2012 top tier requirement
Dec 3, 2010, 6:22 pm
#62
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Kingston, ON
Programs: AC*E, SPG Gold, Priority Club Gold
Posts: 111
Well I dont like this move at all. I have been with Aeroplan since 2000 and every year have made at least Prestige with a fair number of Elite years too, including qualifiying this year for 2011 Elite status.
Due to work requirements, most of my flights are now with United and US Airways out of SYR, however I did post 9456 miles on AC metal this year.
Now I will have to consider the benefit of Aeroplan to me. I live in Canada, therefore it is much easier for me to collect regular miles for AE on things such as gas and CIBC bank benefits. I realize this is not status miles but I am looking at it from a program perspective. All my miles in one place plus I get to qualify for top tier no matter which *A partner I am forced to fly with.
Why would I want to go with United or the US Air programs when I already have all my miles in one spot which is actually useful to me as a Canadian
resident?
I am now forced to either open a DM account for 2011 (and lose any *G benefits for the coming year of travel) or continue accumulating miles with AE knowing I may fall short of the 10,000.
Other than the status, DM or MP is very limited in usefulness to CDN resident.
Not happy at all and will be informing AE as such.
Due to work requirements, most of my flights are now with United and US Airways out of SYR, however I did post 9456 miles on AC metal this year.
Now I will have to consider the benefit of Aeroplan to me. I live in Canada, therefore it is much easier for me to collect regular miles for AE on things such as gas and CIBC bank benefits. I realize this is not status miles but I am looking at it from a program perspective. All my miles in one place plus I get to qualify for top tier no matter which *A partner I am forced to fly with.
Why would I want to go with United or the US Air programs when I already have all my miles in one spot which is actually useful to me as a Canadian
resident?
I am now forced to either open a DM account for 2011 (and lose any *G benefits for the coming year of travel) or continue accumulating miles with AE knowing I may fall short of the 10,000.
Other than the status, DM or MP is very limited in usefulness to CDN resident.
Not happy at all and will be informing AE as such.
Last edited by GlennH; Dec 3, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Dec 3, 2010, 6:56 pm
#65
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: YEG
Posts: 3,925
The advantage of *A, is that I didn't have to sign up for SQ, or TG, and fragment my miles, and still enjoy the lounges. I am one of those people who fly 75k miles with maybe only one return flight a year on AC, but usually UA due to price. And use AC because 1. The network of lounges 2. Avoiding fragmentation, and 3. priority baggage tags
BTW - duckBill, welcome to FT!
"On top of existing qualification criteria, members will need to earn a minimum of 10,000 Air Canada Status Miles or five (5) eligible Air Canada Status Flight Segments on eligible flights operated by Air Canada and its regional affiliates to achieve 2012 Top.Tier status. Remember, the qualification period runs from January 1 to December 31, 2011. Full details will be revealed when we launch the 2011 Top.Tier program."
Dec 3, 2010, 6:57 pm
#66
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: YYZ
Programs: UA1K2MM ACMME50 SQPPS HHDiamond Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 4,391
This year I have seen 100% improvement in SE recognition. Customer service has improved across the board with AC. I actually have had AC employees across the board thanking me for being SE and saying they appreciate my business.
Thus I will guess there will be not major cuts to SE.
As for type of miles that can be used for 1KK, it would be BIS miles,which I see as an enhancement to the SE KK not a cut.I for one believe this should have been done way back instead of cuts to SE KK. As they say better late than never. With less miles available for J-KK, I will bet there will be improvement in SE KK benefits moving forward.
United still will always be my first love
Dec 3, 2010, 7:00 pm
#67
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Kingston, ON
Programs: AC*E, SPG Gold, Priority Club Gold
Posts: 111
duckBill and GlennH. While I can see why you would want to avoid fragmenting your miles, I don't think you have much to worry about regarding your status. AFAIK there is no requirement that you you must credit to Aeroplan if you are using your *G status. I'm pretty sure that you can use your AC*E perks while crediting your miles to another airlines FFP. Use your AC*E status in 2011 while earning status with a different *A carrier for 2012 and you won't have to worry about not requalifying via AC. Simply keep your AC account active by having some sort of transaction once a year and use your miles before the 7-year expiry kicks in.
BTW - duckBill, welcome to FT!
I think the hilighted part in the original post pretty much answers your question. This is the same as how they count miles towards lifetime status, etc.
BTW - duckBill, welcome to FT!
I think the hilighted part in the original post pretty much answers your question. This is the same as how they count miles towards lifetime status, etc.
If I now have to enter a new DM number on my reservation, I will not be getting any *G benefits at all.
Can anyone shed light on this?
Dec 3, 2010, 7:23 pm
#68
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: YYZ
Programs: ACMM SE100K; *G
Posts: 1,526
In previous years I would have agreed with you there will additional cuts.
This year I have seen 100% improvement in SE recognition. Customer service has improved across the board with AC. I actually have had AC employees across the board thanking me for being SE and saying they appreciate my business.
This year I have seen 100% improvement in SE recognition. Customer service has improved across the board with AC. I actually have had AC employees across the board thanking me for being SE and saying they appreciate my business.
Dec 3, 2010, 7:30 pm
#69
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: YYZ/DLC
Programs: AP, HHonours Diamond
Posts: 3,722
I don't get it, why would anyone credit 35K to AE for AC*E if the sole purpose is to get *G and never set foot on AC to use the "home team" beneftis?
Aegean's 19K *G is a much better deal for that. @:-)
Aegean's 19K *G is a much better deal for that. @:-)
Dec 3, 2010, 7:32 pm
#70
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Kingston, ON
Programs: AC*E, SPG Gold, Priority Club Gold
Posts: 111
Dec 3, 2010, 7:34 pm
#71
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: YYZ/DLC
Programs: AP, HHonours Diamond
Posts: 3,722
Long time lurker, first time poster. I actually registered to weigh in on this.
While everyone is right to cheer AC on this move, I'm one of those personally and negatively affected by this.
I'm Canadian, that had status for many years, had the CIBC visa infinite card, has racked up a sizeable cache of miles, who two years ago moved out to take a regional role in Asia.
The advantage of *A, is that I didn't have to sign up for SQ, or TG, and fragment my miles, and still enjoy the lounges. I am one of those people who fly 75k miles with maybe only one return flight a year on AC, but usually UA due to price. And use AC because 1. The network of lounges 2. Avoiding fragmentation, and 3. priority baggage tags
Obviously this makes good business sense for AC. But as a newbie it does highlight how aside from some stupid magazines ads about earning gold status... *A (and others alliances) isn't 1) a real network (transferring between programs), and 2) only acts to keep international fares high by reducing competition.
The most annoying part of 2 is that bad food and cheap booze in the lounges has bribed us into ripping off our clients/companies/selves...
Anyways. Rant over. Gonna go swim in the Andaman sea now! Enjoy Winter! Hah.
While everyone is right to cheer AC on this move, I'm one of those personally and negatively affected by this.
I'm Canadian, that had status for many years, had the CIBC visa infinite card, has racked up a sizeable cache of miles, who two years ago moved out to take a regional role in Asia.
The advantage of *A, is that I didn't have to sign up for SQ, or TG, and fragment my miles, and still enjoy the lounges. I am one of those people who fly 75k miles with maybe only one return flight a year on AC, but usually UA due to price. And use AC because 1. The network of lounges 2. Avoiding fragmentation, and 3. priority baggage tags
Obviously this makes good business sense for AC. But as a newbie it does highlight how aside from some stupid magazines ads about earning gold status... *A (and others alliances) isn't 1) a real network (transferring between programs), and 2) only acts to keep international fares high by reducing competition.
The most annoying part of 2 is that bad food and cheap booze in the lounges has bribed us into ripping off our clients/companies/selves...
Anyways. Rant over. Gonna go swim in the Andaman sea now! Enjoy Winter! Hah.
If you're not willing to spend a cent on AC even on the one or two flights you take a year (per your revelations) then why should AC still reward you with the benefits?
They seem to have caught on to this specific issue with the new requirements.
Dec 3, 2010, 7:38 pm
#72
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: YYZ/DLC
Programs: AP, HHonours Diamond
Posts: 3,722
Ok, then assuming one would never step foot on AC metal and aside from minor redemptions differences which really wouldn't make much difference at 35K per year earning anyway, enlighten us as to why would anyone pick AE with the 35K *G requirement over Aegean's 19K *G?
Dec 3, 2010, 7:41 pm
#73
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC*SE, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, RBC Avion
Posts: 150
I actually think this is a great change -- it will force those flyers on the edge (e.g., do the majority of their flying on UA, but with a few AC segs per year) out of the program.
IMO, this will lead to quality improvements across the system by forcing people to choose their program and committ to it.
That said the segs vs. miles feels unbalanced -- should have more segments required to retain status.
IMO, this will lead to quality improvements across the system by forcing people to choose their program and committ to it.
That said the segs vs. miles feels unbalanced -- should have more segments required to retain status.
Dec 3, 2010, 8:15 pm
#74
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: YYZ
Programs: UA1K2MM ACMME50 SQPPS HHDiamond Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 4,391
Really? What routes have you been flying? I never get anything like that. In fact I can never seem to upgrade on my current routing (not that that's attributed to customer service). I have found AC customer service to be the same this year as it was last year (ie. good).
From gateagents to inflight crew, including YUL bsed crew which is a major change. In the years I have been flying AC, up until this year, I never had a pleasant YUL based crew.
A bigger surprise, a welcoming smile from the YUL MLL agent.
As for upgrades, no issue there as well. First year, I used all of my 8+ SSWU.
No nail biting. all except one cleared well in advance.
Dec 3, 2010, 8:18 pm
#75
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: YYC - not the centre of the universe
Programs: AC*S100K 1MM, LH FTL, Hyatt Globalist, Accor Plat
Posts: 4,768
To add to this thread with a friend living in SFO. She likes actually flying AC, and thus has attained AC *E (or will attain, I should say) for 2011. She has flown to Europe twice, once on AC, once on LH. And the third time in December, on AC once more. And, she finds the fares to be quite competitive (especially for what you get vs. EwA or LH), plus she likes to see the snow in Canada once in a while, even if only connecting! 