Fall 2014 Earn Your Wings
#16
Join Date: Jan 2014
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 243
My husband booked Toronto to NY last week to ensure he would be on the same flights I had already booked. As usual, too late. This has become a nasty pattern.
#17
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,458
Anyway, how do so many people have the Altitude badge already? I signed up and I have status but I don't have that badge
#18
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 4,519
It show up about 5 min after I register online. I didn't even log out. Reason for me to check if I have the badge is that when I first register, there is only about 8 people with 500 wings. By after 5 min, there were over 50 people has wings. Hence, I knew it is not an overnight update thing. Hence, I click profile and show up I have 500 wings already.
#19
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AC E35K, NEXUS
Posts: 4,368
Thanks yvr76. I did not see that. So much for the two or three itineraries I have already booked. That info should have been in the email.
After your registration is complete, book your travel between August 25 and October 3, 2014 inclusively, and fly by November 30, 2014.
#20
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: IAH
Programs: AC SE100K, AA Platinum, SPG Platinum, National Emerald Elite
Posts: 166
Fall 2014 Earn Your Wings
Thought I'd start a new thread. Saw some comments in last year's thread.
Who is going for it this year? Any strategies you want to share?
I think I'm going to be able to pick off a couple South America destinations and other badges using domestic stuff... but I feel like I'm priced out of this year's game.
http://earnyourwings.aircanada.com/en/registration
Who is going for it this year? Any strategies you want to share?
I think I'm going to be able to pick off a couple South America destinations and other badges using domestic stuff... but I feel like I'm priced out of this year's game.
http://earnyourwings.aircanada.com/en/registration
#23
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MLL / AC Cafe
Programs: It's hard to get status when the website won't let me book flights.
Posts: 5,706
#24
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: YVR
Programs: AC:50K
Posts: 708
Ok, time to do some analysis. I'm assuming that people trying to win this are going to want to get most of their Wings via Globetrotter badges, since those are by far the most lucrative; and I'm also going to assume that people will want to get more than one Globetrotter badge per flight. Since we're talking about Air Canada here, I'm limiting consideration to flights which have at least one Canadian city.
This means that non-Canadian cities which only participate in a single Globetrotter badge can be excluded from EYW-running consideration. This rules out MIA, FLL, MCO, TPA, RSW (Citrus only), PHL, EWR, ORD, DCA (East Coast only), IAH, LAS, SAN, PHX (Sun Belt only), SEA (Mileage Run only), MXP, MAD (Palace only), MEX, KIN, MBJ, BGI (Happy Hour only), DUB (Castle only), CPH (Canal only), SYD, NRT, HND, ICN (Pacific only), GRU, BOG, LIM, SCL, EZE (Dulce de Leche only), NCE, FCO, BCN, LIS, ATH (Rouge only), HKG, PEG, PVG (Emperor only), MUC, GVA, and ZRH (Biergarten only) destinations.
This now rules out the Palace, Happy Hour, Pacific, Dulce de Leche, Biergarten, Citrus, East Coast, Sun Belt, and Emperor badges since there aren't enough "potentially worthwhile" cities left to make it possible to get those badges. Doing that allows us to cross off BOS, SFO, BRU, FRA, the Mileage Run badge, and LAX.
There are now 9 badges left:
Cross Channel (LHR, CDG)
Maple Leaf Lounge (LHR, LGA)
Castle (LHR, MAN, EDI)
Canal (CDG, MAN, VCE)
Rouge (MAN, EDI, VCE)
Theatre (3 of YTZ, LGA, LHR, CDG)
Scenic Drive (YWG, YHZ, YQB)
Prairie (3 of YWG, YEG, YXE, YQR)
Trillium (3 of YTZ, YOW, YQT)
With the exception of YTZ being an option for the Theatre badge, we now have two completely separate contests: The international contest, with 6 badges and 6 cities (LHR, MAN, CDG, EDI, VCE, LGA), and the domestic contest, with 3 badges and 9 cities (YWG, YTZ, YHZ, YQB, YEG, YXE, YQR, YOW, YQT).
On the international side of things, the most efficient option I can see (in terms of badges per flight) involves making round trips to LHR, MAN, CDG, LGA, and one of EDI, VCE; this would yield 13 Globetrotter badges. Along with the Destination badges (8x international, 2x US) and the default 100 Wings for non-Destination cities, this yields 13 x 2000 + 8 x 750 + 2 x 400 + 10 x 100 = 33800 Wings for 4 transatlantic flights (2 on Rouge) and 1 transborder flight. If you want to avoid Rouge flights, the best you can do is to hit LHR, CDG, and LGA for 6 Globetrotter badges -- 16400 Wings for 2 transatlantic flights and 1 transborder flight. Rough guess: $200 and 1 hour of flying per 1000 Wings.
On the domestic side of things, the only overlap between badges is YWG which appears in Scenic Drive and Prairie. I don't see any way to efficiently hit two of {YWG, YHZ, YQB}, and hitting all three of {YOW, YQT, YTZ} looks similarly awkward given the schedules Air Canada operates. On the other hand, with the Prairie Badge, consisting of 3 of {YEG, YXE, YQR, YWG}, we have a winner: A single $263 YWG-YQR-YXE-YEG ticket will net you 2 Prairie Badges along with 6 Canada Destination Badges, for a total of 5200 Wings. It doesn't look like you can hit both YXE and YQR when flying in the opposite direction, but still -- for a one-day "wing run", this definitely looks like the best area to hang out.
Canadiancow, over to you.
This means that non-Canadian cities which only participate in a single Globetrotter badge can be excluded from EYW-running consideration. This rules out MIA, FLL, MCO, TPA, RSW (Citrus only), PHL, EWR, ORD, DCA (East Coast only), IAH, LAS, SAN, PHX (Sun Belt only), SEA (Mileage Run only), MXP, MAD (Palace only), MEX, KIN, MBJ, BGI (Happy Hour only), DUB (Castle only), CPH (Canal only), SYD, NRT, HND, ICN (Pacific only), GRU, BOG, LIM, SCL, EZE (Dulce de Leche only), NCE, FCO, BCN, LIS, ATH (Rouge only), HKG, PEG, PVG (Emperor only), MUC, GVA, and ZRH (Biergarten only) destinations.
This now rules out the Palace, Happy Hour, Pacific, Dulce de Leche, Biergarten, Citrus, East Coast, Sun Belt, and Emperor badges since there aren't enough "potentially worthwhile" cities left to make it possible to get those badges. Doing that allows us to cross off BOS, SFO, BRU, FRA, the Mileage Run badge, and LAX.
There are now 9 badges left:
Cross Channel (LHR, CDG)
Maple Leaf Lounge (LHR, LGA)
Castle (LHR, MAN, EDI)
Canal (CDG, MAN, VCE)
Rouge (MAN, EDI, VCE)
Theatre (3 of YTZ, LGA, LHR, CDG)
Scenic Drive (YWG, YHZ, YQB)
Prairie (3 of YWG, YEG, YXE, YQR)
Trillium (3 of YTZ, YOW, YQT)
With the exception of YTZ being an option for the Theatre badge, we now have two completely separate contests: The international contest, with 6 badges and 6 cities (LHR, MAN, CDG, EDI, VCE, LGA), and the domestic contest, with 3 badges and 9 cities (YWG, YTZ, YHZ, YQB, YEG, YXE, YQR, YOW, YQT).
On the international side of things, the most efficient option I can see (in terms of badges per flight) involves making round trips to LHR, MAN, CDG, LGA, and one of EDI, VCE; this would yield 13 Globetrotter badges. Along with the Destination badges (8x international, 2x US) and the default 100 Wings for non-Destination cities, this yields 13 x 2000 + 8 x 750 + 2 x 400 + 10 x 100 = 33800 Wings for 4 transatlantic flights (2 on Rouge) and 1 transborder flight. If you want to avoid Rouge flights, the best you can do is to hit LHR, CDG, and LGA for 6 Globetrotter badges -- 16400 Wings for 2 transatlantic flights and 1 transborder flight. Rough guess: $200 and 1 hour of flying per 1000 Wings.
On the domestic side of things, the only overlap between badges is YWG which appears in Scenic Drive and Prairie. I don't see any way to efficiently hit two of {YWG, YHZ, YQB}, and hitting all three of {YOW, YQT, YTZ} looks similarly awkward given the schedules Air Canada operates. On the other hand, with the Prairie Badge, consisting of 3 of {YEG, YXE, YQR, YWG}, we have a winner: A single $263 YWG-YQR-YXE-YEG ticket will net you 2 Prairie Badges along with 6 Canada Destination Badges, for a total of 5200 Wings. It doesn't look like you can hit both YXE and YQR when flying in the opposite direction, but still -- for a one-day "wing run", this definitely looks like the best area to hang out.
Canadiancow, over to you.
#25
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: YVR - Vancouver, with most winter weekends in Whistler.
Programs: Aeroplan 35K, Alaska MVP, Marriott Titanium / Lifetime Platinum, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 4,612
This promotion is less lucrative overall than the previous promotion that was offering 2000 Aeroplan miles to USA destinations, and 5000 miles to european destinations. That promotion ended Aug 26 for booking.
If I were to fly to europe now, (and got a badge by hitting several airports) I would only end up with 2,400 wings (2000 Aeroplan points). Maybe an additional 750+750 = 3,900 wings for select cities. Before the promotion, and with registration, I would have had 5,000 Aeroplan points easily.
The only way you can win with this is if you happen to be everywhere.
If I were to fly to europe now, (and got a badge by hitting several airports) I would only end up with 2,400 wings (2000 Aeroplan points). Maybe an additional 750+750 = 3,900 wings for select cities. Before the promotion, and with registration, I would have had 5,000 Aeroplan points easily.
The only way you can win with this is if you happen to be everywhere.
#26
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,458
Ok, time to do some analysis. I'm assuming that people trying to win this are going to want to get most of their Wings via Globetrotter badges, since those are by far the most lucrative; and I'm also going to assume that people will want to get more than one Globetrotter badge per flight. Since we're talking about Air Canada here, I'm limiting consideration to flights which have at least one Canadian city.
This means that non-Canadian cities which only participate in a single Globetrotter badge can be excluded from EYW-running consideration. This rules out MIA, FLL, MCO, TPA, RSW (Citrus only), PHL, EWR, ORD, DCA (East Coast only), IAH, LAS, SAN, PHX (Sun Belt only), SEA (Mileage Run only), MXP, MAD (Palace only), MEX, KIN, MBJ, BGI (Happy Hour only), DUB (Castle only), CPH (Canal only), SYD, NRT, HND, ICN (Pacific only), GRU, BOG, LIM, SCL, EZE (Dulce de Leche only), NCE, FCO, BCN, LIS, ATH (Rouge only), HKG, PEG, PVG (Emperor only), MUC, GVA, and ZRH (Biergarten only) destinations.
This now rules out the Palace, Happy Hour, Pacific, Dulce de Leche, Biergarten, Citrus, East Coast, Sun Belt, and Emperor badges since there aren't enough "potentially worthwhile" cities left to make it possible to get those badges. Doing that allows us to cross off BOS, SFO, BRU, FRA, the Mileage Run badge, and LAX.
There are now 9 badges left:
Cross Channel (LHR, CDG)
Maple Leaf Lounge (LHR, LGA)
Castle (LHR, MAN, EDI)
Canal (CDG, MAN, VCE)
Rouge (MAN, EDI, VCE)
Theatre (3 of YTZ, LGA, LHR, CDG)
Scenic Drive (YWG, YHZ, YQB)
Prairie (3 of YWG, YEG, YXE, YQR)
Trillium (3 of YTZ, YOW, YQT)
With the exception of YTZ being an option for the Theatre badge, we now have two completely separate contests: The international contest, with 6 badges and 6 cities (LHR, MAN, CDG, EDI, VCE, LGA), and the domestic contest, with 3 badges and 9 cities (YWG, YTZ, YHZ, YQB, YEG, YXE, YQR, YOW, YQT).
On the international side of things, the most efficient option I can see (in terms of badges per flight) involves making round trips to LHR, MAN, CDG, LGA, and one of EDI, VCE; this would yield 13 Globetrotter badges. Along with the Destination badges (8x international, 2x US) and the default 100 Wings for non-Destination cities, this yields 13 x 2000 + 8 x 750 + 2 x 400 + 10 x 100 = 33800 Wings for 4 transatlantic flights (2 on Rouge) and 1 transborder flight. If you want to avoid Rouge flights, the best you can do is to hit LHR, CDG, and LGA for 6 Globetrotter badges -- 16400 Wings for 2 transatlantic flights and 1 transborder flight. Rough guess: $200 and 1 hour of flying per 1000 Wings.
On the domestic side of things, the only overlap between badges is YWG which appears in Scenic Drive and Prairie. I don't see any way to efficiently hit two of {YWG, YHZ, YQB}, and hitting all three of {YOW, YQT, YTZ} looks similarly awkward given the schedules Air Canada operates. On the other hand, with the Prairie Badge, consisting of 3 of {YEG, YXE, YQR, YWG}, we have a winner: A single $263 YWG-YQR-YXE-YEG ticket will net you 2 Prairie Badges along with 6 Canada Destination Badges, for a total of 5200 Wings. It doesn't look like you can hit both YXE and YQR when flying in the opposite direction, but still -- for a one-day "wing run", this definitely looks like the best area to hang out.
Canadiancow, over to you.
This means that non-Canadian cities which only participate in a single Globetrotter badge can be excluded from EYW-running consideration. This rules out MIA, FLL, MCO, TPA, RSW (Citrus only), PHL, EWR, ORD, DCA (East Coast only), IAH, LAS, SAN, PHX (Sun Belt only), SEA (Mileage Run only), MXP, MAD (Palace only), MEX, KIN, MBJ, BGI (Happy Hour only), DUB (Castle only), CPH (Canal only), SYD, NRT, HND, ICN (Pacific only), GRU, BOG, LIM, SCL, EZE (Dulce de Leche only), NCE, FCO, BCN, LIS, ATH (Rouge only), HKG, PEG, PVG (Emperor only), MUC, GVA, and ZRH (Biergarten only) destinations.
This now rules out the Palace, Happy Hour, Pacific, Dulce de Leche, Biergarten, Citrus, East Coast, Sun Belt, and Emperor badges since there aren't enough "potentially worthwhile" cities left to make it possible to get those badges. Doing that allows us to cross off BOS, SFO, BRU, FRA, the Mileage Run badge, and LAX.
There are now 9 badges left:
Cross Channel (LHR, CDG)
Maple Leaf Lounge (LHR, LGA)
Castle (LHR, MAN, EDI)
Canal (CDG, MAN, VCE)
Rouge (MAN, EDI, VCE)
Theatre (3 of YTZ, LGA, LHR, CDG)
Scenic Drive (YWG, YHZ, YQB)
Prairie (3 of YWG, YEG, YXE, YQR)
Trillium (3 of YTZ, YOW, YQT)
With the exception of YTZ being an option for the Theatre badge, we now have two completely separate contests: The international contest, with 6 badges and 6 cities (LHR, MAN, CDG, EDI, VCE, LGA), and the domestic contest, with 3 badges and 9 cities (YWG, YTZ, YHZ, YQB, YEG, YXE, YQR, YOW, YQT).
On the international side of things, the most efficient option I can see (in terms of badges per flight) involves making round trips to LHR, MAN, CDG, LGA, and one of EDI, VCE; this would yield 13 Globetrotter badges. Along with the Destination badges (8x international, 2x US) and the default 100 Wings for non-Destination cities, this yields 13 x 2000 + 8 x 750 + 2 x 400 + 10 x 100 = 33800 Wings for 4 transatlantic flights (2 on Rouge) and 1 transborder flight. If you want to avoid Rouge flights, the best you can do is to hit LHR, CDG, and LGA for 6 Globetrotter badges -- 16400 Wings for 2 transatlantic flights and 1 transborder flight. Rough guess: $200 and 1 hour of flying per 1000 Wings.
On the domestic side of things, the only overlap between badges is YWG which appears in Scenic Drive and Prairie. I don't see any way to efficiently hit two of {YWG, YHZ, YQB}, and hitting all three of {YOW, YQT, YTZ} looks similarly awkward given the schedules Air Canada operates. On the other hand, with the Prairie Badge, consisting of 3 of {YEG, YXE, YQR, YWG}, we have a winner: A single $263 YWG-YQR-YXE-YEG ticket will net you 2 Prairie Badges along with 6 Canada Destination Badges, for a total of 5200 Wings. It doesn't look like you can hit both YXE and YQR when flying in the opposite direction, but still -- for a one-day "wing run", this definitely looks like the best area to hang out.
Canadiancow, over to you.
With EYWv2, it didn't become really lucrative until the third mystery badge was revealed. I'm hesitant to book anything until we've seen those badges. Right now, it seems like 100k wings would easily get you in the top 20, but it would not surprise me if the mystery badges drastically change that.
I'd hate to spend a few thousand dollars and a few days on a run, only to have a new badge make those wings worthless
This promotion is less lucrative overall than the previous promotion that was offering 2000 Aeroplan miles to USA destinations, and 5000 miles to european destinations. That promotion ended Aug 26 for booking.
If I were to fly to europe now, (and got a badge by hitting several airports) I would only end up with 2,400 wings (2000 Aeroplan points). Maybe an additional 750+750 = 3,900 wings for select cities. Before the promotion, and with registration, I would have had 5,000 Aeroplan points easily.
The only way you can win with this is if you happen to be everywhere.
If I were to fly to europe now, (and got a badge by hitting several airports) I would only end up with 2,400 wings (2000 Aeroplan points). Maybe an additional 750+750 = 3,900 wings for select cities. Before the promotion, and with registration, I would have had 5,000 Aeroplan points easily.
The only way you can win with this is if you happen to be everywhere.
#28
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: YVR
Programs: AC:50K
Posts: 708
With EYWv2, it didn't become really lucrative until the third mystery badge was revealed. I'm hesitant to book anything until we've seen those badges. Right now, it seems like 100k wings would easily get you in the top 20, but it would not surprise me if the mystery badges drastically change that.
But given that we have no idea how much those badges are going to change things, I agree that it would be premature to start booking seats now -- especially since the reduced Wings mean that it's absolutely not worth doing a "Wing run" if you're not going to get the 500k prize at the end.
#29
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: YVR
Programs: AC S100K
Posts: 978
On the other hand, with the Prairie Badge, consisting of 3 of {YEG, YXE, YQR, YWG}, we have a winner: A single $263 YWG-YQR-YXE-YEG ticket will net you 2 Prairie Badges along with 6 Canada Destination Badges, for a total of 5200 Wings. It doesn't look like you can hit both YXE and YQR when flying in the opposite direction, but still -- for a one-day "wing run", this definitely looks like the best area to hang out.
Nuts.
#30
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YVR YLW PSP
Programs: SE 100K MM,UA Gold, Marriott Titanium,Hilton Diamond, Golden Circle Jade, National Exec Elite
Posts: 408
and am working on a YVR-YXE-YWG-YQT-YYZ-YOW variation for Sept....
I think i have a problem...