of rewarding a frequent or "loyal" customer.
What irks me the most is the preference AC gives to credit card holders over the passengers who actually fly and pay for AC airfares. I am waiting for the day the CRA wakes up and realizes that the granting of aeroplan benefits to people who use credit cards to purchase items or services that can be taken as a business expense, thereby reducing income tax payable, is a taxable transaction.
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Originally Posted by
PLeblond
This... and I'll add the often called upon notion of loyalty. It's a marketing term designed to give customers the illusion that they are important. An often used example of loyalty is a dog. I love dogs and have had them most of my life, they're awesome - several rungs above humans in my opinion. But a dog will often be 'loyal' to even an owner that beats them (should be a more potentent criminal charge by the way) so let's not get to carried away with the sense that an airline owes you anything because you choose to fly them.
Aeroplan stopped being a loyalty program for the airline's FFs, the day it monetized the use of credit cards.