drvannostren

Says right on it, applies to all residencies. It also states everything is converted to CAD.

flyquiet

There's a lot to absorb. I was looking for it as I was just thinking about changing to US address, now irrelevant.

I kind of liked the AQD eligibility of AC metal even marketed by Other Airline, OR 014 ticket/AC flight number/other metal. A smidge more flexible than AC-metal-or-bust.

lcohen999

Something else to note

there is a bug (feature) with SAUGs where you cannot request an upgrade if it is an AC codeshare number.

Book full Y on SQ as an AC flight number. You are getting AQD but you are sitting in the back.

Book full Y on SQ as an SQ, get no AQD but get a chance to sit up front.

I really hope the program for next year is worth it....

DNAwizard

Not the best timing for sure indeed!

acysb87

I need to check this out. I was about to purchase a Europe and NA latitude FP. I have a FRA or MUC, as well as YVR flight(s) I should book and wanted to get ahead of the curve. Procrastination worked this time

edited to add;


"Altitude Qualifying Dollars (AQD) are tracked based on the date of travel and only after travel is completed. For example, if you purchase an eligible ticket on December 15, 2015, for travel on February 15, 2016, your AQD will be credited shortly after you completed your travel. For Unlimited Flight Passes, AQD will be credited based on the payment of each monthly instalment. For eUpgrade Add-ons, AQD will be credited based on the date of travel."

I believe I would be OK buying now for travel in 2016

jsfrSE

Agreed.

Constant and regular yearly changes to Altitude makes me wonder what kind of additional enhancements will we be looking at for 2017

Nitehawk

Yea it might be time to stop chasing status for me. Or it might be time to start buying latitude passes and keep being SE.

SparseFlyer

This is because AC is not interested in customers that reach the status because they find it good value.

They want to give SE perks to customers who happen to fly a lot on AC at premium fares. To motivate them to stay with AC (eg "well I have top tier with AC, might as well continue to fly with them").

Not to acquire flyers that will min-max their spending to extract value out of the program.

From that perspective, it becomes clear that announcing the 2017 benefits is irrelevant for them and their target audience.

DNAwizard

Same here. I was expecting a revenue component (without wishing it obviously). But I felt that anywhere between 12-15cpm would be decent considering you still need the AQM/AQS. 20cpm was not on my radar.

YVR72

I'm somebody that takes advantage of LMUs and it has always frustrated me that I get no loyalty credit at all for that spend- which is significant in some cases. I spend a couple thousand a year on LMUs.

I don't see any mentioned of that here.

flyeronac

Yeah - it seems the Air Canada loyalty policy is: copy what the American airlines are doing, and then figure out ways to make it worse. It really sucks for those of us living in the US.

Does anyone know whether it's possible to do a status match with United? I haven't been able to do that, and next year I'll have SE with Air Canada, but it'll basically be useless thanks to these changes.

Not sure why Air Canada is so desperate to make travel so difficult for Canadians who live abroad.

drvannostren

It also looks like they're trying to encourage those last minute ridiculous flights. Anyone who travels last minute for work will make the AQD quite easily. When a 1 way across the country is $800-1200, it doesn't take many to hit it.

I REALLY hope they also show you how many AQD you'll earn before purchasing.

I don't wanna purchase a flight in HOPES that it's an AQD earner, because I'm still a bit confused, plus I wanna know how much of my fare is AQD eligible, we pay so much tax in Canada there's a good chance only 60% of your fare even counts.

I wanna see AQM/AQS/AQD broadcast before purchase.

YYT82

Although I will have no problems making the cut, the question is 'am I willing to'?

I'm waiting to see what the benefits look like for 2017, and then I'll decide. Lots of international travels coming up for 2016.

That's pretty arrogant for AC, but I'm sure many of us will still fly AC.

Jasper2009

Thinking about this, it's actually much worse than one may think. $20k spend for 100k AQM already would be quite steep, but given that neither taxes/fees nor most *A flights count, most flyers would be looking at closer to $25k-$30k.

With the drastic SE cutbacks last year, I don't see how any flyer would consider earning SE status a worthwhile goal.

While introducing a minimum spend requirement may make some sense (albeit debatable), I think AC is making two mistakes:

1) One major goal of loyalty programs is to incentivize additional buiness / generate marginal revenue. I guess quite a few SEs make an effort to shift some business to AC and ensure they reach the 100k AQM each year. This group will likely become extinct since the requirements are just ridiculous. Based on the new program most SEs will merely be flyers who happen to earn SE status as a result of flying regularly in Lat/PE/J.

2) I've always thought AC could do a much better job at attracting int'l frequent flyers (e.g. a FFer based in Europe who does 4-5 long-haul flights to Asia/Africa and 5-6 long-haul flights to NA and may decide to choose AC for the latter). These changes pretty much eliminate the int'l customer base (except maybe for a few FFers who "commute" between home and Canada).

Absolute

I'm really hoping islandcub1 is right about it being counted at time of flight and not purchase, as all we really need to do is divide up our passes price by the number of credits, but I'm dubious.