Status...Prestige
 

Anyone know if there is anyway to roll into Prestige? I have 26 segements this year and basically flying every week with Star Alliance and I called AC to see if there is anything they can do to help and they redirected me through to Aeroplan who said there is nothing they can do but send me 4 passes to the ML lounge. Sure I liked the offer but man I"m flying every week and they can't do more? What do other airline or companies do?

Assuming you have enough of those 26 with Air Canada (5 I think), you will be prestige - on March 1, 2013.

If you want to upgrade fast, get up to 50 segments or 35,000 miles and you'll be Elite immediately.

Could be mistaken, but I believe A3 awards you status right as you roll over the threshold?

Officially no. But last year I got rolled early in December, only about two weeks after I passed the 25 flight threshold. Not sure if that's something that's done all year or just at year end.

The MLL passes are actually a decent gesture considering that there is no officially early recognition. What AC should do in these cases is change your status but not offer any select privileges. That way you at least get priority services and *Silver.

Nothing you can do but wait for 50 segments or 35,000 miles at this point I'm afraid. Recognition will kick in usually within 24 hours of you crossing that threshold.

When it does, wait a couple days for Aeroplan and AC's systems to sync up, and then remove and add your Aeroplan number from any reservations you made before so that you're recognized as Elite.

Instant recognition is only applicable for Elite and Super Elite, and that's only if you qualify by October. Perhaps it makes sense until this year since the qualification level between Prestige and Elite is so close in terms of miles. Had they had instant Prestige, a new Elite would have got quite a number of eUps.

From my perspective, if you will pass Elite threshold in the next two months, just grab the 4 MLL passes since I will count them as extras.

If you are doing a round trip every week you will be Elite in about 12 weeks. Add in some extra connections and it can sooner.

Exactly, if you can hub your all your flights through another city you'll be Elite in 6 weeks. I did this my first year of real travelling and it was definitely worth it.

Prestige to Elite...
 

Thanks for all the anwsers. It just seems like a heck of a lot of flights to get up to status. Unfortunately my trips are all short haul so it's hard to get connections to bump up my segments. Anyone have much luck emailing Air Canada to see if they are willing to expedite Elite at all?

Where are you flying from and to? I think it will be all depends how much "inconvinence" you are willing to get you to Elite and who is paying.

With the new qualify requirement, I know I will not be able to get new Elite with my usual ~35K to ~40K status miles. This is when I start looking at flying NOT from YYZ. So far, I change my starting point mainly from YXU, and once at YGK. This added 2 additional segments per trip. This add up quickly. I am currently target to get ~52 segments by end of July. I might be able to get to ~75 segments for Elite+. This work well with flight pass.

hope this help you in someway.

Follow up...
 

Sorry what do you mean by Hub? All my flights start in YYZ and are down the eastern seaboard!

Connect somewhere. Instead of flying YYZ-DCA, fly YYZ-EWR-DCA, for example.

I'm flying YQR-YFC Friday and I booked YQR-YWG-YYZ-YFC to pick up an extra segment. I only leave five minutes earlier, and the fare was slightly lower too.

This.

I'm in YOW, so every flight I took the first half of the first year of ramped up travel was YOW-YYZ-Destination-YYZ-YOW.

It's usually around the same price (if not cheaper) and only adds a few hours to the trip in each direction. Some people get very creative and can add lots of segments on a route like YOW-YVR and end up with 6-8 segments instead of 2 for the same price.

It was worth it to me because my travel patterns at the time saw me flying nearly every week to various locations across Canada and hitting E fast made the rest of my year more enjoyable.

You might as well be a P already. Those 4 MLL passes are the only thing of value associated with that level these days.

Another option is to take the Amex AP card or the Maple leaf card: you will have lounge access, along with priority check-in.