durberville

Absolutely not.

No deceit at all. I originally sent the first contact in April, when the card was valid. Months later they asked me to resend it. Indeed, when I resent it, I made a statement that the card isn't currently valid, but was when I sent the first contact.

Here's the entire email trail for those interested (with only my personal information blocked out). It's tiring to be called a scammer, deceitful, a liar, etc. The emails are ordered with the oldest first. All the best!

ibopm

So the only concern here is that OP submitted a 2013 instead of 2014 status to be matched? And AC approved it somehow (maybe by mistake)? I don't see what the big deal is.

durberville

No, people are mad because the AB status that I had was in itself a matched status.

I submit that I never did anything deceitful (I hope you come to the same conclusion after a read of the emails), played within the rules, etc. Other folks believe that I have committed a scam, am deceitful, morally unsound, etc.

ibopm

How did you get the status match with AB?

flyertalker00156

no big deal. People are over reacting! Keep up the good blogging

Neil791

I have to say that its quite pathetic to sit here and read all of the die hard, bleeding hearts out there moaning about the supposed morality of asking for and receiving a status match from an airline.

To use words like 'scam' and 'un-ethical' is just laughable as we're talking about airline frequent flyer progam status and not something more severe such as robbing a bank or committing murder, although if one didnt know better they would think the OP has committed a mortal sin.

At the end of the day, OP asked AC for a status match as per their own policy and they gave it to him. For those who think this is wrong, or somehow deceitful perhaps you should write to AC and tell them just how upset you are because you had to sit in their planes in order to get their status (or did you?) whereas someone else was given it gratis.

I suppose all of those people who used to credit UA and US flights to their AE account pre-altitude were also scamming because the flights were cheaper on the US carriers?!? Or how about those people who credit to A3 and obtain *G status for a fraction of what it takes to get the same on AC??

Or perhaps the biggest issue here is that the OP might be the one to take the last crusty tortilla chip or cookie from the lounge when one of the 'holier than thou' had their heart set on the same?!?

Honestly people, if you've got nothing better to do with your time than get upset over what's posted in an online forum than it truly is a sad day and this board has sunk to an all time low.

Get outside and enjoy the nice weather!!

c_9

Pretty common on FT:

Day 1: "Waaaaaah Altitude has been devalued!"
Day 2: "Hey I found a way to get more free stuff from Air Canada without paying more, thereby costing the airline money!"
Day 3: "Waaaaaah Altitude has been devalued again!"

mkjr

I would think some apologies from the AC fanboys are in order. Doubt it will happen though.

Jasper2009

You forgot to quote the part about my not caring particularly either way.

The discussion basically boils down to:

OP matched his status from airline x to AB and then used that matched status to get AC status.

Most will agree that this is not what the airlines had in mind when offering status matches - they're obviously interested in attracting real FFers, not people who once had status with one airline and leveraged it to get matches in multiple programs.

As far as I can tell his behaviour doesn't violate the T&C, whether his behaviour is "(un)ethical" / "helps other FFers" / "makes life harder for other FFers who have a genuine reason to request a status match" is a discussion I'm personally not particularly interested in having. But it should be no surprise that not everyone is complimenting the OP.

FlyerTalker683455

One of my family members had her UA gold status matched. It took about 10 weeks, and involved her sending a copy of her card as well as current flight reservations for travel on AC. Based on her booking several upcoming trips on AC, she was matched her status. UA status was actually achieved by buying up to *G on UA because she was about 1000 miles short. The reason she switched is because most her travel now is out of Canada instead of connecting through US gateways.

I don't think OP did anything wrong.

jerryhung

I have heard people got status match with their "FREE" CX MPC from AMEX Platinum, that's no different than OP here either

If airline wanted to restrict status match, they could easily follow some hotel's process by asking for actual "flying activity" screenshot to prove one stays at a hotel/fly X airline

ChrisA330

You could say the same for things like the coined Mexican Hat Dance. Wasn't what the airline had in mind, but many took advantage of it.

These forums are full of loopholes that people take advantage of.

yulred

I suspect a lot of us missed what the fuss was all about by virtue of showing up here after everything was edited. From what I've read in the posts that have followed (that are still available), you've done nothing wrong.

Airlines and hotels don't 'hesitate' to offer matches 'in the first place'. If they think they stand to gain, they will offer the match no matter how many times it hasnt worked out in the past. The onus is on the frequent traveler to prove the company can benefit from their loyalty switch, not the other way around. Companies could care less about anyone's "real need/reason" for a match; they certainly wouldn't consider it unless it suited them.

Were the benefits gutted because of abuse by 'a limited number of' FFers or were they gutted because that is the general trend in the industry (as we've been reminded time and again over here and in other forums). And if we're going into ethics, is collective punishment for the transgressions of a few, 'ethical'?

I don't see status matches as harming the integrity of a FF program any more than, say, the AC VIP program, which focuses on what the airline might gain from someone in the future, as opposed to what it already has over the previous year.

How do you scam a system by following the rules laid out within the system, where the final arbiters on whether the rules are being followed or not, are the ones who designed the system and set the rules?

That aside, am I the only one finding it ironic that the same people who're going on about scams and bemoaning the lack of 'ethical standards' among certain FFers, are the ones who accuse the (presumably ethically wronged) airlines of scamming frequent flyers and travellers through, amongst other things, 'scamcharges'.

Its all so odd.

^^

Did AC do it out of compassion?

Or did they take a cold hard look at his status as well as his travel patterns on AC metal and determine that they stood to gain something out of giving him a reason to fly them more?

Cold hard corporate logic suggests that the latter is infinitely more likely than the former case.

And people who dont fly AC regularly have the opportunity to earn AC status legitimately... through the VIP program, even if, in the words of Peter Fitzpatrick, they "may not actually fly that much".

AC status matched OP because they think he will bring them revenue. If he doesn't, he'll lose his status in a year or so.

BRAISKI

Ding Ding Ding we have a winnar! In one simple word its called Marketing!

Same thing where lots of stores now are "price matching" I wouldn't be surprise if Airlines will start Price Matching in the next few years.

Concept of price matching or status matching is taking the business away from the competition.

Far Siren

Much ado about nothing...