Air Canada VIP Service
Jul 18, 2018, 1:11 pm
#271
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: YVR TLS
Programs: Air France Flying Blue, Altitude SE-100k, AAdvantage, United Mileage Plus, WS rewards, BonVoy Titan
Posts: 913
Jul 18, 2018, 10:38 pm
#273
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: EXP 2.9MM
Posts: 145
To answer some of the questions above, my friend is the CEO of a company that spends millions on AC fares / year. He was SE but got elevated to VIP in the last year or two. We have completely different names but his status transferred to me when he booked the award ticket on my behalf. I don't think it was a glitch but I will find out next week when I fly on another award ticket courtesy of him.
Jul 19, 2018, 8:49 am
#274
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Sun Peaks, Taupo.
Programs: NZ Elite, AC SE100K, Westjet Teal, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite, Nexus, Global Entry
Posts: 6,136
To answer some of the questions above, my friend is the CEO of a company that spends millions on AC fares / year. He was SE but got elevated to VIP in the last year or two. We have completely different names but his status transferred to me when he booked the award ticket on my behalf. I don't think it was a glitch but I will find out next week when I fly on another award ticket courtesy of him.
Jul 19, 2018, 1:36 pm
#276
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE 2MM; UA MP Premier Silver; Marriott Bonvoy LT Titanium Elite; Radisson; Avis PC
Posts: 35,255
Without going through and reading every single post in the thread I can't be sure if this is duplicate info.
Macleans had an interesting article regarding the (alleged) secret VIP status some years ago.
https://www.macleans.ca/economy/busi...equent-fliers/
The VIP black luggage tags sound like a variation on the more common AC black (letter size) VIP folders which some of us may have.
Macleans had an interesting article regarding the (alleged) secret VIP status some years ago.
https://www.macleans.ca/economy/busi...equent-fliers/
The VIP black luggage tags sound like a variation on the more common AC black (letter size) VIP folders which some of us may have.
Dec 6, 2019, 7:03 pm
#277
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: EXP 2.9MM
Posts: 145
My friend booked me an award ticket on AC and in the Frequent Flyer box on the boarding pass, it said:
+VIP+ - AC*G
I will say I've never quite had an experience like that. They called me up and told me I could board whenever I wanted and escorted me with placards that had VIP printed on them.
+VIP+ - AC*G
I will say I've never quite had an experience like that. They called me up and told me I could board whenever I wanted and escorted me with placards that had VIP printed on them.
Apr 18, 2021, 9:07 pm
#278
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,780
Apr 18, 2021, 9:10 pm
#279
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,356
But the fact that he even mentioned it was interesting.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Apr 18, 2021 at 11:49 pm Reason: Edit to reflect thread move
Apr 18, 2021, 10:12 pm
#280
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,734
And VIPs have access to the Signature Suite when they're not flying paid J. I don't know the details, and it's mostly irrelevant because VIP isn't something you can even buy. But it confirms a suspicion a few of us had. I'm actually surprised they even bothered to mention it in terms of access.
The criteria aren't published, it's by invitation only, and as the others have noted, it *might* be possible to buy your way in, but considering that I believe we've got members on this board with six-figure annual spend on AC who haven't been approached, it's reasonable to assume that the buy-in would be pretty ridiculous.
I don't have any inside knowledge on AC's program, but I have a couple of clients who are members of comparable programs at other airlines, and through that limited window I've observed that those programs exist as incentives for people who might fly private but don't automatically do so, and/or who bring a *substantial* annual spend to the airline, as well as the occasional celebrity, retired senior-level politician, that kind of thing.
Often enough, people in these programs are looking for a lower profile, not higher, which can include things as simple as private check-in at certain airports, an escort through the terminal, and/or being allowed to board the aircraft last, so that 35 rows of people don't file past them during boarding and ask for selfies, etc.
Apr 18, 2021, 10:18 pm
#281
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
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Just to add on to that, my understanding is that there are low hundreds of AC VIPs.
Examples include William Shatner.
AC VIP is not like UA GS. The person in charge of travel at IBM Canada is AC VIP (maybe not, but that's the type of person who gets it). William Shatner is VIP (and other legit Canadian celebrities).
If you're thinking "I want VIP status", you're not going to get VIP status.
I had a negotiation with AC a few years ago, and they had no issue comping me SE (which I declined because I'm easily SE anyway), but VIP was a laughable request. If they value SE at $5k, they value VIP at $500k. Not that they'd sell it for $500k.
Examples include William Shatner.
AC VIP is not like UA GS. The person in charge of travel at IBM Canada is AC VIP (maybe not, but that's the type of person who gets it). William Shatner is VIP (and other legit Canadian celebrities).
If you're thinking "I want VIP status", you're not going to get VIP status.
I had a negotiation with AC a few years ago, and they had no issue comping me SE (which I declined because I'm easily SE anyway), but VIP was a laughable request. If they value SE at $5k, they value VIP at $500k. Not that they'd sell it for $500k.
Apr 18, 2021, 10:32 pm
#282
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,734
Just to add on to that, my understanding is that there are low hundreds of AC VIPs.
Examples include William Shatner.
AC VIP is not like UA GS. The person in charge of travel at IBM Canada is AC VIP (maybe not, but that's the type of person who gets it). William Shatner is VIP (and other legit Canadian celebrities).
If you're thinking "I want VIP status", you're not going to get VIP status.
Examples include William Shatner.
AC VIP is not like UA GS. The person in charge of travel at IBM Canada is AC VIP (maybe not, but that's the type of person who gets it). William Shatner is VIP (and other legit Canadian celebrities).
If you're thinking "I want VIP status", you're not going to get VIP status.
Apr 18, 2021, 11:08 pm
#283
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,780
We know a 3MM who used to spend well in excess of that every year, and he never got an invitation. AC has clearly stated in the past that it's meant more for people who wouldn't earn status on their own.
My point was simply that AC is a business, and there must be a price at which something like this would be for sale. If one of us won the lottery and decided we wanted to be VIP, and offered to cut AC a cheque (well, a CC payment, of course, for the points
) for $10 million, I'm sure AC would happily do it.They're obviously not going to do it for $100, or for $10K, but the cow's estimate of $500K seems very high to me. The extra cost of them providing VIP status to someone who's already SE can't be anywhere close to that.
As the cow said, it's barely worth discussing, given how theoretical it is, but I sometimes like to muse about hypotheticals.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Apr 18, 2021 at 11:15 pm Reason: Clean up technical issues
Apr 19, 2021, 9:15 am
#285
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
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Posts: 2,354