canadiancow

So I spend $20k, and now I should be able to get a round-trip for 8 people YYZ-SYD?

10 times a year?

On exactly the flights I want?

In J?

InTheAirGuy

As in, they pick some random date for the cut-off that is arbitrary. They don't tell you. As in, a real class act company with integrity.

Wpgjetse

Spend how much? It's not about redeeming miles, but want something above that. Just because there is 1 J seat open on a flight, doesn't mean a SE is entitled to it on points.

Wpgjetse

But "priority" rewards do not give you availability on every seat on a flight.

longtimeflyin

You seem like a person who would be interested in market fare rewards.

I concur that AC may in fact be starving Aeroplan on rewards that are non market fare ones.

RangerNS

This is literally the second flight I've booked with AP, lifetime. I'm offering up a single, possibly irrelevant, data point. If I'm not entitled to "R" space, so be it. I don't know what that means, and it is only a week out: I wasn't expecting magic to happen. Without thinking too hard about the relative value of AP points vs eUps and cash, the X-class YYZ/LAS segments with eUp+cash @ check in might be a better value, anyway.

If there is some other magic class AC is restricting from AP, that is interesting.

Transpacificflyer

I don't interpret his point as you do. I see it as a general reference to the difficulty of booking "reward" travel.

The OP's concern hits home with me.
I am not SE, just a lowly 50K. I can rarely get a decent J flight to one of my usual destinations and when I can find something, it has one or all of the following characteristics;
- Undesirable routing and departure times;
- High fees and additional charges
- 30-75% of the trip in Y although a J redemption is charged
- Flights offered on the *A bottom tier carriers (e.g. Air India, EgyptAir)

Over the past 18 months, I have observed that is has become far more difficult to obtain a basic J long haul reward. SEs are treated better than lowly 50k plebs like myself, so I don't doubt that the system can work for some. However, IMO for the majority of Aeroplan participants who are not SE, and who fly business class, the availability just isn't there. And yes, I know that AP says it provides many flights. This reminds me of AC explaining away its "fuel surcharges". I expect that the class action on these charges will address that. (See notice you received this week.) By the same token, I anticipate a class action against Aeroplan at some point which will address its seat inventory.

Stranger

AC is contractually obliged to sell a certain number of seats to AE at a price that apparently is ridiculous. So they would not sell anything over the quota. Nor can they sell less.

However it may be that on the other side of the equation, AE is selling ever more miles so that the demand for rewards is going up. And of course AE does not care if these miles become useless at least as regular rewards are concerned. Bottom line, AC cannot starve AE. AE however is presiding over mile inflation. And ultimately yet another devaluation.

Clipper801

Is it based on route or system-wide? I think is system-wide. There may be a higher percentage of redemption availability on less popular routes than the more popular routes but on balance, the X% is achieved but juggling the no.

Also for sure not X% of Y inventory plus X% of J inventory.

canadiancow

They do in Y

Perfect explanation.

gonebabygone

In my experience, this is actually the worst time for AE availability...

Not sure that's good evidence of AC starving AE. I've had no problem with several bookings recently.

Adam Smith

You have encountered a lazy or incompetent agent. I can make a new booking for the dates and flights you want using IKK. Therefore there should be no problem changing an existing Y reward to sit in J.

Since you've already HUed, can you just CA so we can move on from the speculation on this particular case? (By the way, did you point out to the agent that it was bookable on the website?)

As for the more general question about Aeroplan availability, I don't think I've noticed any difference in the past few months. Getting J for the things I want to fly pretty much always required IKK for me in the past and still does, so nothing really new there.

But I'm certain that what was posited above about growing Aeroplan mile issuance is true and probably makes it harder to find X/I space.

Sebring

It's possible AE members, upon hearing that AC is pulling out of AE, have increased demand for redemptions, i.e. spend their points now rather than waiting for a late exit when stock might truly be limited.

I don't see AC's gain in starving AE or AE members. It's still revenue, and in off season, AC still needs that revenue. Peak of the peak, maybe less so. Flights I have been on have been full lately. Choc a block.

Stranger

Possible? I would say probable.

gonebabygone

FWIW, the AE agent that helped me with my last booking (1.5 hrs on the phone together!) said she hasn't noticed a spike in bookings.

Granted, she might have been told to say this to reassure panicky AE customers...but that was not my impression at all, she said it almost as a throw away comment.