DeanV

Has anyone out there been able to convince AC to allow for un upgrade request on flights departing 1 March using credits that expire on 28 Feb? I am travelling on 1 Mar and have yet to receive my Altitude package or email, and so I can't request an upgrade. The agent I spoke to said AC has received many requests for this purpose, but it is impossible. He said he had personally dealt with a SE who had 198 credits expiring on 28 Feb and he couldn't use any of them for a 1 Mar flight.

In this unique situation where AC is changing the top tier program, it would be nice if they could allow for a little extra "legroom" in the use of eUpgrades, given that their new program is preventing customers from using earned credits which should be available for 1 Mar.

If anyone has had positive results, I'd be glad to hear your strategy.

mromalley

It would be nice, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

luchoqc

I honestly think that this is the only thing AC could do as a compensation for dropping the ball in such a bad way in the transition to the Altitude top tier program. We will see. Either they are going for the "reduce cost, go for profit, don't care about the rest, and don't apologize about anything" or they make a real move towards a real loyalty program.

KenHamer

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9780; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.448 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

Why would they apologize? It's not their fault.

RooFlyer

OK. So who's responsible for the implementation of the Altitude program and sending out of packages where they will arrive after they should be able to be used? And for structuring the transition so frequent flyers can't use entitlements AC dole out as a matter of course?

And who else might negotiate (if necessary) with Aeroplan on behalf of their frequent flyers during this unique transition period brought on by Air Canada?

Look, I'm happy to point the finger at the Australian Government if it helps, but I kinda think Air Canada might be in the mix somewhere.

KenHamer

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9780; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.448 Mobile Safari/534.8+)

Nope. It's never Air Canada's fault. Not ever.

RooFlyer

Erk. Apologies. Missed the sarcasm.

margarita girl

Too funny!

OP, I think if AC was going to do anything they would have done it by now since March 1 is only 3 days away. I'm not affected as I have no immediate travel (on AC) but I empathize with those that do. This whole thing has just been very badly handled.

acysb87

Are we surprised that the roll-out has been poorly handled?
I have no travel planned for the next two weeks so that I am not effected by this

CdnRW

To answer OP's question, I just checked my account. I have 79 credits expiring Feb 28. I have about 40 more that are good for Mar 1. I used 2 to upgrade YYT to YYZ on March 3 and they came out of my 2013-14 ones. So this year's credits have to be used for travel prior to March 1.

RCyyz

AC holds its FF in a certain esteem. This whole thing has been handled in keeping with that.

Thing is, AC merely has to issue a statement - "We are changing the program ftom AE to Altitude. This is a large-scale change that's occupied us for the past x months. We sincerely apologize to those who are affected but rest assured this is a one-time occurance. From 01 March onwards, all will be well and you will be able to use your credits again. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we go through this complex transition."

And if they just said that truthfully and sincerely, I suspect the majority of us would grumble a bit but understand and let things be. Instead AC chooses to treat its FF with a certain disdain and, well, here we are.

In the meantime, I too blame the Aussies for all this.

quank

Flying on March 3 and my upgrade window opens today. Despite having credits in my account today (expiry Feb28) and due credits on March 1 once I can select privileges (Elite 50K), it appears there is zero flexibility for me to request the upgrade. Seems like terrible implementation to not allow people to select privileges before the Feb28th expiry date, but I won't waste my breath. Just pointing it out so the OP has a data point that shows we seem to be in the same boat.

Premiere Elite - YEG

Same here. Salt in the wound is seeing all the R space available too.

yyz_atc_qq

The only reason R seems plentiful is because no one has eupgrades to use.

robsaw

My Credit Union just did a major systems upgrade and they botched it up a bit and are still having some problems BUT they fully informed their customers as to what was happening when and why. The also apologized for the problems and provided an on-line FAQ updated frequently as to what the changes/issues were, when fixes were expected to happen or for some that they were working on it but couldn't predetermine a fix date. What we have from AC is precisely nothing, no apologies, no measures to rectify glitches that are already arising, no extension of current benefits, simply nothing at all except that the world will be wonderful Mar 1.

AC PR dept operates like a gov't bureaucracy, all about how "sorry" they are that it was some uncontrollable circumstance that they can't and won't do anything about.

Absolutely the Aussies. I'm sure the problem is the SYD flights that cross the international dateline and screw-up the AC IT system somehow.