j_the_p

I'm sitting on 10 SSWUs and cannot use them. I'm consistently on AC133 (Sundays) and AC140 (Thursdays) and there's never any R space at the 7 day windows. And by the 24 hour OLCI window, all J seats are gone. Sigh.

GlennH

Because I collect AE miles through lots of sources.....CIBC banking, Aerogold VISA, Belair Insurance, Esso gas.

I dont want to have to fragment miles into different plans just so i can meet some bull requirement that no other *A carrier enforces. In Canada, AE is my only option as a complete program.

Besides, AC dont lose anything. Its AE that provides the benefits by compensating AC and I am earning and redeeming miles regardless of who I fly with.

Jasper2009

You have two alternatives:

1) You can enter your new FF (non-status) number when making the reservation and just show your E card to use the priority check-in, enter the lounge etc. (your BP would not show your *G status, but this doesn´t provide any really benefits, in theory higher priority during irrops etc.)

2) You can make the reservation with your AC E number and change the FFP number at the gate (your BP will reflect your status, but the flight manifest may still not have your *G status on it, depending on when it´s rpinted)

2) is a bit of a hassle, so I´d go for option 1), or fly AC a few times per year.

Jasper2009

I´m not sure about that. Aeroplan does the "miles business", but afaik AC is responsible for the status perks like top tier benefits, upgrade certs and likely also lounge access: AC has to pay *A partners when E/SEs use *A lounges (and of course also get some money for *G members who use the MLLs). Therefore reducing the number of Es who only use other *G lounges and never fly AC makes perfect sense from AC´s point of view. (and if it helps to kepp/imrpove the E/SE benefits I don´t really care too much, personally)

greywolf

++ to the SE mail I just got

GlennH

As mentioned I nearly hit 10k on AC metal this year anyway....I just dont appreciate being forced into it. AE is the only full miles program for *A in Canada so the choices of UA or US for miles really doesn't cut it.

yyzprincess

My YYZ-YYC-YYZ flights are :
YYZ-YYC 8:00AM flight.
YYC-YYZ Red -Eye.My last one was on 30th Nov. Midnight flight. It cleared 4 days prior.

Most are part of my international itinerary.
Couple are T+ where I use my SSWU.
Never had one not clear on this route..

zkzkz

Well, you can earn and redeem miles without being Elite. The benefits being Elite gives you do cost AC money if you use them. But if you don't use them and just want to earn and redeem then you don't care about meeting this requirement.

But I agree, there will be people who are kind of screwed by this. They were playing by the rules and earning miles and using the lounges and now they're faced with either splitting their miles or giving up lounge access.

While it doesn't affect me it does make me fear that future years could bring new qualification rules. Any new rule could threaten to make my existing miles and patterns less useful. But that's just the way it works. Each year is a whole new program as far as AC is concerned.

YEG USER

If you aren't flying AC, your *G doesn't really get you much besides lounge access (with the exception of bonus miles on certain airlines, if you even chose those benefits).

Status on your BP - so what?
Upgrade Chances - AC*E not entitled to complimentary upgrades on UA/US/etc. - you won't miss out by crediting to another program.
Lounge Access - present your AC*G card at the lounge and you should get access, even if crediting to another program.
Extra Baggage - present your AC*G card at check-in and you should get extra bags free, even if crediting to another program.
Priority Boarding/Priority Waitlist - these are the only things that I can think of that not having your AC*E on the reservation file may cause problems with.

That being said, AFAIK many other *A airlines have 2 fields in their system for FF numbers - 1 field is to show the status information of the passenger while the other shows the program you actually want to credit your miles to. I believe UA is one example where you can credit your miles to MP, but the system will still recognize your AC status (there have been stories with check-in agents accidentally putting the wrong number in the fields and people getting mileage credited to the wrong program).

YEG USER

It is actually the opposite. AC pays Aeroplan to administer the top tier program. AC pays every time a top tier member uses a *G lounge, etc. If there are a large number of AC top tier members who never fly AC, AC stands to lose money on these flyers. If Aeroplan had not been spun off as a separate company, AC would be receiving revenue for every status mile bought by the other *A airlines, in which case AC would be receiving some revenue by having the pax fly other airlines, but this is not the case.

On one hand, I have no sympathy for people who have top tier status with an airline but never use the airline.

On the hand I sympathize (to a degree) with those people who live in Canada and are in your situation (accumulate Aeroplan miles from other sources and don't want to orphan miles in other *A programs). That being said, if you live in Canada and can't fly either 10k miles or 5 segments on AC, you probably don't deserve top tier status on AC (IMHO the 5 segments should be extremely easy to achieve, especially if you start from a non-hub city).

VolcanoMan

I agree also; whilst this wont be an issue for me, it's interesting to note, as a random example, that LH require an amazing 100k miles for *G. This was one of the many reasons I stayed with AC over the years. And I will be based in Switzerland next year...

VolcanoMan

Just another thought (meant in a very polite way, so please no bashing) Like all programs, AP/Star alliance is supposed to be reciprocal, and I do genuinely feel that this move erodes some of that. It won't affect me personally, but on some level I think it's a bit of a shame. Certainly I think the One-world team do this very well. My 2-cents.

YEG USER

I'm not sure that I follow. What do you mean by AP/Star Alliance is supposed to be reciprocal? What is being eroded? It is up to each individual airline to set their own requirements for awarding status; this status will then be recognized by all *A airlines.

As a point of comparison with OW, with American Airlines:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/pr...quirements.jsp

donard

It could make a difference for operational upgrades.

A couple of days ago we checked in at LHR, Y class. I had recently qualified as E, but had not received my card. Mrs Donard had *G from OS, so we could use business checkin. But we wanted to save to different programmes - me to Agean, Mrs Donard to AE, where she is has not any status but should make E after the next flight.

We asked about implication if we changed programmes for the upcoming flight, specifically with regard to operational upgrades, Because, after our changes, we would appear as 2 non-status passengers, rather than 2 *G passengers. The agent checked and told us there would not be any operational upgrades. In a similar situation a few years ago, it was recorded on our reservation that we had status, when we changed to collect on another programme. There was no upgrade then, but we felt the gate agent would have been aware if they were looking for someone.

However, the general tone of this thread seems to be missing our type of situation. We are retired folk, based in Canada and the UK. Obviously, as a result we use AC a fair bit. But we feel we are *A customers, rather than being owned by any one carrier. We are leisure travelers, and have used RTW fares, and others. This year many of our miles were on TG, but on other years we have been round most of the *A airlines.

Mrs Donard first got OZ *G status with very few flights with them. They have different qualification period (not a calendar year) which means it is OK if one of us drops off *G for a while which can happen if we redeem points with the same amount of flying. We like the priority checkin, baggage and lounge access that comes with *G. It is better that we use 2 different programmes as we normally travel together.

I am sure there are others who are Star Alliance customers, rather than customers of one airline who make an odd foray into other airline's territory. However that seems to be the way the airlines regard us. We will probably fly enough with AC to meet this new requirement. But it could get awkward if every airline worked like this, and it spoils the alliance idea. Maybe it results from Aeroplan no longer being owned by AC. How many other airlines do not own their own FF programme?

YEG USER

I assume your flight departing LHR was on AC. If this is the case, then your problem seems to be the opposite of what others were describing, where they want to use their AC status flying other airlines. Here it seems you want to fly AC and credit your miles elsewhere.

AFAIK the problem with AC is that it only has one field for FF number, so your status shown is for whatever airline you are crediting the miles to. In your case, I would suggest using option 2 described in post 80 by Jasper2009. You can always change your FF number at the gate after check-in has closed and prior to the start of boarding (yes, I know it will be a hassle).

For several other airlines that have 2 FF number fields, the problem you described should not be a problem.

Unfortunately, while you may feel like you are a *A customer, I do not believe that is the case; there is not a common FF program across the alliance. Each individual airline sets their own criteria for qualification, and the status awarded by each airline is recognized by all *A partners; you are really only a top-tier member of the FFP to which you are a member. This is why some *A airlines award *G at 19,000 status miles/year and others award at 100,000 status miles/year (and Air New Zealand doesn't even operate on a status miles program).

I thought about addressing operational upgrades in my previous post, (my previous comment dealt more with UDU) but since operational upgrades are not an official *A benefit, decided not to.