Shareholder

One always hears of problems getting Aeroplan seats for the peak summer travel period, so I decided it was time to book my Aeroplan trip to PDX for the FlyerTalk gathering during the Oregon BrewFest. [When I posted the idea for a gathering at either the Great American Beer Festival in Denver or the one in Portland, EssxJay jumped in to coordinate the PDX event.] I checked several days of flights between YYZ and YEG/YVR at the end of July and in early August to determine both sked and Aeroplan award availabilities, which seemed very good in D-class, and reasonable in economy on most all of the transcons.

Since my trip will involve a stopover on the way to PDX, I could not use the website.

I had to make a call this morning to AC to confirm my upgrade for Wednesday's YYZ-YEG flight -- which proved no problem getting -- and the same agent was able to do my Aeroplan booking, getting me all the segments needed in the class I wanted to fly [no Exec on YVR-PDX flights though, since these are DASH8s].

So just a reminder to those who can plan far enough ahead, book now to get the flights you want, particularly if you are after front cabin space on those international version 767s, 330s and 340s which ply the YYZ-YVR corridor.

Also, if you book before June, no need to pay the new airport fee for YYZ. And on award tickets to the U.S., the additional fees total just $9! Apparently one does not have to pay the variety of other fees associated with transborder travel on Aeroplan tickets. Didn't realize this.

Altaflyer

I have found reward seats to be OK for Business but scarce for economy particularily YYZ and east, although there were some problems YEG-YYZ as well. This was for the 1st week of July to Charlottetown. I echo the advice of booking early - if I know where I need to go I book it on the 1st date it becomes avail for booking (ie. my Dec 2001 trip to Buenos Aires was booked in late Dec 2000 and I got exactly what I wanted)

FlyerGoldII

What is the ease for Aeroplan Elites of booking Aeroplan Executive First Class awards (now) on transatlantic or transpacific routes? How does this compare with the ability of SuperElites getting these awards, and Prestige and Basic members getting these awards?

AC*SE

SE's have the easiest time, because they can get reward seats from J, as long as the flight is not oversold.

E's, Prestige and Basic are all in the same boat. If there is D class fine, if not, the best you can hope for is to waitlist.

I suppose an E would trump a P on a waitlist, but that's pretty narrow.

FlyerGoldII

The specific question is whether it is possible for Elites to Basics to get any business class award seats on any transatlantic or transpacific or Carribena destination routes now, for the July or August months.

From Shareholder's comments, it seems obvious that business class awards (even in the summer time?) are easy enought to get (for routes within continental North America) even for non-SuperElites?