canforce

Same here. I bought M and B fares this year (five trips across the Atlantic) to get the upgrades. Now, I will fly AC to get my 5 Segments, but if something isnt done to change this program, most of my flying will be with other airlines who are offering a much cheaper way across the Atlantic. A drive from Buffallo to Toronto to save some money will be well worth it I think.

Yeah, you are right. SE's did fare somewhat better, but this certainly isnt the impressive change that AC made it out to be. I am actually quite dissapointed. I like many others will have to seriously look at the travelling patterns over the next year. Not Happy.

zkzkz

The main change here is that upgrading M fares now not only has to wait for the window but also costs more of your upgrades. Previously Latitude vs M just meant you had to wait for the window but you still got just as many assuming they cleared.

I'm really in the worst corner with this. Previously I chose 6 SWU + 2 SSWU. In 2010 I used every last one of them on 4 return M flights from LHR-SFO and 1 M flight to LHR-YUL and 1 Tango flight LHR-YUL. (Actually that's not quite right due to some quirky changes that won't repeat next year)

Under the new system that would cost 4*15 + 2*10 + 2*14 = 104 credits. I would only have 35 + 10 + 10 = 55 credits. So I got nearly twice as much benefit last year as I expect this year.

The 55 credits won't even by able to upgrade my two return business trips (SFO) let alone my personal trips to YUL. I've gone from 4 upgraded return trips to less than 2.

To some degree this is just my personal travel patterns. If I wasn't travelling > 5,000 miles on M fares for at least half my travel it wouldn't be so bad. I was just lucky enough to maximize my benefit under last year's system and be the worst-hit on this year's system.

Even if I only upgrade as far as YYZ or YVR that would still be 40 credits leaving me with 15 credits to use on my personal flights. Enough for a single leg.

The really bad part is that when I say above there were some quirks last year, one of those quirks was that I upgraded a colleague when we were returning from a conference. I clearly don't have any credits available to do that this year. That's going to make me feel pretty terrible.

YOWandbeyond

At least AC just saved me 2600 bucks... I was going to buy a Flight Pass for use this year, and without the opportunity to use the NAUs and blue wallpaper on it, that $2600 can stay in my bank account.

Jasper2009

I´m just wondering whether any Es benefit from these changes?

I´ve been doing all sorts of calculations and the only group of people who seem to slightly benefit are FFs who solely fly on B/Y fares within North America:

formerly: 4SWUs +4 NAU certs (+3SWUs)
now: 16 (20) upgrade credits with a few credits to spare

The Es who got burnt most are:

- all Es who selected 2 SSWUs for int´l trips (even if they never used their SWUs)
- all Es who selected 4+2 SWUs for int´l travel to upgrade Lat fares, the devaluation obviously is much worse for those who regularly bought M fares
- all Es who generally bought flight passes booking into M (e.g. London FLight Pass)

I don´t think this is a good day for either FFPs or AC!

epost77

I posted this in another thread a few days ago:

Title: E-Upgrades Credits...Good, Bad, or Ugly?

That is the burning question I have:

I'm really hoping that whatever e-upgrade credit system AC has developed will not cut the number of overall upgrades that we currenlty receive. I'll be very disapointed if I have to use a disporportionate number of credits to upgrade from T+ compared to Lattitude fare thus resulting in an overall decrease in the number of upgrades I'm able to request. As E, I'm expecting to be able to choose e-upgrade credits equal to 2xSSWU, and 2xSWU or 4xNAU.

The upgrades are one of the main reason I choose to spend my own money AC to get status (Yes I do this all on my own dime...will be just shy of 55 000Status Miles of which 54 000 is on AC). Even though I'm only E I've been able to use up most of my u/g cert over the few years. Buying a Lattitude fare is out of the question for me since I'm not traveling for work or billing clients.

Both Ms epost77 and I will be E next year and we hope we made the right decision to spend on AC Hears hoping to no devaluation in the AC Top Tier programs!!!

Now we have our answer: UGLY!!!!!!

As E I get nowhere near the u/g opportunity. I fly on my own dime so as of this moment I will no longer stive for any status with AC/AE. I will just use my AMEX Plat card to access the lounge and get priorty checking, etc.

VERY DISAPPOINTED...and will vote with my wallet!

khanbaba

pretty bad for Elites, who travel to Asia, I used all my SSWU for trips to Asia, but I think as an Elite , I will only get 25 credit to start with if I choose tier bonus miles. united it offering unlimited upgrades for north america to their members and Air Canada trying hard to screw their own members.

Jasper2009

Unfortunalely I have to agree with you, I´m in the same boat as you are, >95% of my flights being on my own dime.

IMO AC should have at least given Es the equivilant of 2 SSWUs (=40 upgrade credits), 25 credits is just ridiculous.

I wonder what all the other regular posters of the AC forum think of the recent "enhancements"?

RockoHorse

I just looked at the booking engine - before if you wanted M you clicked "upgradable fares" and selected your cert. Now - unless I'm missing something - you can't book M fares online.

I don't like the nominees option - i rarely travel on the same itinerary as someone else (different start or end dates) - so this means I can never upgrade my travel companion I can only upgrade people I nominate.

In 2009 I used 2 SSWUs 1 LHR and 1 PEK(via vancouver)
That would translate to roughly 14 + 10 + 20 credits = 44 credits
This year I used 2 SSWUs - 1 LHR and 1 HNL (via YYC)
That would translate to roughly 14 + 10 + 15 credits = 39 credits


I fail to see how this new system is better.

I fly for leisure, flying 35K for 1 upgrade a year is not worth it.

payam81

With this new program it's much better to drop from SE to E, then re-qualify for instant SE and get a new set of credits on top of the meagre offering for E.

lcohen999

I would hope people will use their "wallpaper" up to Feb 28th, bank some extra ecerts while they can.

I have a SYD flight coming in January, so I can save my certs and get the extra 15.

I did not have the opportunity to use many SWUs/NAUs this year if this affords people who cannot (see: cheap clients) to purchase higher T+/L fares, this could work out OK...

i think the only way to know for sure is to stress test the system...

krugon

New Years Resolutions

1. Enjoy what SuperElite/AC has to offer for 2011
2. Stop falling for loyalty program spin
3. Start insisting on value for dollar spent

And that will mean flying Porter a little more

(there are better options out there - even to Thunder Bay).

canforce

I agree completely. They should have just made it simple. You need 10 ecert points = SSWU, 6 ecert points = SWU and so on. They have made it super complicated, frustrating, and completely unfair, and the system isnt even in place yet. Not a great day here at all.

Guess I should start looking at M&M or another program that is more Europe based! I hope they will read this and discover that this new program is not a popular one.

Andrew Yiu

This is no different than today. You book in R, you release your original booked class, if you cancel your upgrade and the original booked class is not available and a higher class is used, then you pay the fare difference. Just that no one here has done this often so they don't run into this problem. It's not BS, it's just formalizing what has been the rule ever since upgrades have been in place.

jlisi984

I'm pissed about the 12 eCredits for SE for Flight Pass activities - that isn't even one SSWU! Very pissed about that!!! We should get 28 as per this years' program.

epost77

Absolutely agree!!!

I'll now choose to spend my money on 5* hotels where I can enjoy the amenities for longer than a few hours and don't have to play aerolotto!