sokolov

I had several flights with Air Canada booked in V-class, that credited only as T-class. Those were no codeshares, and the ticket stock was Air Canada as well.

What is best practice in this situation?

I can't use the form for claiming missing miles, as some miles (a fraction) have been credited. The form refuses any further claim.

I have sent an email to M&B, but they responded with a long list of unrelated links. I have replied as instructed.

Yoshi212

Go the social media team route. They tend to actually read what you write. Keep it short and simple. You purchased XYZ ticket in V class which should earn A but instead got credited as T earning B miles.

Tokyoite

"booked in V-class". You have proof of booking class from the Air Canada e-ticket, right?
that would be the info you need to then send an email to M&B team for an adjusted claim.

Also, you would need to confirm that there were no irregular operations/changes that caused Air Canada to rebook and re-ticket your itinerary.
Star Alliance is typically good at picking up the specific ticket details, so if M&B credited T, then most likely your ticket got rebooked into T without your knowledge.
what was your exact fare basis for each leg of the itinerary? e.g. VSSOW4 etc.

sokolov

Heads up: MIles&Bonus no longer honours the earnings chart for Air Canada flights published at
https://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbon.../#AIR%20CANADAInstead, earning is not based on Air Canada's "branded fares", not the bookin class.

Even if you book an expensive booking class, you will only get a fraction of the miles. I recently booked and flew several V-class flights, but was only given miles for T-class. M&B now tells me this:

"We would like to inform you that Air Canada advised us that the respective flights can be credited in "T" (Tango) booking class. More specifically, they informed us that the mileage accumulation is now based on Branded Fare product within North America, which means that "V" classe on your ticket exists as lower economy (fare basis code ending with "TG", TANGO) and miles are credited in "T" (TANGO) class."

Of course that is a violation of the Miles&Bonus Terms and Conditions. But what can you do?

The change apparently occured on May 5, 6, or 7. Earlier flights were credited with their relevant booking class, but now everything is just T. :-(

As I am based in Canada, and have no trips to Europe this year, I will probably not requalifying for *G as a result of this change.

hydrogen

Interesting. Sad to hear, but not entirely surprised.

Is there any sort of published criteria between earn rates and fare brands? You made it sound like A3 just credits whatever they want to...

Wonder if booking class T under Flex fare basis (-FL) credits as 25%, 50%, or 100%.

pewpew

Have you asked them to point to which part of the T&C and/or mileage chart reflects this change?

sokolov

Yes.

I have also pointed out that two of my three flights weren't even booked in Economy Tango but in Economy Standard. I am awating a further response.

I have also contacted Air Canada. I am awaiting a response.

hydrogen

Air Canada has renamed Economy Tango to Economy Standard FYI. So no difference, other than increasing confusion.

lhr baby

So we are saying that we now need to ignore the traditional first letter of the fare code but look at the last two instead for Air Canada? Could the fare table look something like this then?



I recognise that this has many anomalies compared with Aeroplan accrual and also that Latitude would earn more than Premium Economy.

Aegean really need to update their chart.

hydrogen

In theory, yes, something like that. But...

1. Booking classes MUHQVWGSTLAK are interchangeable between Standard, Flex, and Comfort. The fare basis defines Standard (-TG), Flex (-FL), or Comfort (-CO).
2. Standard, Flex, and Comfort fares are used on domestic and transborder routes (which A3 considers international).

So really expect the whole chart to be rewritten sometime in the future. I don't expect A3 to move to crediting by fare basis, so I won't be surprised if A3 makes a lot of the lower booking classes ineligible for credit, much like the LH chart is (LH also has fare families).

Rendar

The whole branding thing has been equally confusing for us AC people:

Branded Fares; AC changes booking classes/fare classes for Tango & Flex

peteremcc

Having this exact same issue now. Going to escalate it on both the AC and A3 sides and see what happens.

An utterly ridiculous situation to be in though.

They seem to be saying that there is basically no way anymore to know how many miles you'll get for a flight.

sokolov

I have tried with both weeks ago. A3 asked me to wait. AC has not responded.

Now I've asked A3 specifically what the new earnings chart looks like, but they claim they don't know because it depends on Air Canada.

They are mistaken. The Miles&Bonus terms clearly state that the earnings chart posted on the M&B website defines what miles we get. If that's a loss or a gain for A3 is not relevant under M&B terms.

irishguy28

But A3 are allowed to take AC's changes into consideration and adapt the table accordingly. Though given the experience with TP, it doesn't seem that they will, and will instead rely on the partner to "translate" the fare code for them:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/othe...class-tap.html

You surely accept that AC's changes (just as happened with TP before them) have "broken" the table, and the logic* with which it was prepared has been broken.

(*Logic: You surely accept that the general pattern is that a higher cabin tends to earn more than a lower cabin (i.e. First earns more than Business; Business earns more than Economy) and, within a cabin, a ticket tends to earn more if it is flexible than if it is an APEX or heavily restricted fare (Fully flex business earns more than discounted business; fully flex economy earns more than basic economy)). We have already seen, for TP, that the way around this was to "re-code" into a new fare class that is more "suitable" for the family of fare purchased. Until new tables showing the fare families are implemented, you will just have to live with this. I think it is unrealistic to expect a ticket purchased from a "basic" fare family on either TP or AC to post as a high-earning fare, just because the table "says it should")

GBobon

I just booked a Classic on TP and the fare rule = O48CLC0B = booking class O... this is a pain in the ..., they dont show you the booking class nor the fare rule (only after booking). hope will get at least 50% miles...