uclacolumbiaunc

Both are Air Canada's loyalty program, but Altitude is part of Aeroplan, right?

I am not sure why Air Canada needs to have two entities for its loyalty program.

superangrypenguin

I thought Altitude was part of Air Canada and Aeroplan was part of Aeroplan...

IluvSQ

Altitude is a status program, run by AC.
Aeroplan is a rewards program, run by Aimia.

Their relationship is a contractual agreement that expires in, I believe, 2020
that obligates AC to purchase reward points from Aeroplan, and to sell seats
to Aeroplan that those points can be used for.

Admiral Ackbar

Yes, that is correct, but the obfuscation works wonders for both 'separate' companies when it comes time to pass the buck around as we see in this forum regularly.

Symmetre

Aeroplan used to be AC's loyalty program, but was spun off and now operates as a separate company with a contractual relationship with AC. Today, it is an independent, coalition loyalty program very similar to Air Miles. You collect points from various partners (including AC) and redeem for various goods and services (currently including flights on Star Alliance).

Altitude is AC's new and current FF program. It presently uses Aeroplan points as currency for the purpose of accumulating and redeeming credits toward flights. That may change once the current contract expires. Your status with the airline is determined by your activity as an Altitude member.

Just to confuse things further, Aeroplan has its own status levels, i.e. Distinction.

All are designed with the single goal of prying more money from your wallet.

Shareholder

What he said, though...

Both AC and AIMIA are attempting to rebrand their respective elite tier programs beyond what is now the original and now generic AEROPLAN brand. When AC emerged from bankruptcy protection as ACE (something about the letter "A") under which AEROPLAN was an operating subsidiary company as was AC (among three others: JAZZ and AC VACATIONS and AC TECHNICAL). Within a year, AEROPLAN was spun off as a separate shareholder corporation independent of ACE and its AC division. At the time, AEROPLAN still managed AC's elite tier program. AEROPLAN attempted to rebrand itself with a new tangerine coloured logo and member card (for those without AC elite status who continued to receive distinctive elite tier cards) and push itself as a consumer loyalty program above and beyond the AC frequent flyer program. A year or two later the parent company decided to rebrand itself as AIMIA, a holding company for AEROPLAN and several other divisions that expanded the loyalty marketing activities to other countries.

AC took over the management of the elite tier program, and two years ago rebranded this as ALTITUDE. AIMIA/AEROPLAN responded by creating its own elite tiers under the banner of DESTINCTION.

The AEROPLAN division of AIMIA has a contract with AC to purchase seats on its flights, and with other STAR partners to purchase seats on their flights. AC acts as the ticketing agent for AEROPLAN and as noted, the two companies have an agreement that runs through 2020. How AC continues the accumulation/redemption side of ALTITUDE after that remains to be seen.

mromalley

Filed for separation but co-existing in the same house. Divorce may or may not be in the future.

canadiancow

I think the divorce was already finalized. They're sharing custody of us kids, and they're out dating again.

Sopwith

Can anyone point to any objective evidence to support the notion that either Altitude or Aeroplan in their current form actually do improve customers' loyalty to Air Canada?

epiphani

Classicfare and IKK. If the split of Aeroplan from AC results in everything being marketfare with YQ, I'll have a MUCH harder time justifying things.

RCyyz

It's also worth noting that AIMIA as a company has already moved well beyond Aeroplan. That's not to say that Aeroplan is not a focus for AIMIA; but AIMIA has really worked to recreate itself as a loyalty company. Case in point, I was at a grocery store in Argentina and I noticed on their flyer that their loyalty program was managed by AIMIA. The AIMIA presence in UK is notable as well.

When 2020 comes, AIMIA will miss Aeroplan but I don't think the loss of Aeroplan will hurt them too much.

why fly

Aeroplan was dead a long time ago, we are just kicking around the corpse right now.
Fortunately for Aeroplan/Air Canada, some flyers follow the show the Walking Dead, and can relate to AP.

Adam Smith

There was a whole thread recently on what Air Canada's plan for Altitude is. Also some discussion in the MM recognition thread.

Basically, it's my view (and that of many others here) that Air Canada and Aeroplan (and its parent, Aimia) are moving away from each other.

I won't regurgitate too much of what I said in the other threads (especially this post), but here are a few key pieces of information.

1. As pointed out by RCyyz, Aimia is diversifying away from Aeroplan. Aeroplan is still the lion's share of its business, but they're managing loyalty programs in several countries across a variety of industries.

2. Despite its name and history, Aeroplan points are redeemed less and less for flights. Of Aimia's spending on rewards in 2014, only ~40% of it was on flights (Air Canada and other Star Alliance). The rest is going on blenders, movie passes, etc, and that shift continues every year.

3. Most of Aeroplan's revenue comes not from selling points to AC to distribute to FFs, but from selling points to credit card companies and retailers.

4. Aeroplan is not a huge customer for Air Canada. It represents ~5% of AC's revenue, and the contracted volume of seats that Aeroplan must purchase is even less than that. Aeroplan tickets are generally lower yielding than regular revenue tickets. It's also arguable that Aeroplan is no more a customer than any travel agent and that it's merely a distribution channel. Altogether, I don't think AC would be sad to see Aeroplan go.

5. The fact that both companies have created their own distinct loyalty programs (Altitude and Distinction) says that the old way of doing things was no longer the best way of rewarding either company's best customers.

Bottom line (in my opinion): on or before the expiry of the current AC/Aeroplan agreement in 2020, we will see a distinct split between Aeroplan and Air Canada. Aeroplan will become even more like Air Miles, allowing you to redeem points for flights on many different airlines or for a wide variety of merchandise etc. Altitude will at some point end up issuing its own points, which will be used exclusively to book AC/*A reward tickets, and distribution of those points will be far more focused on AC FFs than Aeroplan currently is - much like Aeroplan was many years ago.

SE/MM

Boy, aint that the truth... they are SO quick to blame whatever it is that you're complaining about on the other!

drvannostren

Lol...this thread is priceless