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.

Customer service on SQ is better than customer service on AC - who knew?

You and GHT Sr were prob burned at the same time. He just said F this, I'm going to CX/KA instead. Believe his friends had to fight in court to get their lifetime status grandfathered of some sort.

That whole experience has changed my view about these lifetime status programs. Simply wouldnt trust they would honor them if cost cutting became serious.

Wrong..... Many of those on business purchase open J class tickets even for short haul (Jakarta, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, HK, Singapore etc are pretty damn popular routes).

The business people I know would usually have several open tickets that can be deployed on their most convenient timing. That said sometimes if urgency came means a downgrade to Y as well.

As for their personal travel, yes I hear it's typically Y or even no frills. Nevertheless, they can always change their mind and fly others (ie. UA, CX, MH, BR etc instead of SQ), hence reason why you don't wanna piss them off even in Y class.

Very same reason why transcon flights have F, C, Y and flight pass products.

As for PPS, Y fares do not count towards PPS $ status. Y class BIS will just accumulate regular Kris Flyer mileage/status. There were also other rules like codesharing had to be SQ-numbered to qualify etc.....

How do we know you've got a perfectly lovely attitude? You gotta show us the number of Gold stars you got from the Flight Director to prove it! It's the AC way!

Yowzers! Talk about building trust and loyalty with your key customers! That seems so low and dirty - beyond the pale of most airlines who honour such things even after bankruptcy (i.e. UA with their lifetime elites and lifetime Preisdnet's Club card holders). There's something to be said about being a free agent. The thought has passed my mind a couple of times but I have stayed loyal to UA because they haven't done any dirty tricks. The moment they start doing that, DL and **gasp** AA fares may start to look attractive!

Seems a bit sketchy to purchase multiple tickets as "insurance" on your business travel plans. Couldn't that be construed as fare abuse?

Safe Travels,

James

How is it ticket abuse when you purposely buy full fare J or F tickets that permits maximum flexibility and all of them are used in the end. I remember each of those tickets were ~$2000-3500 for intra-Asia back in 1990s.

This is where I have issues with airlines accusing individuals of fare abuse, cause not everyone is a flying junkie and has a traditional job. We we're lucky if GHT Sr gave us a 2 hr notice that he will be flying home to see us for the wkend.

Now back to PPS, even better was Solitaire level where we get to choose gifts every year. Best one was the wine fridge!

The only reason that I am a " mere" 1.5 MM'er with AC is that in the 90's and 00's most of my trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific flying was directed to SQ.
I travelled on UA/SQ RTW's, *A RTW's, and even those wonderful FEZSQ ( and CEZSQ) RTW's.
Of my over 5 million lifetime BIS miles, about 30% were AC and 30% were SQ - if only I had had a chrystal ball.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda....

There are many good things about the changes AC has put in place over the last few years to target high revenue/high FF status pax. One thing they still cannot get right is consistency of treatment of the "status" flyers. On some flights, it is over the top - other times, you might as well be a one time flyer using your lifetime AP points to try J. The Signature service rollout hasn't fixed that problem. Airlines like CX (to name one) are more predictable in this respect.

I don't need the OTT stuff, but it is irritating that every AC flight is a dice roll in terms of the level of service. They should be able to fix this but to date have really not made a dent.

Agreed with you on that point. In particular, the American and European airlines have nothing on the Asian airlines. I've always had wonderful service in the air and on the ground be it from SQ, NH, or the other * Asian airlines. However, looking within North America/Europe, an argument could be made that AC is one of the better ones: be it their lounges which have showers, their J product with all aisle access. Travelling in Y, UA is clearly the best of the lot, particularly if you're a Premier member since E+ is free and lightyears ahead of the Y product of the others. They also have wifi, something AC hasn't even heard of yet (I've been on 2 787s and a 777 and none of them had wifi!)

Safe Travels,

James

No.

So basically AC Y service, but with more legroom, free same day changes, and free food/booze for top tier?

Those are MP benefits and not core features of UA's Y product, except E+ (which you have to pay for).

AC has free booze for Comfort fares and free food and booze for Lat fares, regardless of status. Free booze on YTZ flights, too. They also provide free same-day standby regardless of status on Rapidair, Western Triangle, and YYZ-NYC routes, which is great for business travel and can actually be handy for leisure travel, too. AC has much lower change fees. I could go on.

Obviously, UA has the edge in many regards too. More extra legroom seats in Y is a big one. (probably the one area where UA Y is among the best) Free basic seat selection is another. Most of the time, both are more survivable than enjoyable experiences. Certainly, neither is "lightyears ahead" of the other.

Can't comment on the booze/food portion as I'm not a 1K. However, as a lowly Gold I have taken advantage of the free same day changes. In particular, I recall being on the beach in Honolulu at OLCI and thinking to myself, why the heck do I want to leave paradise so soon? I ended up SDC'ing to a later flight to YYZ (via DEN). Had this been AC or another airline they would've wanted an arm and a leg for the privilege of changing such an international itinerary.

Truth be told, I'm torn on this whole AC vs UA debate. There are clearly merits to both airlines. In terms of the quality of the J cabin, it's hard to argue that AC has the upper hand (supposing their pods don't defate :p). This dormitory style that UA has on their jets in J is insane - no one wants to play footsie with their seat mate when they're forking out thousands on fare! AC also clearly has the upper hand when it comes to lounges - most have actual food to eat and working showers. OTOH, when you look at how elites are treated by the airlines, I would argue UA has the upper hand here, be it complimentary extra leg room seating for elites, free same day changes, complimentary upgrades, free SPMarriott Gold status, etc. They are also decent when it comes to earning milage on fares, basically all fares on the major * airlines (UA,AC,LH,NH) earn 100% milage save for Economy Basic. Also the fact they have wifi on their fleet is something that makes a 14 hour experience on UA in Y+ enjoyable.

If there was an airline that combined both benefits of AC & UA I would jump ship in a heartbeat!

Safe Travels,

James

The only thing certain is that they are both "lightyears behind" industry leaders.

The point of the thread is to highlight how various * partners (in particular SQ) treat their top tier customers vs AC. I started the thread based on my observation of how far out of the way SQ goes to treat their loyalist customers regardless of cabin they're travelling in. You would think that if you're writing a cheque to AC for $20,000 each and every year you can count on them going the extra mile but the reactions from fellow FTers suggests that this is not always the case.

Safe Travels,

James

Safe Travels,

James

Its some premium stuff, you have to spend $X annually (something like $25-250K) on J and F products w SQ flight numbers to qualify (Y class does not count into PPS status).

And SQ PPS Solitaire is like their higher level of VIP..... Best part Mrs GHT Sr gets Solitaire status too and you get a catalogue to choose gifts each year..... The best one I saw that we still have was a wine fridge. Can you imagine AC gifting you that?!

No but I can see them gifting complimentary wifi which only works on a small fraction of their aircraft :p

-James

I was hoping posters like yourself would get my gist... :)

I'm referring to the treatment of said pax, as the OP was alluding to this... not necessarily how such PPS/VIP status was attained. :)

I've seen Ben Smith personally escort a VIP onto a flight (the same flight I was on, and the VIP sat next to me in J)... so I stand by my statement above that PPS is "more like" AC VIP (or vice versa), especially since VIP is an official (or unofficial, how you want to view it) unpublished tier that is also strongly correlated to spend. Yes, there are differences w.r.t. "term", "benefits", and the such, but the thread title is "PPS Service on AC", and I've seen VIPs get similar/better service than a PPS, so to me, they are comparable.

Didn't know AF was this desperate to attract AC elites to their program ;)

-James

I think there is a distinctive difference between SQ PPS vs AC VIP vs UA GS.....
1. PPS & Solitaire are published benefits (above and beyond your 100K level and solely based on J/F class revenue qualification only)
2. VIP and GS are mysteries IMO (from how you qualify for them to how services are prioritized etc)......

For Singapore - you basically use the First Class check in facilities & lounge
https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/c...class-checkin/

For outside posts -
- you use first class check in
- Station Manager or Supervisor will usually greet you

On board
- your listed as PPS on their manifest and usually the crew/flight manager will intro themselves
- you get offered a drink
- you get to choose your newspaper
- you get to choose your preferred economy class meal

IME - SQ is less lenient with deviating from SOP to offer you extras or do something unique (i.e. Op-ups, first class wine etc), cause they are rule sticklers lol.

Then there's the third part, where you've traveled so much on premium classes on several routes and they simply know you and treated differently. At one point, the UA ground staff in SIN and HKG would just know Mr GHT Sr and same w the HKG/PVG/PEK SQ ground staff.