After Burner

No, I said 10% of my annual spend is on AC. Not 10% of distance travelled.

InTheAirGuy

My mistake. We were there *before* a recent YYZ-overseas flight. Typed in a hurry.

ridefar

Cow and I are (surprisingly) on exactly the same page here. I would only add (for the OP) that the SSL is not a benefit. It is not something to which somebody is "entitled". It is included in the price of a paid (JCPZ) business class TATL or TPAC ticket. And I will say it again, and repeat that I likely generate a lot more than some SE in terms of RASM (and a lot less than others): this is fine. I didn't lose anything. I am not entitled to anything except that which AC includes in the published benefits of the program every year. I in no way feel like I am less appreciated because I won't be able to access the lounge except on a paid ticket. If it bothers you that much, write to Calin. Complaining about it here is a little senseless.

RangerNS

One could argue that what SE's are (SHOULD BE) entitled to is "a lounge that doesn't suck", not "a lounge". How AC chooses to label and market their lounges is a different question.

Its odd, don't you think, that AC is all about protecting the sanctity of J while letting anyone with a >$0 annual fee CC into the MLL?

After Burner

I could challenge your assertion based on the definition of loyalty. But we'd be getting into semantics.

After Burner

What I say about that is he is an economy class customer who buys relatively low fares. The Suite is for premium customers.

That's not true. Your opinion is definitely welcome here. I have a different viewpoint. But I acknowledge that your opinion is as valid as (or possibly more valid than) mine.

Jumper Jack

No one in Y , regardless of the status should really be able to access the suite
All business fare via AC Metal on the other hand... is what I expect they would open up to (if they are gonna at all)

canadiancow

I disagree with the "relatively low fares" comment, unless you mean "on the hierarchy of fare classes". But that's JCDZP OEN YBMUHQVWGSTLAK.

Two of the segments listed here entitled me to SS access.



I was certainly in a premium cabin, on a premium cabin fare. But I'd hardly call this something desirable to AC.

They made the cutoff something easy to understand, and generally in line with "you get what you pay for".

A SE on a $5000 Y fare is a way more desirable customer than me. I was on a $500 P fare. But I was allowed in, and Mr. Latitude was not.

I suspect that if the rules are ever relaxed, I class will gain something. But I would not necessarily expect it to be exactly what you want. AC I class on a 016 ticket doesn't give AC the money it would take to cover the meal in the SS. On a 014 ticket, it's a bit more, but you're literally asking them to take a loss on this. It doesn't make sense from a business perspective, and they already have easy-to-understand rules that prevent it.

Jumper Jack

​​​​​​Well that's alright, we don't always get what we want, part of life.

yyznomad

I vote that we relax the rules to allow Jumper Jack access, regardless of fare paid or status.

Bohemian1

Well, his handle does have two J's, so that should qualify him right there.

songsc

I think this has been mentioned multiple times here. The entrance criterion are made to keep SSL exclusive (aka not crowded), at least for now. So can we focus on the food and service aspect?

It's hard to argue who "should" get access. For a large business, it is hard to assess costs and profits of each customer. A full J customer changing ticket 10 times may generates less profits than a P fare customer, how to account for that? Airlines build generalized models that fits the majority of the customers rather than calculate how "valuable" each customer is. For now AC has decided to give JCDZP customers access and others not. The decision could be unfair, but for now I respect their decision. If someone really want to have some "fine dinning experience" before flights, there are many restaurant providing similar or better dining experience, and the cost is likely to be lower than the fare difference between your ticket and JCDZP. If someone really think they deserve access to SSL despite not on international JCDZP, you may be much more valuable than many people who do get access, and if this makes you really frustrated, your best decision may be to vote with your wallet and convince AC that they made the wrong decision.

After Burner

If I didn't know better I'd be tempted to say those numbers are fake!

I have no idea how you got that fare but I feel confident saying that it's an anomaly. I'd be more impressed if you showed a list of available flights priced like that. It's certainly true that a Y fare that's higher than a P fare comes with fewer privileges (like access to the SS burger joint) ... but the Y fare comes with flexibility and refundability.

Jumper Jack

Look all I am saying is that there's a long way to go before AC would even consider open up SSL for SE in any fare class, and if they ever do open it up more (not that they will or have to), I class seems to be the logical step.

canadiancow

It was a mistake fare. I booked three. It's an anomaly in the sense that of the millions of published fares, most aren't like this. But intercontinental J on AC at under 10 US cents per mile is a very regular occurrence. 5 US cents per mile occurs at least annually on routes that are worth my time to book.

But that's exactly my point. AC doesn't even want these fares to exist. They certainly don't want me in the SS on them. But they made their rules simple, so I'm allowed in.

In general, these access requirements do what they want. They're simple to understand ("Buy business class on Air Canada and you have access"), and generally only available on expensive tickets. They're not available on all expensive tickets (full O/Y come to mind), and they're not only available on expensive tickets (see my above example), but it's a SIMPLE way of limiting access.

If they could let in every MM who has spent over 5 million lifetime dollars on AC, I'm sure they would. But that data is hard (or impossible) to get, and hard to communicate.

I've seen more people get turned away from the SS then I've watched enter (bearing in mind I wasn't standing at the door all day watching - this was just what happened in front of me). But at least it's simple. "You didn't buy business class, you upgraded" or "You didn't buy business class, you used miles" or "You're not flying Air Canada".

I bet if they started allowing SEs in, it would take all of 48 hours before someone came here whining that their guest was not allowed in. "I'm SE I should be allowed a guest".

Here's my proposal: SEs in paid J can guest one person in I class. Probably won't ever make a difference to me, but it solves the "legitimate" issue several have mentioned, where they buy J and fly their spouse on points.