Stranger

But AE paid AC for the rewards. AC apparently was not too happy with what they got, but it's not like rewards are going to cost them less at least if they sell as many miles as AE did (so that marginal cost is not applicable). Sure, the difference would be AE's profit. But was that truly significant? Was their dividend all that big?

pitz

No AE destroyed their shareholders' investment basically. There never really was any profit. AC made out like bandits from the deal in hindsight.

Stranger

But wasn't it Milton's construct, ACE that really went away with the loot?

MasterGeek

The $119 per year Westjet Mastercard gives free checked bags to cardholder and companions on revenue and award Westjet flights.

The $120 Aeroplan cards don't give free checked bags on Air Canada except for the main cardholder on award flights only. Why ??

Here is hoping that AC/TD/CIBC will match the RBC Westjet offer as Westjet expands it's flight coverage and savvy consumers become aware of the savings to be had on free checked bags will prefer to fly Westjet

rankourabu

Sorry, your, your employer's, $20k is worth nothing to AC when compared to the money made from credit card points

If you are sitting in the middle seat economy as an elite of any kind, you only have yourself to blame, not the credit card churners.

cedric

You get a lot more benefit overall out of the Aeroplan cards, and the annual fee is roughly the same.
The addition of a perk that's never been on that card before is unlikely to make much of an impact to the banks or AC, other than put downward pressure on AC's ancillary revenues.

IntermittentFlyer

If I can work my a** off hard enough to get a verifiably high enough income that allows to me get and keep an AE Visa Privilege card from the very bank I have my accounts with; I am unapologetically, and with great pleasure taking advantage of those perks regardless of who some pompous prince or duke begrudgingly deigns line up with, to add to what 24left stated.

Moreover, this same year, the same bank accepted to waive the two fees (primary and additional card holders). In addition to the perks this card gave me, not only did I laugh all the way TO the bank, I also laughed all the way BACK from there too.

So, on behalf of all of us lowly “peasants”, you’ll have to keep slumming it with the rest of us.

To conclude, regardless of how you earn theses perks, in reality none of them come for free. We pay for everything so they’re earned one way or another.

Fiordland

I have evolved into being that bottom feeds and proud of it. For two decades I use to be flying on fully paid tickets and getting elite status most years.

For the past four years I have sufficient spend on an Avion and AMEX platinum card to cover most of my air travel and for travel on short notice I am burning a stockpile of Aeroplan points. Still buy a couple of paid flights on AC each year, but it significantly lower than before.

I am happier in the AMEX/Plaza premium/Priority Pass lounges than the Maple Leaf lounge. The Maple Leaf lounges have gone down hill. Free baggage is not an issue, I usually only check baggage on overseas where it is free anyway. For the odd US/CDN flight I might need checked baggage and pay the fee. Priority boarding would be nice, but I can live without it.

What is interesting if after decades of being loyal to AC, I am now a free agent. There is nothing compelling about Aeroplan to keep me flying AC over the competition.

My situation is probably becoming more typical.

FlyerTalker70

United, flying mostly on the cheapest tickets I can find (ticketed in K class) which nets 100% PQM. There's no spend requirement for foreigners like myself so all I need to do is fly 50,000 miles on *A carriers and 4 times on UA metal during a given year. This year I managed to snag a couple of TATL flights for around $500 CAD return and TPAC flights (from YOW/YYZ) for around $800 CAD return on of all airlines UA.

$20,000 is very ambitious, especially for a mid-tier like Gold. I would suspect only the most frequent of business travellers who book last minute attain that level of travel. In many respects I am the true loyalist and frequent flyer. Every year I have to sit through 50,000 miles of flights on primarily Y tickets to have the "luxury" to get conferred this status. That being said, we'll see in the coming months and year if the party is over on United (i.e. dropping 100% PQM earning on deep discounted flights). It will be a sad day when that happens as I'm slowly working my way towards lifetime Gold on UA.

Also keep in mind different *A partners have different programs and ways of earning status. OZ allows you to earn *A Gold for up-to 4 years by flying 50,000 miles on normal economy tickets. Sure you might end up spending more than $2,000 to achieve it but when amortized over the 4 years, it's likely more lucrative than UA. OZ also grants you lifetime *A Gold when you fly 500,000 miles on OZ and *A partners. Clearly, I'm not getting the best "bang" but have remained loyal to UA for the UA specific benefits, namely 3 checked bags, E+ seating at all fare classes and complimentary upgrades on domestic flights (including Aeroplan booked flights).

Safe Travels,

James

canadiancow

I fear we're getting off topic, but:

I'm not a business traveler. My last minute bookings are cheap FP tickets (~$350 CAD each) or Aeroplan. $20k is not ambitious. It just happens when your goals shift from "get there as cheap as possible" to "get their comfortably".

My first year on FT (which was also my first year traveling), I booked SFO-BOS-YYZ to come home for one of the Thanksgivings. Because it was cheaper.

Now I wouldn't dream of flying SFO-YYZ in Y, or with a connection (unless I'm picking up a companion along the way, or they kill the widebodies on the non-stop).

I don't worry about getting AQM or AQD for my status, because it happens easily. If I'm making a large booking, I'll see if it makes sense to do it in a way that earns towards Altitude, but my last trip was on DL and AS because they were cheaper and more convenient than UA. My international travel out of SFO is rarely on AC because a connection in Canada rarely makes sense (sometimes it does, as I have family I visit).

But then that's the difference. You're trying to fly as cheaply as possible, such that you need to credit to an airline that waives the dollar requirement for you, in order to even get a mid-tier status. I'm trying to fly as comfortably as possible, with a much higher budget, and don't need to think about any of this. I credit to the airline I fly most.

CanadaDH

My *G status will be dropping to *S soon, so I'll be one of those non-elites taking up your lounge seats without holding status.

But, we all don't get our *G by working hard and flying economy. My flights are 100% for vacations. I travel almost always on Aeroplan points, earned through credit card spending. Occasionally, I can't find 2 reward seats where we want to go, and end up redeeming for one seat on points and paying cash for the second. That's sort of how I accidentally ended up with *G. All it really took was a TATL in paid LH F and another trip in TK J, so I got there quite comfortably.

Stranger

That's not necessarily the right or the best strategy, at least assuming enough travel. Idea should be, one person always pays, the companion travels on reward whenever one has enough miles. Helps if person No.1 maintains SE status, so that rewards are easier to get. Also helps if spending enough to consistently travel in J.

CanadaDH

The status isn't that important to me. Because we always fly in J, we get most of the benefits that status would provide anyway. Yes, SE would be useful for additional access to rewards, but we don't travel enough to get there. Since anything less than SE doesn't provide any useful status benefit we wouldn't receive anyway as part of the J or F seat, either reward or paid, we simply try to do all our flying on points. We plan trips well in advance, and in the past two years, we were fortunate enough to always find the reward availability needed, and had more than enough AE miles in the bank to use, therefore I haven't purchased a flight in the past 2 years (hence why I'm dropping to *S). Therefore, no point in putting any effort into chasing a status, unless it's SE, and since that's not a realistic possibility for me, I don't bother at all.

YXUFlyboy

Newsflash - AC doesn't care about the fliers who care about the free baggage on the credit card. Those people fly WestJet already

chx1975

I wonder whether this means everything remains as is ongoing. I would miss flying Air New Zealand, LOT and Brussels Airlines for sure.