catarina

Any idea yet how many E-Ups required for PE Upgrades?
And how about mileage for PE Rewards?

Since AC is moving their elites to PE from J, this is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle. Has AC announced when they would be revealing this information?

Max Power

Huh?

What's this all about, would you please explain it more thoroughly?

alc

Max Power - I think OP meant to say that since upgrade to PE does not have Co-Pay, hence more AC Elites will eUpg to PE instead of J. Hence, OP interrupt as AC move Elites from J to PE

catarina - here is the quote from the main 2015 thread:

So we will know more in early 2015.

CloudsBelow

Swell work on the thread title.
Won't get those 10 seconds back

catarina

My interpretation of the 2015 Altitude Program is that very few elites will earn enough E-Ups to move into J cabin as often as they fly, therefore they will use them for PE instead, at a lower redemption rate. I think this is intentional, since I don't think it is AC's intent for you to purchase Tango instead of Flex (and giving up your chance of an upgrade).

My question is: Do we know how many E'Ups are required for an upgrade to PE vs J? Will you earn enough E'Ups to gain a reasonable access to PE for most of your flights?

In other words, has slashing the E earning virtually eliminated J upgrades but rather moved you to PE upgrades? I think this is the intent of AC so that the J cabin remains "exclusive". Let's face it, when you purchase a J ticket at full pop, isn't it nice to see it half empty and feel more "deserving". When it's full, some people know it's full of upgraded passengers, or, well everybody can afford it, so it's not that special.

I am not suggesting that is how AC's Elite feel, but rather other guests flying on AC J for the first time and perhaps being surprised that it is full, and that the quality of J is not quite what they may have expected from past experience on other airlines.

So I do think AC is shunting elites off to PE instead of J. My take anyway.

The poster above answered the question on when PE Rewards will be available, but we do not yet know how many miles those tickets will burn.

catarina

Sorry. Not meant to cause coronary incident.

alc

Sorry, look like I am the one reading it wrong :P

I don't think the info that you are looking for had been out yet, at least not on AC web site nor on FlyerTalk. I am sure there will be a new thread from "Air Canada Altitude" handle on this when it become available.

catarina

Followed by another 2000 posts.
Heading into my busy time of year, so my research time is up soon. Don't need to decide on AC program until January flights anyway., although I will need to book Spain soon.

upgradesecret

It doesn't appear that you have done much research at all

catarina

Perhaps you don't know what I'm looking for :-)

Shareholder

Do we know there won't be a copay for PE upgrades? Also, it would seem not to be in AC's interests to have too many people upgrade to PE since that cabin was designed to be sold not given away. Upgrades in that cabin would kill its viability since there are not many seats to begin with.

catarina

Just as J is designed to be sold at full fare. On my last flight J was full (of upgrades), PE sold 4 seats.
But it's new, with very few routes until the new equipment arrives. Be interesting to compare with Westjet Plus. They sell very very few Plus fares; the seats fill with paid upgrades ($45) at check-in. When they first offered Plus, the check-in upgrade was not offered. They started doing that when the planes were flying with empty Plus sections.

With a PE fare, I was offered an upgrade to J at ticket purchase for $760 (YVR/YYZ), then offered again at check-in for $360. For Elites hoping for an upgrade, at least if you don't get one you are sitting in PE instead of the dreaded Y.

RatherBeInYOW

I'm interested in this as well, hopefully we'll find this out soon. The only time I flew PE on the 788 it was pretty empty.

He's what the ignore button is for. Works better when you don't quote him too so the rest of us who have already discovered that don't have to read the quote.

maradori

I'm curious about the specific implementation details of upgrading to PE, because there are quite a ton of edge cases to sort out. For example:

Suppose I'm not SE and on a Flex fare on a 787 flight. At T-4 ...

- If there is no upgrade space in neither J nor PE, can I submit an e-up request for both J and PE? Will it deduct e-ups for both J and PE, or will it only deduct J?

- I clear a PE e-up, but there is no upgrade space in J. But tomorrow, R space opens and I want to upgrade. Will it even be allowed, or will "legacy systems" cause me to stay in PE?

- Will I be able to "e-down"? Suppose I e-up'ed to R but later decide I'm fine with sitting in PE (e.g. my friend who more peon-elite didn't get his upgrade cleared)

I'm not paid to think of edge cases further than this, but I hope you guys get the point? Curious how the e-up system will handle the extra level of complexity.

catarina

AC is not exactly known for handling complex IT changes well. For me personally, I don't need to sit it J (domestically that is). 2-5 hours flight, I'm working, not napping. So PE is a game changer for me. I'll never be able to compete with SE's for the J cabin, so if I can find a system that gets me into PE on every flight, I'm all for it. I don't need a refundable ticket. A credit is fine since I'll use it next time, and PE lowest is similar to Latitude in price (if I recall correctly).

And this is where I think a lot of you will be sitting next year, because to take away that many of your J upgrades, and not give you back more access to PE, is really, just unthinkable.

I swear Westjet knew what AC was about to roll out when they announced their new tiers. And they are holding something back, in part, I think, waiting to see what happens here.

Granted, WJ's scheduling is better suited to western Canada, but there's a lot of oil in them thar hills.