slashd0t

With all of the changes in 2013 to the program, fares and now change fee's, I'm starting to really get the feel that AC's strategy is to completely dismantel their frequent flyer benefits ...

Is it possible that it's no longer making business sense for them to have a frequent flyer program? Some of these changes are just so insane (Flex fares to Asia being so insanely ridiculously over-priced) and of course the new $200 change fee for transborder which is more expensive than the Tango fare ..

I just don't get it.. Why would anyone pay significantly more just to be recognized as a frequent flyer by AC? Things just aren't adding up..

Are they bailing and forcing us out this way?

Stranger

Not so much dismantle the program.

Just redefining what "frequent flyer" means.

Back when they started, top tier was elite, at 35k. Compute the spending of a standard elite then, corrected for inflation, in today's value, and look at how many miles you currently would get for that money.

slashd0t

It seems now though that they are making it harder and harder for people to actually get any sort of status..

For a guy like me who does quite a few long hauls to Asia every year, on AC I will now get 50% mileage because no company is willing to spend 2-3x the price on a ticket just so the person can get qualifying miles.... That and if you are PAYING them to get recognized throughout the year, they actually aren't giving you any benefit, you are paying for those benefits in all of the extra fee's..

It's basically Air Canada saying "these people are so dumb, we can charge them twice the price and tell them we are recognizing them and they'll believe it!"

How are we putting up with this non-sense?

cruzcap

has been said many times here..many of us who have to take the lowest fares due to company policies (and common sense) are avoiding AC. I agree that they are wanting us to head for the doors and they will fill the planes with last minute SE in J who's company will pay top dollar and the back of the bus with leisure travellers...us middle of the road folks are not really on their radar...

gl89

It seems as it is not just Air Canada/Aeroplan doing this. News articles show the US airlines (and maybe others) all doing it as well.

Yes, I believe they are re-defining what it means to be both a 'frequent flyer' and a miles collector'. (They are two different things.)

There are many different ways to collect miles, other than just by flying. So they are probably trying to differentiate between someone who actually flies (and spends money on the airline) and someone who buys a lot of products (and maybe churns credit cards) to earn miles.

It's a business model. Business models change over time. They want you to spend a certain amount of money with the company before they give you the perks.

Do I understand it? Yes.

Am I happy with it? No (because it affects me).

Do I have choices? Yes. We all have choices as to where to spend our money and to get the best value for it.

slashd0t

The point is though, they aren't giving you an "perks", we are paying for them by spending more money per flight just to get the miles to qualify for the perks.. It's amazing how blind most frequent flyers are to this fact.. We feel like we are getting special benefits, but, we've paid such a premium over the year just to get them over the traditional traveller, we are fooling ourselves if we think we are being rewarded..

margarita girl

Cue the guy who likes to come on here and say if your company won't let you fly in paid J to Asia, you should work somewhere else.

slashd0t

Ha, yeah that's becoming a lot less of an option these days..

Swarez

That's my company! well sorta, any contract we have that is owned by the state in China, we have in the contracts that company will be reimbursed for J travel. I am doing 2 trips in J to China this year, already did one.

In my industry virtually no company pays for J I know guys at 4 other big firms and no one has it anymore. The old guys all complain because they used to get J for ever up to mid 2000's. Now if client will pay we get it, and that is only the state of China now.

This is my first year as a FF and really don't know how many benefits I will really take advantage once I actually get status. I will get Altitude 50 by end of year and just passed the 25K mark with the China trip. I know a lot of the older guys at work are switching to united and American programs.

canadiancow

The issues aren't with earning miles vs being a frequent flier. The issue is that you can fly 100k miles on AC and not be recognized as a FF.

MacPie

True, it's not so much a "Frequent Flyer" program as a "High Spender" program.

Can't say I blame them, there are many frequent flyers who are about as good for AC's business as someone who nurses a single cup of coffee for hours while taking a whole table and using the WiFi all day is to a cafe owner.

slashd0t

I would call it a fool program then.. If someone really wants to spend twice as much every year to fly just so they can call themselves "Super Elite" and have lounge access have at it..

airbus320

Altitude is heading to become a full fledged revenue based program.

The Lev

Not sure whether you are saying this from the po9int of view of how much cheaper or how much more expensive it is than in the past - my sense is you are saying cheaper, which was certainly not the case for me.

I used to pay $299 return YYZ-YVR and flights to Europe were $400-600. Now I'm playing at least double - far bigger increases than inflation.

On the flip side, when I first earned status I had to stay over Saturdays to get those fares which is no longer the case in North America and becoming less common to other global destinations too.

pappypappy

I think it's pretty clear that they are aiming to only reward the high-rolling "whales" who fly J all the time, and will probably never use most of their benefits because of that.

I've said before that they seem to think that removing eup potential from a raft of fliers will get them to spend 5x more on a J, but as others in this thread have said, the days of companies paying for J are mostly gone. The prices are just absurd and it's almost impossible to justify spending 6-7k for 18 hours on a plane.

Really wish I had any other real options for YEG TATL quick trips, but oh well. Only light at the end of the tunnel is the "reduced business traffic" note in their earnings call. Maybe they will see that they are shooting themselves in the foot.