Eupgrade co-pay... when does it start?
 

Just wonderin'.

At the beginning of next benefit year, March 1.

http://www.aircanada.com/en/aeroplan...e/add-ons.html

It'll be interesting to see the reaction when this starts. It totally kills trans-Pacific upgrades for me ($750 extra per direction)! I'd already resigned to paying extra for Flex. No way I'm paying another $750 on top of that.

It doesn't seem entirely clear, but to avoid disappointment I would caution to assume that the add-on will apply for any requests for flights from March 1st onwards (not for requests made from March 1st).

Another thing unclear to me is whether an upgraded person (<=E75) who is a nominee of a SE will have to pay the co-pay.
The AP website (http://www.aircanada.com/en/aeroplan...e/add-ons.html) is somewhat contradictory - "Add-ons will not apply to upgrade requests made by Altitude Super Elite 100K" which sounds good, but then "eUpgrade Add-ons will apply to Altitude Elite 75K, Elite 50K, Elite 35K and Prestige 25K members travelling with Flex fares that are eligible for an upgrade "

it would be nice to know before I book Flex fares for family.

No the add on does not apply to nominees from what I understand

I wonder if this will lead to fewer SE's getting upgrade because there will be no revenue associated with the upgrade?

It might be LMU then those with less than SE status who pay for an Eup then SE....

Interesting but I hope not as people compare notes and AC may have SE revolt

From my understanding, even at the gate priority will be given to status but until I see if first handle I'm going to take that bite of information with a grain of salt

All I know is that my Transpac and Trans Atl buisness ends with AC on march first. No way I am paying those co-pays. Already paying a premium over other carriers to fly flex up to 50% more. I would consider combination cash and points for the upgd, such as $ 200.00 and 10K points. But flex + 500 or 750 no thanks.

This may be the year that people truly live up to their FT threats.

so let me get this straight, it's $750 per direction?

so for example, a roundtrip YVR-PVG flight in Flex costs $1,650 using March 5 - 12 as dates. Plus $1,500 roundtrip for the co-pay, which totals $3,150 if you are successful in getting the upgrade.

A quick check on expedia shows that you could fly JL via NRT for $2,961 and you could fly CE for $3,169 direct. Not only do you get guaranteed J, you don't use up e-upgrades as well.

Please tell me I'm missing something here??

The only thing you're missing is that Expedia also quotes $3190 for a confirmed round-trip AC fare nonstop. Just $40 more than the Flex + co-pay approach.

I guess the message is that if you want to fly in J, pay for J.

Yup, $750 per direction, or $1500 per round-trip, on top of the already inflated Flex fare. :td:

I was wondering the same thing. From a revenue point of view, someone paying $500-750 is much more valuable to AC than an SE using eUpgrades only. I wouldn't be surprised at all to seeing those willing to co-pay being processed first at the gate.