canadiancow

Because there is no such thing as AC miles.

This will change.

Then you'll be able to use miles to pay for everything from seat selection to pizza.

FlyerTalker70

canadiancow

AC already has LMUs. All they'd need to do is offer a miles option at a value of something like 1cpm. $599 or 59,900 miles.

I don't know if you'd see the immediate availability of "25k miles, $600 co-pay, and waitlisting". I just expect AC to start accepting miles at around 1cpm everywhere dollars are currently accepted.

FlyerTalker70

eracerblue

FlyerTalker70

Out of curiosity how did AeroCanada set the price of awards? Was it ACs sole discretion to set the values of the award charts for themselves and * partners for classic and market fares since they were the ticket stock and often operating carrier? Was it Aimia because they were the ones paying for the flights booked? Was it a combination of both? If it was solely AC during the AeroCanada days then an argument could be made that AC is comfortable with the redemption rates as they are now. OTOH Devils chariot might argue that the new program is the perfect ploy to mess with the award charts. Yet I doubt they'll want to do that due to the goodwill that has been eroded.

An important question to also consider is what will AC do to get more people excited and signed up for their new program? In particular I'm looking at myself in the mirror who regularly flies UA k fares and is currently Gold. It's loyalist like me that AC should be after!

At this point I'm torn on what to do with my miles. I don't want to blow them all away on mere speculation particularly when I have no right to be using them thanks to my insistence on warning UA Gold every year! Perhaps I'll find a J award to Santa Banana around Christmas then push myself past the frail dragon at the SSL

Safe Travels,

James

Stranger

FlyerTalker70

rankourabu

AC is not after anybody, they have a captive audience of Canadian OPM flyers on the high end, and a fair share of the low end market personal travel.

They certainly don't need to go after anyone how can get Gold for $1500. They fired those people a long time ago.

WaytoomuchEurope

James I mean no disrespect at all, but why would you think AC should 'go after' you? Why would the target audience be people that know how to work the system to their advantage (kudos to you for that, truly) and get huge return for minimal investment? You mention being a k fare flyer every chance you get and talk about doing TATLs for $500. You speak of loyalty but routinely discuss the easiest ways to achieve *G on other airlines (not a complaint, just an observation. You serve the community well in this way)

You have some money to spend so you have value but if AC builds programs around travelers like you they're in trouble.

Again, I'm saying all of this with considerable respect.

RangerNS

The fundamental basis of business truth that allows for a FF program to "give" away seats is that at 80% load, even getting $5 for another PAX aboard is better than not. Industry wide, load factors are way higher, the amount of unsalable inventory is smaller. But the FF types now have decades of experience and are able to make money in their own right (more than "actually flying" for some US carriers??)

If Aimia was especially good at data science and technology then they would have no problems after losing customer #1 . No one is beating down their doors to tap into their set of skills and technology.

No longer bound by long term contracts and with two teams and two sets of computers, there is no doubt that the new system, under one roof, with one database, with one team managing specials granting miles and specials spending miles that the opportunity for gaming the system will be reduced.

As someone who uses points/rewards "as intended", I don't expect much to change. (I expect 0 special changes to the "perks" side of things).

People gaming the system, and maybe not entirely in good faith, are going to have to learn new tricks. But eventually AE would have run out of dead stock of MOS hardware and upgraded, and AC would finalize the switch to Amadeus; if you live a life of trickery then your life is constantly learning new tricks.

All the power to you for exploiting the system, but don't expect a tear from me.

PointWeasel

What are you going on about?!

Stranger

MasterGeek

There will be Air Canada (a federally regulated company, under DOT juridiction) to complain about to the DOT ver the over collection of US airport and government taxes.

FlyerTalker70

As a Computer Scientist who has worked in industry for several years and has colleagues who work at all the major tech companies in North America, I can tell you that this is a huge problem for both Aimia and Air Canada. In an industry where minimum wage is $80,000/year and stock awards are nearly compulsory I find it hard for either company to find the best and brightest in the field which they need if they want to optimize the heck out of their FFP. All the smart data scientists are working in California for the likes of Facebook, Google, Apple, etc. No point looking for a second rate developer/data-scientist since Fred Brooks (who won the Noble Prize in Computer Science) demonstrated that the difference between an average developer and a super-star in productivity is 10x!

The problem I can see from the standpoint of AC or Aimia is making the justification for forking out $125,000+ per year, options and an entirely separate org that enables developers to break things and try do things that would otherwise violate the company policies. This is an approach TD and other blue chip companies have tried recently and it's remains unclear how successful this approach will be. Keep in mind the superstars are lured to Google and Microsoft in part thanks to stock options. They know the stocks they earn will be worth significantly more in the years ahead. The same can't be said of AC stock and certainly not Aimia stock. The last you want are options that are underwater.

So yeah, maybe AC will change things up with this new program and redo their infrastructure to be less craptacular (I somewhat doubt that given how longe they've been tied to legacy systems). I remain unconvinced that their program will be anything more than second-rate for consumers or AC (the intended benefactor of the program). Keep paying your developers $60,000/year but don't be surprised if the best you get are college graduates who completed an introduction to BI course shortly before graduation. Oh and by the way, this data science stuff really matters. The highest grossing product Google, Facebook and others have are consumers. Penny wise, pound foolish!

Safe Travels,

James