lowside67

No... as an Elite 35, 50, or 75 you now will get exactly 1 "nominee" that must be travelling on the same flights as you and exactly 0 "nominee" spots if you are not flying with them.

As a SE you will get the same 1 same-flight and 2 traditional "nominees".

Mark

BCABSkier

Wow. It's completely unethical to announce this extreme devaluation at the end of August when the travel year is almost over. AC customers who remained loyal enough (or, it appears, gullible and stupid enough) to continue to patronize AC to achieve E35, 50 or 75K are going to be furious about this! Absolutely no question that this information needed to be provided before cash changed hands. Upgrades, and particularly upgrades on international travel, are the one and only reason many of us have purchased Flex rather than Tango fares. In fact, it has been the only reason I have purchased flight passes and chosen AC where other options are available. What a disgusting betrayal! A change such as this should at a minimum be made with one full year's notice. Last straw. I'm out.

lostinthewash

This. Mr LITW is SE. My flying tanked in 2013 so I will enter the 2014 season with zero status.

We were talking about him using a benefit to keep me at E50K because my flying next year will be substantial (job change). But really, we're better off with him having some eUps for his international work travel, paying J when we want to travel personally, and me just buying a Priority Pass for lounge access and I fly whatever airline is cheapest for work (I never check a bag, so check in/free bag priority has no value for me).

jjava

This is terrible.

Ugg, I do international to YVR -> FRA about to get my E50, was excited to be able to start upgrading flights. I won't be able to expense those add-ons fees, means no upgrades for me. I could maybe reach 75K on the year but no way I'm reaching SE.

Miles & More / Lufthansa? Either way, there is no point in staying with AC - as I won't be able to use my eUpgrades on my flights. The interesting thing is I usually fly Lufthansa there and AC back and Lufthansa has upgraded me to business class on 2 / 4 flights (probably just luck?).

canadiancow

So here's why I think I'm going to leave AC.

I didn't expect to hit S100K this year. But it turned out I'm going to.

Next year, it will be the same situation. Except now, E75K isn't nearly as useful. It's S100K or nothing now. So if you can't guarantee that you'll hit it, then you're probably better off elsewhere.

YWG-RO

Wow. Disappointing.

I was close to jumping ship to United MP. This may have done it.

Does anyone have info / link about United status matching?

First, I get enhanced by NW / Delta in 2009. Now it's AC over the past couple of years. It used to be a lot easier and way more fun. At least AC is now profitable. Can't really blame them I guess.

mendy7511

And the real reason why AC keeps the upgrade wait list top secret comes to light!

xLuther

Bottom line, this changes everything for a lot of people, they have to decide if AC has fired them as customers. Pretty clear they are cleaning house of a certain profiles.

For me, so far nothing impacts me negatively. I pay Z for overseas, I will getting more AQM. I only use eUpgrades on domestic/USA flights, I don't eupgrade anyone but my wife who is 99% of the time travelling with me.

shawneve

I think you have it wrong...
If your companion is on the same PNR, you can upgrade them at your tier windows. That is an existing benefit.
That benefit stays, but now instead of nominees you can now only upgrade someone on your flight, on day of departure.
My understanding is that it would be possible to upgrade two people. One on same PNR anytime during your upgrade window and another at the airport.

whistlerdan

Well folks firstly I want to say hi because this is my first post. I've been a 'lurker' for some time though and this forum has been incredibly useful!

The e-mail I got today from Air Canada made me so infuriated that I felt I had to make my feelings known as well. The program upgrade to the whole Altitude thing this year was a total farce and the first nail in the coffin. They didn't even get the new lounge card out in time so those of use who chose the international lounge pass as an add-on got screwed. I had multiple flights where I could not even get into the lounge simply because they couldn't even get their act together to send out some simple cards. Even talking to the Aeroplan folks at that time they admitted to me that they just couldn't understand what AC were trying to do and could only shake their heads.

Now this eUpgrade change..... first off making the announcement in August is a despicable move. I'm flying to Hong Kong on Monday with AC and I wish I wasn't.....

This year I lost *G status due to the 'program upgrades' even though I flew a bit more than the previous year when I was *G and now next year I'll have to pay $500 to upgrade flights to Europe ? Of course I won't do that so essentially as I see it, what loyalty gets me now, as a person that does about 30-50K depending on the year, is access to the lounge for some basic food and drink and extra baggage on some flights. I'm pretty sure that the money I will save now by not choosing to fly AC will buy me a much nicer meal in the airport than I would have gotten in the lounge anyway so that benefit is pretty quickly negated.

Time to look for another program to work towards, perhaps we need to start a new thread somewhere with advice on what peoples AC alternatives are ? I see a few mentioned in this thread but must admit that I don't know what all the abbreviations are that are being thrown around There must be others out there like me who don't really know much about the other program options and need a crash course in the alternatives.

Feeling kind of lost.... need to book some flights today around Asia but definitely won't be limiting myself to SA partners for those choices now as I see no point in working towards any Altitude level (except maybe 100K but my work will never get me that high anyway so it's moot).

Darkumbra

Exactly.
I do one major trip each year. Aus/Nzl - all my eupgrades are targeted for that trip.

I don't tend to upgrade for trips <6 hours.

So WHY would I continue to fly AC when the ONE perk that I value is devalued?

AC? You've crossed the fuzzy line.

WinnipegJet

This really is quite unfortunate for me. The logic from a cost-saving perspective is understandable, though, I think: I travel mostly company-paid domestic transcon (YVR/YYC/YEG--YYZ/YOW/YUL), and will end up in the 50K/75K range fairly consistently. While I certainly use some e-ups on these transcons, obviously using them for my less frequent travels (usually vacation) to further afield places is the most appealing. AC has shifted the cost of my vacation indulgence back to me, as opposed to having it sit with them in exchange for my domestic loyalty.

They must be confident that the cost in loyalty will be more than offset by the cost savings. In my case, it may well be true -- am I truly going to start flying WestJet because of this? Very likely not. I don't think I'm spiteful enough to give up the comforts afforded even with meagre 50K or 75K status just to feel like I'm teaching a corporation a lesson. The loss of e-upgrade nominee slots stings quite a bit (admittedly more for the S/O than me ), but again probably won't move the dial for me personally (though it does mean I'll be sending the S/O on cheapest available now, rather than AC, but I bet AC is OK with that). I imagine AC will lose more of the transborder flyers to US carriers for their frequent flyer programs, but not sure how much that will cost AC.

Oh well. Establishing personal/emotional loyalty to AC is useless to AC, I think, as I will practically end up loyal anyway. That's OK; AC is running a business, and it would be a bit cute for me to moan about that. I sure won't shed a tear if/when the ship sinks, though, nor will I object to any proposal to have a foreign carrier compete with this company in Canada! Gimme another option and I'd be very inclined to take my money elsewhere.

yvr76

No reason you shouldn't move to MileagePlus, given that you live in SFO, especially since SFO doesn't even have a concierge station that you could benefit from as SE.

jarusoba

AC didn't lie or betray anybody.

They only INCREASED the mileage accrual on some fares in this membership year.

All the new enhancements are not going to take effect until next membership year. Actually, AC doesn't have to announce it so early. They could announce these new enhancements later on this year when they announce details of the new program.

But these changes are clearly awesome, especially the increased mileage accrual of Z and B/Y fares.^

Fizzer

Can't say I saw this coming but TBH my luck at e upgrades on International TPAC and TATL as an E50 was zero anyway this year and as an E last year too.

It has certainly made it clear that we may as well purchase Tango rather than Flex Given that even an upgraded seat within NA is no big deal ( I'm not drinking anyway as I usually have to drive at the end ) I see no real advantage in chasing what is now clearly a Non Status.

We had already shifted much of our flying to United because of the price differential, including a trip in paid J to Saint Lucia in November 2013 that is cheaper than AC Flex and a trip to BKK in Feb 2014, where Premium Economy on the longest segment lets me rest and sleep in peace and saves us, as a couple, thousands of dollars over AC even at Tango fares.


We had thought of shifting to UA but I seem to recall reading that even with *G we wouldn't get access to NA UA Lounges anyway. Now that really is the only perk left ( apart from preboarding and free bags )but they certainly aren't worth anything like the extra money it always costs to fly AC. Quite an easy decision from here on then.