Was looking at YYZ-SOF on Sunday for flights mid NOV. That night 1400 in S. Last night $1700 in V.
Glad I booked UA for 1100+ 153 for W on the return so I can upgd that TATL.
My HKG in March is via EWR. If I choose to post these trips to AC the irony is that I would get 100% miles. If I booked AC I would not. Guess I made my choice.

This is a great point Lev. As much as we like to blame AC management here, these people are not total idiots and probably have tons of data to back up their decisions. And the data may show that AC is better off with a smaller J cabin which would be reserved for paying customers as a result of these recent changes, and a higher yield PE & Y cabin.

I have a feeling after the US/American merger you will start to see some devaluations of the US programs as well. I am sitting at E50, no shot of going e75, with only one work flight left this year which is booked, if I get any last minute travel I am going to fly American just to test waters.

My major problem is I would have to start to connect, and the major advantage of being in Toronto is with AC you can really minimize connections, I have yet to connect this year except for AMS, and been on 20 flights.

The problem with that analysis is that it will not drive Y corporate flyers to buy J; they would already be doing it if they could! Thinking otherwise is just being disconnected with reality . Quite the opposite, it is encouraging people not to fly AC.

They are trying to drive up revenue per business flyer but on a scale that is not realistic. They could probably extract 2-500$ more per trip from us and we would find a way to bend the travel policy and make it work; instead they are going for 1500-3000$ which is insane by any measure. No manager in his right mind will double a travel budget for what is essentially the same thing as last year.

Add to that the new HD birds with horrible pitch, subpar PE and J class, and forced checking of carry ons and you have to wonder what planet they are living on. Or maybe they are actively trying to crash the company...

Personally I am done with this BS. I am filling out my Nexus application this week (was on the fence before but this just prove they are going down, hard) and trying out UA.

Max

I just found out about this when trying to upgrade a flight in W class that I booked earlier in the year. They had to change it manually so I'll keep an eye on the booking to see if this has actually been done and I get the miles I expected to get at the time of booking. I could go on about how this is just another change that has annoyed me but hey life is too short. It has just made me more determined to find a program that is better for me and while I'll miss many of the outstanding AC employees I've had the pleasure of meeting over the years, their managers have driven me and so many people away.

YUL regret having said that! :p

This becomes an interesting conundrum for them - the bigger the gap between Flex and Tango, the stronger the expectation customers who book Flex will have of being upgraded. If J is cut down, then there will be fewer opportunities to upgrade, leading to greater disappointment leading people to either book Tango or move on to greener pastures. At that point the only strategy is to go "HD" fleet wide with a J cabin optimised for full paying J load, some PE (with little expectation by client of being upgraded) and lots of Tango people crammed in to the back. Rogue becomes redundant (at least on long hauls).

Latitude and Flex will be there for the few dummies who get sucked into booking it.

They will not scale back on the number of J seats because they will be receiving Z/C fare equivalent for them. The difference between all the fares and charges to upgrade and Z/C has practically disappeared. Will TT buy PE without an upgrade chance?

AC continues to prove they have devalued their flights/FF program more than others and do it without notice and never a benefit to the "loyal" flyer. I thought years ago when insane moves were made, maybe I will no longer fly but with co-pay etc already decided in August, this was an easy decision to leave AC/AP. Simply pathetic. 3 LH flights already booked with other *A carriers. UA biz product as well as LO biz product put AC pricing and product to shame. Flex fares very high and cutting even more to Tango status tells me this airline is in a sad state.

I'm new to all this so forgive me if this is a bit stupid. I'm trying to figure out how this will impact me, I'm not super familiar with the fare codes. I know my employer books at least what used to be deemed "Flex" fares. I'll be at 35k in a month or so but I'm working my way there based on AQS. Are these being impacted in any way?

For next year, if my work stays the same I'll make 50k and with some creative vacationing 75k, again based on the AQS. When I vacation though I usually book the cheapest fare, or I book via Expedia/Hotwire etc. Is it a better idea to switch over to UA in 2014 despite the fact that literally 90% of my flying is on AC?

AQS are not being impacted by these latest changes, although AC did actually improve things earleir this year by granting 1 AQS for North American Tango flights that used to not earn AQS or Status miles.

You could be impacted if you fly internationally because your employer might start to get sticker shock at the price difference between Tango and Flex and "downgrade" you to Tango fares. At that point you still get AQS but fewer miles and no ability to upgrade.


Cheapest fare (and most Expedia) is Tango, which earns fewer miles and is non-upgradeable.

Probably not, although a few here might suggest otherwise based on lower redemption cost, etc. It really depends on your flgiht pattern and whether you can conveniently switch more travel to UA.

I am so beyond being outraged at this latest change. As I said upthread, AC IT has already downgraded my 5 upcoming flights to Tango from Flex. In their blurb they say that it will be automatic that the AQM will happen. If that is the case, why don't they do a simple change of the file to a booking class that is Flex as that is what I purchased. Simply ask - Was this reservation made before Sept. 24? If yes, is the person an Altitude member? If yes, file should be a flex file so the change can be directly made. Instead, we are going to be forced to call a CSR and I can assure you they will not be thrilled either. The last time this happened to me, the CSR wasn't aware of the issue and just simply told me that my flight was Tango and not Tango Plus therefore I couldn't waitlist for an upgrade. Having to call in to get on a waitlist or to get an upgrade is just so impractical especially when travelling. Boo to Air Canada. I do have the choice to not fly with AC and once my upcoming flights are done, I will not be booking any more with them.

Well, one really wonders if the longterm goal is to do just that - Rogue it all. Eventually you have a defacto LCC model, but without the low cost for flyers - given the lack of competition we have in this country. Soon the only ones that will be flying on AC will be kettles and SE's.

LOL @ AC really. Good luck and Godspeed I guess. I'm happy having moved to BR and CX. Don't need to put up with this nonsense.

Note that he referred to his SkyTeam flights, not all SkyTeam flights. If you never fly Aeroflot, for example, does it really matter how many points you get for flying them?

As for redemption levels, for many destinations DL's medium and high redemption rates are often still lower than AC's ClassicPlus levels (or whatever they are called now.)