Has AQD / Altitude 2016 program changed your spending habits?
Jan 23, 2016, 12:28 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: BGI (ex-YYC, YYZ)
Programs: AC*G-E100K (once again)
Posts: 1,701
Has AQD / Altitude 2016 program changed your spending habits?
Has AQD changed your spending habits on AC? Has it gone up or down?
For me, it has gone down.
Normally when I fly to South Africa I would do my best to fly on AC marketed flights to earn 150% AQM. Pay maybe $200-$300 more to get on an AC market flight instead of a codeshare on AC metal.
Yesterday I just booked the flight special from YYC-FRA-JNB in J. It was $2,800 if I booked direct from LH (on codeshare AC metal) on LH ticket, or $3,300 if I paired it up with a "pure" AC flight and getting it issued on a AC ticket - identical metals, just different marketing airlines. Realizing I wouldn't spend the ~$25,000 gross amount required for the $20,000 AQD for the year to earn SE100K, which means I wouldnt need the 150% AQM, I decided to save $500 and go for the LH ticket and LH markrted codeshare. Even though I would earn $0 AQD from this, it felt good to save $500! If AC wanted my dollars, they would need to come up and at least match LH or come up with a competitive fare to LH.
Now, both options are the identical product in terms of metal, but does AC earn less because I had bought from LH and LH marketed the seats?
For me, it has gone down.
Normally when I fly to South Africa I would do my best to fly on AC marketed flights to earn 150% AQM. Pay maybe $200-$300 more to get on an AC market flight instead of a codeshare on AC metal.
Yesterday I just booked the flight special from YYC-FRA-JNB in J. It was $2,800 if I booked direct from LH (on codeshare AC metal) on LH ticket, or $3,300 if I paired it up with a "pure" AC flight and getting it issued on a AC ticket - identical metals, just different marketing airlines. Realizing I wouldn't spend the ~$25,000 gross amount required for the $20,000 AQD for the year to earn SE100K, which means I wouldnt need the 150% AQM, I decided to save $500 and go for the LH ticket and LH markrted codeshare. Even though I would earn $0 AQD from this, it felt good to save $500! If AC wanted my dollars, they would need to come up and at least match LH or come up with a competitive fare to LH.
Now, both options are the identical product in terms of metal, but does AC earn less because I had bought from LH and LH marketed the seats?
Jan 23, 2016, 12:31 pm
#3
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 6,222
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9780; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0.0.666 Mobile Safari/534.8+)
I guess that makes me AC's perfect customer.
I guess that makes me AC's perfect customer.
Jan 23, 2016, 12:42 pm
#4
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
Yes. I am strongly leaning towards reducing travel / spend on AC by a good amount.
I fly for myself, for personal, on latitude or J, and would take extra flights every year to make sure I clear 100k to keep concierge service.
Now I am considering to continue to fly latitude or J but won't take those extra flights to clear 100k because I do not believe the extra $ is worth it for concierge.
Since that's why I do it, for me it's a very direct $xxxx = concierge and I don't feel it's worth the thousands I would spend to get it.
However: since I do have the luxury of waiting I will wait until the end of the year to make my final decision if I will spend extra or not.
I fly for myself, for personal, on latitude or J, and would take extra flights every year to make sure I clear 100k to keep concierge service.
Now I am considering to continue to fly latitude or J but won't take those extra flights to clear 100k because I do not believe the extra $ is worth it for concierge.
Since that's why I do it, for me it's a very direct $xxxx = concierge and I don't feel it's worth the thousands I would spend to get it.
However: since I do have the luxury of waiting I will wait until the end of the year to make my final decision if I will spend extra or not.
Jan 23, 2016, 12:50 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYT/YYC/TPE
Programs: AC SE, UA, National Exec Elite, Nexus, GE
Posts: 1,810
I still book my flights the same way I did last year - no codeshares, only the operating carrier's flight numbers. I had no problems clearing the AQD requirement with my 2015 spend, and I shouldn't have a problem with that this year either. I don't really worry about it because I think a) AC's IT is so incompetent that they will NOT get this right, and them patching one little bug will result in 20 additional bugs and AC giving up on AQD for a year; and b) the economy is in the toilet this year, AC will probably be begging for former FF to come back at some point later this year with reduced AQD requirement for all.
Jan 23, 2016, 1:09 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: Only J via Peasant Points, 777HDPeasant or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance and Narcissism.
Posts: 5,953
No
Since I buy Tango 90% of time flying domestically(Aside from one round trip YYZ-YVR during christmas per year when TANGO is pretty much unavailable)
& Buy PE Lowest when flying international only when it's less than 50% of premium over tango(Which has yet to happen for me, as they are generally priced at 2X over Tango)
Since I buy Tango 90% of time flying domestically(Aside from one round trip YYZ-YVR during christmas per year when TANGO is pretty much unavailable)
& Buy PE Lowest when flying international only when it's less than 50% of premium over tango(Which has yet to happen for me, as they are generally priced at 2X over Tango)
Jan 23, 2016, 1:56 pm
#7
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: AC SE100K, AA EXP, SPG Plt, HH Dmnd
Posts: 1,507
Has AQD changed your spending habits on AC? Has it gone up or down?
For me, it has gone down.
Normally when I fly to South Africa I would do my best to fly on AC marketed flights to earn 150% AQM. Pay maybe $200-$300 more to get on an AC market flight instead of a codeshare on AC metal.
Yesterday I just booked the flight special from YYC-FRA-JNB in J. It was $2,800 if I booked direct from LH (on codeshare AC metal) on LH ticket, or $3,300 if I paired it up with a "pure" AC flight and getting it issued on a AC ticket - identical metals, just different marketing airlines. Realizing I wouldn't spend the ~$25,000 gross amount required for the $20,000 AQD for the year to earn SE100K, which means I wouldnt need the 150% AQM, I decided to save $500 and go for the LH ticket and LH markrted codeshare. Even though I would earn $0 AQD from this, it felt good to save $500! If AC wanted my dollars, they would need to come up and at least match LH or come up with a competitive fare to LH.
Now, both options are the identical product in terms of metal, but does AC earn less because I had bought from LH and LH marketed the seats?
For me, it has gone down.
Normally when I fly to South Africa I would do my best to fly on AC marketed flights to earn 150% AQM. Pay maybe $200-$300 more to get on an AC market flight instead of a codeshare on AC metal.
Yesterday I just booked the flight special from YYC-FRA-JNB in J. It was $2,800 if I booked direct from LH (on codeshare AC metal) on LH ticket, or $3,300 if I paired it up with a "pure" AC flight and getting it issued on a AC ticket - identical metals, just different marketing airlines. Realizing I wouldn't spend the ~$25,000 gross amount required for the $20,000 AQD for the year to earn SE100K, which means I wouldnt need the 150% AQM, I decided to save $500 and go for the LH ticket and LH markrted codeshare. Even though I would earn $0 AQD from this, it felt good to save $500! If AC wanted my dollars, they would need to come up and at least match LH or come up with a competitive fare to LH.
Now, both options are the identical product in terms of metal, but does AC earn less because I had bought from LH and LH marketed the seats?
Jan 23, 2016, 2:22 pm
#8
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: YQB
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, Bonvoy Gold, HHonors Diamond, VIA Premier, NEXUS/GE
Posts: 816
Yes. I am strongly leaning towards reducing travel / spend on AC by a good amount.
I fly for myself, for personal, on latitude or J, and would take extra flights every year to make sure I clear 100k to keep concierge service.
Now I am considering to continue to fly latitude or J but won't take those extra flights to clear 100k because I do not believe the extra $ is worth it for concierge.
Since that's why I do it, for me it's a very direct $xxxx = concierge and I don't feel it's worth the thousands I would spend to get it.
However: since I do have the luxury of waiting I will wait until the end of the year to make my final decision if I will spend extra or not.
I fly for myself, for personal, on latitude or J, and would take extra flights every year to make sure I clear 100k to keep concierge service.
Now I am considering to continue to fly latitude or J but won't take those extra flights to clear 100k because I do not believe the extra $ is worth it for concierge.
Since that's why I do it, for me it's a very direct $xxxx = concierge and I don't feel it's worth the thousands I would spend to get it.
However: since I do have the luxury of waiting I will wait until the end of the year to make my final decision if I will spend extra or not.
Plus, IMO the AQD so far is a fiasco. I have had some AQD post correctly. I've also had AQD that were posted twice (and different amounts) for the exact same flight (AQM/AQS for only one)--don't know how that happened. And I have not yet received AQD for 2 OS flights AC codeshare (AC flight #, all 014 stock) flown 3 weeks ago (AQM/AQS have long posted). Essentially everything possible has happened with AQD. And it is only January.
So I'll wait to see what is going to happen. I'm not in hurry to make a decision. It is only January after all. Things can get better
Jan 23, 2016, 3:28 pm
#9
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: YVR
Programs: AC SE*2MM. SPG Plat life
Posts: 4,644
Jan 23, 2016, 3:50 pm
#10
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,767
No real impact on me. I haven't earned any AQD yet - flying UA or Aeroplan redemptions so far - but will get some this week. I don't really foresee much difficulty in clearing $20K AQD as most of my personal flying is Latitude/J and most of my work trips are booked on short notice.
Jan 23, 2016, 4:08 pm
#12
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 557
Being a contrarian I think the AQD issue might force AC to match fares more in line with LH and other partners. Cost of fares are now front and centre for everyone to qualify for various levels but codeshare comparisons will also be highlighted even more. That being said their pass products are pretty reasonable in most cases. The JNB fares are an anomaly obviously but C/D/Z fares to Asia are comparable to Y/B fares on AC and other airlines like CX for instance.
Jan 23, 2016, 6:05 pm
#13
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Posts: 6,222
I still book my flights the same way I did last year - no codeshares, only the operating carrier's flight numbers. I had no problems clearing the AQD requirement with my 2015 spend, and I shouldn't have a problem with that this year either. I don't really worry about it because I think a) AC's IT is so incompetent that they will NOT get this right, and them patching one little bug will result in 20 additional bugs and AC giving up on AQD for a year; and b) the economy is in the toilet this year, AC will probably be begging for former FF to come back at some point later this year with reduced AQD requirement for all.
What are you? An AC apologist?
Jan 23, 2016, 6:24 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYT/YYC/TPE
Programs: AC SE, UA, National Exec Elite, Nexus, GE
Posts: 1,810
What are these comments for? No, I'm not an AC apologist at all. I have been critical of them quite often. My post was meant to say that the AQD implementation by AC IT is such a farce that AC might give up for a year. And the economy being in the toilet makes that possibility higher.
Jan 23, 2016, 6:25 pm
#15
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
What are these comments for? No, I'm not an AC apologist at all. I have been critical of them quite often. My post was meant to say that the AQD implementation by AC IT is such a farce that AC might give up for a year. And the economy being in the toilet makes that possibility higher.
Um, you missed Ken's subtle humour.
He was in stealth mode and it swooshed right by......
