PPS Service on AC?
 

Just thought I'd share a recent experience I had on a SQ flight from DPS to SIN. SQ boards in three groups: those flying in First/Business along with PPS members, *Gold along with PY Customers and finally everyone else. I noticed the Business/PPS line was virtually empty save for 3 people, with one of them sitting a few rows in front of me in Y, which, by process of elimination implies that they were PPS. When I entered the cabin, I noticed how there were several SQ cabin crew looking after him, moving his bags for him just before take off, providing him with a PDB and other things they instinctively knew he needed again without asking.

A couple of months ago, I had several flights on MS and again how they treat elite customers is miles ahead of anything I see elsewhere on *. First and foremost they make you feel special as a *Gold member. How? By providing the whole range of *Gold services from Gold Track Security & Immigration at CAI to lounges both in DOM and INTL terminals. Then there's the *Gold advertising everywhere from the boarding pass sleeve to throughout the airport (big *Gold entryways). Finally, on the flight the captain would come out and personally introduce themselves to the *Gold customers.

I haven't flown enough AC to comment on this but I would be surprised if the top tiers on AC get similar treatment. How many FAs on an AC flight will greet you by name, let alone provide proactive service when flying in Y as a SE? From what I hear, this type of treatment rarely occurs in J! I doubt very few if any! In my mind UA and to a much greater extent AC has a lot to learn from SQ and * partners on the soft stuff like this.

Safe Travels,

James

In J it happens on 99% of my flights.

In Y it happens on 1% of my flights.

I'd much rather they focus more attention on status-less people in J than anyone in Y, myself included.

I'm not sure if your comparison would/could be apples to apples...

Many other airports worldwide offer *G services such as Fast Track security for *G at NRT, and it isn't necessarily airline specific.

LH treats all *G "like" F and all *G get to use LH F services including check-in, IRROPS, etc. (except for things like FRA FCT, but you get the gist)

And I don't see UA doing this type of thing for *Gs... my treatment as *G on UA is rather pedestrian.

If you can compare a NA *A airline to AC, then I'd consider it more apples to apples, IMHO. :)

That's not accurate. Lufty treats SEN members like most *G members, which is J-heavy/F-lite. HON Circle Members, who have high spend like SQ PPS members, get the proper F treatment which includes things such as First Class Terminal access regardless of class of service.

Given how most *A airlines operate these days, there's a de-facto level above *G (PPS, HON, 1K, SE 100K, NH Diamond) but there's no consistency between programs.

My (limited) experience with Lufty is as a *Gold I could use the J/Star Gold lane. Interesting to hear you could in theory also use the F lanes.

Of course that's all hypothetical since I've yet to encounter LH F (it may exist but on the routes I'm flying like FRA<->YYZ, it's Y/PY/J). The global trend from airlines seems to be moving away from F service, be it UA, AC following the retirement of their 747s >10 years ago and elsewhere. It's becoming quickly apparent to the airlines that they can make a heck of a lot more money replacing one F suite with a couple of J seats. That being said, I look forward to one day burning through some AeroPesos to try LX F before it goes the way of the dodo.

Safe Travels,

James

SQ treats PPS in a manner that even I consider over the top.
For example, there is nothing worse that checking in for a SQ revenue first class flight behind a family of 5, one of which is PPS,
all flying in Y, and having to wait while they check in 36 pieces of luggage ( some of which are empty cartons).

...but isn't that the whole point? If you're travelling in F and aren't PPS then by definition you aren't a loyal flyer. More likely than not you found some sweet redemption on a * program and paid literally less bucks than the kettle riding middle seat in steerage! PPS on the other hand, have poured thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars of revenue flight miles into the airline. They by definition earned the priority even if you catch them in the odd time they are flying Y.

Safe Travels,

James

I totally agree. The rare time a SQ PPS member is in Y it makes sense they would take good care of them (either fully booked J or who knows why else)

For those who don't know how it works, PPS is based on revenue spent ONLY in J/F classes and $25,000 is the basic entry point. I was about $1,000 away a decade or so ago when some of those sweet ex-TPE fares existed :D But I would say the primary benefit is for exactly this scenario - family trips in Y for someone who otherwise would be in F/J as a loyal flyer.

Heck even if it's not rare for them to be doing so, I'd argue it still makes sense. A frequent flyer by definition will be on planes a ton of times (i.e. ua1flyer). You can't tell me with a straight face that they'll always travel in J when it's available. For short haul sectors where the fare differential is high it simply doesn't make sense to fly in J (i.e. would you pay $2,000 to fly J from YYZ to ORD as a GS?). I wouldn't be surprised if many PPS members fly 25% of their flights in Y on SQ. I suspect, that frequent flyers open their wallets up on those long haul segments where the benefits of having a lie flat seat, work area and quality lounge make tons of sense. Would love to hear actual frequent flyers preferences on these.

Safe Travels,

James

I'm AC*G and I have a perfectly lovely attitude, and even when I am in J, am ignored 50% of the time, and the other half the time, they're just offering me a personal performance of the safety dance.

Oh, I know all about PPS benefits - I was less than 2 years away from lifetime PPS when they cancelled that benefit.
Since then, my SQ flying has been sharply reduced.