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Important updates to Air Canada Altitude in 2015

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Old Nov 1, 2014, 10:31 am
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Last edit by: mendy7511
Important updates to Air Canada Altitude in 2015 23 October

This afternoon, we will be announcing changes to certain elements of Air Canada Altitude in 2015, as well as new features to the program.

Minimum Air Canada Flight Requirement
The Minimum Air Canada Flight Requirement to reach Altitude status for 2016 is increasing. To qualify for Altitude status in 2016, the following Minimum Air Canada Flight Requirement will need to be met:
Prestige 25K: 12,500 AQM /12 AQS
Elite 35K: 17,500 AQM /17 AQS
Elite 50K: 25,000 AQM /25 AQS
Elite 75K: 37,500 AQM / 37 AQS
Super Elite 100K: 50,000 AQM / 47 AQS
The new MFR will not impact qualification for Altitude 2015.

500 Mile Minimum
For travel as of March 1, 2015, mileage accrual will no longer be rounded up to a 500 Mile minimum. Miles earned will be based on the distance flown and the fare option purchased for flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express, Air Canada rouge and Star Alliance member airlines.

eUpgrades to Business Class
For eUpgrade requests made on or after March 1, 2015, the number of eUpgrade Credits required to upgrade is increasing. The number of eUpgrade Credits you can earn through the Threshold eUpgrades program is also changing. These changes were made following a thorough benchmarking of the upgrades practices of other major international airlines who often limit international upgrades solely to their highest membership tier, and often severely limit the number of upgrades a member may request over the course of a year.

We will also be expanding the high Flex eligibility category to include the U and H booking classes on the Domestic, Transborder and Sun markets, as well as the U booking class on International markets. The inclusion of these booking classes within the higher Flex eligibility category actually decreases the number of credits required to upgrade flights on certain markets when compared to 2014.

For eUpgrade credit requirements as of March 1, 2015, visit: http://www.aircanada.com/en/aeroplan...e/updates.html

eUpgrades to Premium Economy
In early 2015, you will be able to access the comfort of Premium Economy using eUpgrade Credits, when upgrading from an eligible fare. eUpgrade Add-ons will not apply for these upgrades.

eUpgrade Nominees
Beginning March 1, 2015, Altitude Super Elite 100K members will be entitled to share their eUpgrade privileges with one eUpgrade Nominee. Members will maintain their ability to share their eUpgrade privileges with Travel Companions.

Priority Boarding
In early 2015, a new streamlined boarding process will be introduced to ensure that you get even more out of the Priority Boarding privilege.

Complimentary access to International Maple Leaf Lounges and Star Alliance Business Lounges
As lounge occupancy grows, many of our lounges are at capacity levels. And while we continue to invest in many lounge expansion projects, the reality is that in many locations, additional space is simply not available. At the same time, benchmarking shows us that our eligibility polices are still over-indexed as compared to many of our competitors. In particular, access to lounges is not a privilege offered by most international airlines at the 35,000 qualifying miles level. We have therefore modified our policy whereby Elite 35K members will continue to have access to Maple Leaf Lounges located in the domestic and trans-border departure zones, as well as those in Los Angeles and New York (LaGuardia). However access to International Maple Leaf Lounges or Star Alliance Business lounges will no longer be available as a Select Privilege. Instead, an option to purchase a Maple Leaf Club membership will be introduced with a 50% discount.

Priority Rewards
In order to maintain the integrity of the Priority Reward privilege for eligible Altitude members, Priority Rewards will be limited to ten (10) reservations (with up to 9 passengers each) per member per benefit period, beginning March 1, 2015. While a thorough analysis has indicated that this change will not impact the vast majority of members (over 95%), it will allow us to maintain a benefit which we know is widely appreciated.

Flight Rewards for Premium Economy
In early 2015, you will be able to redeem Aeroplan miles for seats in the Premium Economy cabin on Air Canada. Details will be coming soon.

Fuel Surcharge on Flight Rewards & Flight Reward change fee waivers
For reservations made as of March 1, 2015, the fuel surcharges on ClassicFlight rewards for travel within Canada and between Canada and the U.S. will be waived for all Altitude members (ie. 25K and higher) . This is applicable on flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rouge.

At the same time, Aeroplan Flight Reward change fee waivers for Super Elite 100K members will no longer be available for changes made on or after March 1, 2015. However, the fuel surcharges on ClassicFlight Rewards for travel between Canada and international destinations will be waived for Super Elite 100K members on flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rouge.

For a complete list of details regarding these changes, visit http://www.aircanada.com/en/aeroplan...e/updates.html

New REVISED REVISIONS to the Altitude Program (Oct 31 email)

=============
Last week, changes to Air Canada Altitude for 2015 were announced. As always, weve been listening to your feedback and will be adjusting certain elements of the program accordingly.

Threshold eUpgrades
The amount of eUpgrade Credits offered through the Threshold eUpgrade program will increase. As of 100,000 Altitude Qualifying Miles or 100 Altitude Qualifying Segments, 20 eUpgrade Credits will be awarded for every 40,000 AQM or 40 AQS flown.

eUpgrade Validity Date
eUpgrade Credits earned on or after November 7, 2014 will be valid until February 29, 2016.
Additionally, eUpgrade Credits earned on or after November 1, 2015 will be valid until February 28, 2017.

Mile Minimum
For travel from March 1, 2015 onwards, all Altitude members will earn a minimum of 250 miles on flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rouge as well as Star Alliance member airlines.

Minimum Air Canada Flight Requirement
For non-Canadian residents, the Minimum Air Canada Flight Requirement needed to reach Altitude status in 2016 will be 50% lower than the recently published Minimum Air Canada Flight Requirement.
These changes are representative of Air Canadas focus on recognizing our most valued and important members. We remain committed to offering you one of the best frequent flyer programs in the industry.

Air Canada
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Important updates to Air Canada Altitude in 2015

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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:43 am
  #1111  
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Originally Posted by Shareholder
Codeshare flights on WS are only available if you have a connecting flight on the codeshare partner. So to have a DL flight number on a WS flight within Canada, you must have a pure DL flight connecting to or from the WS metal flight. One cannot buy a DL codeshare on WS metal only between two Canadian cities. Same goes for AA, BA, CX and AF codeshares on WS. Such codeshare flights are the only WS metal flights that will earn status miles in their respective programs. Otherwise you can credit a WS flight within Canada or transborder to these other programs, but you will only get RDMs not EQMs.
Thank you. And dammit. My way out proved to not be fruitful.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:45 am
  #1112  
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Delta (quickly copied by United) has an elite qualifying spend requirement in addition to qualifying on miles or segments. Delta's spend is based on DL-coded, and on DL ticketing of select partner carriers. Lots of alliance (and non-alliance) flights that earn redeemable miles earn nothing towards the elite spend requirement. Yes, it is a disincentive for partner flights by DL SkyMiles members but DL seems to have survived it -- well enough to raise spend requirements after just a year.

The spend requirement is in effect only for U.S. residents, btw.

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...n-dollars.html

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_.../airlines.html
IIRC spend requirements do not apply to DL or UA accounts registered outside the US. But you are correct about the overall bias these requirements have toward purchasing tickets on their stock vs alliance partner stock. This aspect only adds more confusion to their "spend" requirements.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:45 am
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Originally Posted by jsfrSuperElite
Understood. I suspect your MM status helped in the HKG case.
I known exactly how it happened. It was an oversell situation and "someone" removed the eup wait list, which then got bumped to J. If one could know for sure about oversold situation, this is the way to go. But it's usually not disclosed.

I had suggested to Ben previously that if I opups are required they should return the eUPs. I think it's fair. But AC rather nickel and dime their customers even on non monetary instruments.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:46 am
  #1114  
 
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Delta (quickly copied by United) has an elite qualifying spend requirement in addition to qualifying on miles or segments. Delta's spend is based on DL-coded, and on DL ticketing of select partner carriers. Lots of alliance (and non-alliance) flights that earn redeemable miles earn nothing towards the elite spend requirement. Yes, it is a disincentive for partner flights by DL SkyMiles members but DL seems to have survived it -- well enough to raise spend requirements after just a year.

The spend requirement is in effect only for U.S. residents, btw.

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...n-dollars.html

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_.../airlines.html
Yes, the Diamond spend is $12,500, which is why I just don't buy your argument @LittleYHZ that I'm unprofitable. I'm sure DL is more efficient than AC, but $12,500 compared to what I spend on AC? I just don't buy it.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:47 am
  #1115  
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Originally Posted by Allvest
I known exactly how it happened. It was an oversell situation and "someone" removed the eup wait list, which then got bumped to J. If one could know for sure about oversold situation, this is the way to go. But it's usually not disclosed.

I had suggested to Ben previously that if I opups are required they should return the eUPs. I think it's fair. But AC rather nickel and dime their customers even on non monetary instruments.
They are, in fair a business. If they can take 20 or whatever eups from you while you are opped up anyways, then they should in fact take it from you. Not good for us, but good for them. You'd never be wiser anyways. And in this situation, means they get to "do more with less" which is a favorite phrase amongst corporations, which i'm not defending, just stating.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:47 am
  #1116  
 
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Originally Posted by superangrypenguin
I don't disagree with you or Allvest. I was just merely speculating. The fact is, especially in domestic travel, who actually (other than for personal travel with personal money) gets to fly J? These changes won't mean companies suddenly start paying for J either. Net result? Pissed off Altitude members with no overall increase in revenue (or marginal), and a ton of people (SE's or E) who are now posting cancelled tickets in the thousands of dollars. The rest of us suckers are "reevaluating our travel options"
Some oil companies that Im aware of have a 4 hour rule...

Again I don't think they're expecting people to buy up. They're clearing the cabin to pull out the extra seats and replace them with economy seats.

If they get an extra 2 rows of economy at say YYZ->YYC $700 a ticket X 12 instead of the 6 seats in J they lost which they were putting economy passengers in at $700 X 6... you get the drift... Lots of space for upgrades means the cabin is not optimized.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:48 am
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Originally Posted by LittleYHZ

4.) Only once in 77 years has Air Canada made a normal net profit. (last year All of the others were based on their hocus pocus (EBITAR - Seriously? You have to rent the planes/places to operate to actually run the damn company...) And this year will be their second. They obviously know what they're doing, thats not the indication of someone flying by the seat of their pants.

Lastly - the changes to this program were obviously made to get rid of certain customer groups who were unprofitable. Spending 30K at AC, buying flex, flying J most of the time, having access to a concierge, drinking $50.00 worth of booze, and eating $25.00 worth of catering between the lounge and the plane... You get where I'm going...

Margins are so slim in this business, I can't recall which airline - but one of the more profitable ones said they made less than $5.00 a head last year on every ticket they sold. So if you're drinking $50.00 worth of booze they're probably loosing $45.00 on you... It actually makes business sense.
If FF's are such a burden to the airline, then why is it that AA's expected profit for 2014 is around 3.5 billion$?

More than DL or UA who gutted their ff programs? Time will tell if AC did the right thing. But i dont believe that ff's who have the option/choice to choose any airline would stick around with AC. Perhaps those who dont have any other options..But definitely not the ones who can decide which soft/hard product is better, considering there's no incentive to be loyal to AC any longer...

And if times were tough, i wonder if AC would still consider its respective ffs as charity cases.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:48 am
  #1118  
 
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Originally Posted by 3Cforme
Delta (quickly copied by United) has an elite qualifying spend requirement in addition to qualifying on miles or segments. Delta's spend is based on DL-coded, and on DL ticketing of select partner carriers. Lots of alliance (and non-alliance) flights that earn redeemable miles earn nothing towards the elite spend requirement. Yes, it is a disincentive for partner flights by DL SkyMiles members but DL seems to have survived it -- well enough to raise spend requirements after just a year.

The spend requirement is in effect only for U.S. residents, btw.

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_...n-dollars.html

http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_.../airlines.html
Correct but spend requirement does not apply to non-US.
You ar right the program has its own issues: you get 0 miles (or heavily discounted amounts) on lots of partners is one instance. And check out their forum for complaints on award availability.

If you are looking for opup then DL is quite good ex-Canada; as a bonus you get lounge access even on opup provided the flight is international, which includes flights between US and Canada and flights between US and Mexico. (no DL lounge in YYZ though.). Nevertheless nice gesture when connecting to Mexico or to Canada ex-ATL.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:49 am
  #1119  
 
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Originally Posted by Allvest
I known exactly how it happened. It was an oversell situation and "someone" removed the eup wait list, which then got bumped to J. If one could know for sure about oversold situation, this is the way to go. But it's usually not disclosed.

I had suggested to Ben previously that if I opups are required they should return the eUPs. I think it's fair. But AC rather nickel and dime their customers even on non monetary instruments.
Of course. Its good practice for when they're dealing with real money.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:50 am
  #1120  
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Originally Posted by LittleYHZ
Some oil companies that Im aware of have a 4 hour rule...

Again I don't think they're expecting people to buy up. They're clearing the cabin to pull out the extra seats and replace them with economy seats.

If they get an extra 2 rows of economy at say YYZ->YYC $700 a ticket X 12 instead of the 6 seats in J they lost which they were putting economy passengers in at $700 X 6... you get the drift... Lots of space for upgrades means the cabin is not optimized.
That is a fair comment. I'll defer to your comments on >4 hrs in J. My friends in the Canadian oil industry don't get to fly J > 4 hours. But then again it's a small sample set.

However, if your theory is true, why not just continue to reduce the seats in J, and let us suckers play Aerolotto. At least we get to play the game (and lose a lot more). We wouldn't be wiser as we don't see the upgrade list anyways. AND - AC wins.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:50 am
  #1121  
 
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Originally Posted by superangrypenguin
I don't disagree with you or Allvest. I was just merely speculating. The fact is, especially in domestic travel, who actually (other than for personal travel with personal money) gets to fly J? These changes won't mean companies suddenly start paying for J either. Net result? Pissed off Altitude members with no overall increase in revenue (or marginal), and a ton of people (SE's or E) who are now posting cancelled tickets in the thousands of dollars. The rest of us suckers are "reevaluating our travel options"
+1

I may not be typical though, as I don't do much flying within Canada. I would continue to use AC for that using my lifetime *G status, so no harm there for me. Agreed on the paid domestic J. When I booked on DL as mentioned from MSY in Z, I had to do a screen shot of the Y fare (it was only about $130 less!) and pay the difference myself.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:51 am
  #1122  
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Originally Posted by respectable_man
Correct but spend requirement does not apply to non-US.
The program has its own issues: you get 0 miles (or heavily discounted amounts) on lots of partners for instance. And check out their forum for complaints on award availability.

If you are looking for opup then DL is quite good ex-Canada; as a bonus you get lounge access even on opup provided the flight is international, which includes flights between US and Canada and flights between US and Mexico. (no DL lounge in YYZ though.). Nevertheless nice gesture when connecting to Mexico ex-ATL.
Wow, you get opped up prior to getting to the gate? I assume that's how you get lounge access? The only airline outside of AC in NA that has my interest is DL, to be honest...
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:52 am
  #1123  
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Originally Posted by supatight80
If FF's are such a burden to the airline, then why is it that AA's expected profit for 2014 is around 3.5 billion$?

More than DL or UA who gutted their ff programs? Time will tell if AC did the right thing. But i dont believe that ff's who have the option/choice to choose any airline would stick around with AC. Perhaps those who dont have any other options..But definitely not the ones who can decide which soft/hard product is better, considering there's no incentive to be loyal to AC any longer...

And if times were tough, i wonder if AC would still consider its respective ffs as charity cases.
When times are bad AC throws fares out there that are absolutely ridiculous. Still remember a 2 for 1 sale to Asia, at a $950 all-in upgradable fare. Ac can't just pull and push around their customers. Loyalty is long term.
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:53 am
  #1124  
 
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Originally Posted by supatight80
If FF's are such a burden to the airline, then why is it that AA's expected profit for 2014 is around 3.5 billion$?

More than DL or UA who gutted their ff programs? Time will tell if AC did the right thing. But i dont believe that ff's who have the option/choice to choose any airline would stick around with AC. Perhaps those who dont have any other options..But definitely not the ones who can decide which soft/hard product is better, considering there's no incentive to be loyal to AC any longer...

And if times were tough, i wonder if AC would still consider its respective ffs as charity cases.
Because they used bankruptcy to rip up their debt? Gut their employees pensions? and further the race to the bottom?
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Old Oct 25, 2014, 9:54 am
  #1125  
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Originally Posted by LittleYHZ
Because they used bankruptcy to rip up their debt? Gut their employees pensions? and further the race to the bottom?
+1
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