CZAMFlyer

Your use of quotes is likely well-placed. My suspicion is that many or most of the 100 spots were assigned prior to the general-release email being distributed.

Transpacificflyer

Aimia's Aeroplan is a diversified marketing program. It is not exclusive to Air Canada. Members can gain their Diamond status many ways, particularly through purchases with partners such as rental car agencies, hospitality firms and retailers. Some people may assume that because they are FFs they should have priority on the invites. The assumption is wrong.

There are many members who have their status because they spent money on actual purchases and did not amass the points that made them SE. The OP quite rightly points out that many members are Diamond status. It is obvious, that some members are more valuable than others.

The customers who spend money are of more value than the customers who mostly gain the miles from travel miles. Here is an illustration;
I purchase $5,000 at a retailer and earn 5000 miles because I used my Amex card. If that is all I do, I need to spend $100,000 to reach diamond.
If I purchase $6,000 P class fares to Asia (YYZ-BKK) @ 25,000 miles RT I earn approx. 31,000 AP miles. I can achieve 93,000 miles at a cost of $18,000. A few more short hauls, or just a bit of spending and I am Diamond well below a spend of $25,000.

Who do you think is more valuable as a customer? The customer who spends $100,000+ or someone at $25,000 (or even less with some of the CC and partner deals/promotions)? Some people who spend their life chasing points and benefit from an employer's travel budget may assume that they are "valuable", and perhaps they are in the eyes of their mothers, but in respect to consumer economics they are not. It's the person who is spending money who is. I accept that I am low on the pecking order in that regard, and I accept it, because the big spenders drive the profits. That's why they get the invites.

canadiancow

It's not like Aeroplan gets the $100k or the $25k...

CZAMFlyer

True, but they receive their cut, and their portion of $100k spend is still four times larger than their portion of a $25k spend. TPF's point above stands, especially the part about many people being special in the eyes of their mothers.

Transpacificflyer

To answer the question as to why a private club was used; its probably because of the kitchen availability, rental & facility costs and the logistics. This was a specialty event, so the chefs needed their own space. Hotels are not the easiest of places to host this type of event because of the kitchen exclusivity requirements, and the labour obstacles.

Although they said 100 attendees , our gadfly on the ground Viranally Liemana posted this photo from the VC.
https://twitter.com/viranlly
It looks rather chi chi and that more than 100 hungry guests were in attendance. I expect that there was also an expectation of a certain wardrobe decorum, i.e. not for those who wear a hoodie over a Ms. Pac man T shirt with cheeto stains. After all, Viranally states in his twitter descripto; "I'm adorable. I look like Kiera Knightley running errands" , which is millenial code for fashionable and awesome.

Perhaps, Aeroplan is going hipster and upscale.

Bohemian1

From the pix, that's pretty much the standard mass catering setup for the Vancouver Club.

But it's a nice venue and only three blocks from my office.

canadiancow

Is it?

Is Aeroplan not paid per mile? Wouldn't that mean that 100k is 100k is 100k, regardless of what the consumer paid for them?

jasdou

canadiancow

Right, but my point is the cost to the customer is, at best, loosely correlated with Aeroplan's revenue.

jc94

Transpacificflyer

Common sense suggests that Aeroplan had identified a target demographic for its Vancouver dinner and that it involved much more than inviting super elites.

Yes, AC's FFs have value. However, there is enough information collected to differentiate between FFs. Aeroplan can target the super elites who also spend big money on consumer purchases, or who demonstrate desired customer demographics., like being a resident of the Greater Vancouver region. There are various analytics that can be run to identify who they want. Just because someone is a Super Elite or 1MM may not necessarily have made the person of interest to the sponsor(s) of this event. I wasn't invited, but I draw on the inspirational words of Gloria Gaynor, and proclaim that I will survive.

canadiancow

Well my first question is whether there are Diamonds with "Vancouver" as the city in their Aeroplan profile who were not invited.

Next, I agree that 100k miles is not the same as 1M or 10M miles, and some Diamonds are more valuable to Aeroplan than others.

Any mention of SE is irrelevant, because SE just triggers extra space for you on AC flights when booking through Aeroplan. Aside from that, Aeroplan doesn't care.

That being said, when you're known as a "frequent flyer program", it seems odd to only consider local residents, when it's quite likely that a bunch of your high points earners are traveling at any given time, and may be free to attend a dinner.

It doesn't sound like any people based outside of Vancouver were invited.

CZAMFlyer

The folks in the section of the ballroom caught on the gadfly's camera may look upscale, but hipsters they are not. Parents of hipsters, perhaps.

I hope Aeroplan isn't 'going hipster', as it would cement its reputation as having crested its curve of relevance, of being superficial, as appearing as something it's not, of overcharging for the basics and of being utterly incapable of fending for itself at the first hint of trouble.

Transpacificflyer

I do not have the criteria that was used, and I believe that we can all agree that the only way to know for sure is if someone at Aeroplan shares such info. You say that SE doesn't matter, yet you gave the impression that you a very frequent flyer was irked because you had not been invited. By the definition of a super elite, one would expect that a SE would accumulate more mileage than a run of the mill Diamond who doesn't fly with AC. In any case, as you say, it doesn't matter.

There are to be other cities where the event will be held so I would expect that in order to more efficiently target the intended demographic they invited people who had an address in the host city. I would expect that the Toronto event will invite the members with a GTA residential address.

Yes, Aeroplan acts as a frequent flyer program, but it is more than that, and this is at the core of the Aimia transformation. Aimia defines itself as a data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics entity. It states that it partners with groups of companies and individual companies to help generate, collect and analyze customer data and build actionable insights. Aeroplan is one of its businesses, and even in that unit, it doesn't really emphasize its FF activity. Rather, it provides loyalty strategy, program development, implementation and management services for other clients . Aimia further states that all this greatness is underpinned by leading products and technology platforms and through its analytics and insights business. My takeaway, is that Aimia and its Aeroplan is anything but a FF program. Hence, the AC Altitude initiative.

zrh2yvr

@YZF_Elite said - - - I've been in there twice, mostly empty old boys club from years gone by...

Not to go off topic - but - the club has gone through a serious rejuvenation in the past 10 years. Likely average age is now somewhere close to 40. The events and social director is a crazy young Australian and over the past 10-years it is become perhaps - somewhat of a high-class party house. It certainly has an old boys tradition, but some of the stereotypes no longer apply. They have just nabbed the Executive Chef Ned Bell from the Four Seasons Yew to be the culinary director and large-scale donations (think 7 figures) have allowed them to renovate, rejuvenate, and invest in the latest equipment to be running a high-end operation.