Earn Your Wings (EYW) 2019
Aug 9, 2019, 12:22 pm
#16
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: yyz
Programs: status-free
Posts: 565
Aug 9, 2019, 9:33 pm
#18
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,331
But you just have to earn it by the end of the registration period.
However, the rules have not been announced yet, so assume nothing.
Aug 10, 2019, 9:30 pm
#19
Join Date: Feb 2006
Programs: AC75 MM
Posts: 959
Question: If you were to do EYW solely for the purpose of earning status/bonus miles (plus the ancillary AQD associated) would this be financially worthwhile, if you are/or are not in the first 10?
Or does it depend on status? And if so,at what level does it become cost effective?
Or does it depend on status? And if so,at what level does it become cost effective?
Aug 11, 2019, 3:05 am
#20
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
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Posts: 44,331
If you aim for top 10 and make top 10, it's worth it for the miles. If you aim for top 30 and make top 30, same. The status is just a bonus.
If you aim for top 10 and make top 30, then it may not have been worth it.
If you aim for top 10 and make top 30, then it may not have been worth it.
Aug 11, 2019, 5:56 am
#21
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SEMM / HH Diamond
Posts: 3,166
Question: If you were to do EYW solely for the purpose of earning status/bonus miles (plus the ancillary AQD associated) would this be financially worthwhile, if you are/or are not in the first 10?
Or does it depend on status? And if so,at what level does it become cost effective?
Or does it depend on status? And if so,at what level does it become cost effective?
- The cost is a combination of dollars to buy the tickets, and the time & energy it takes to put your bum in all those tiny tiny seats. If you're even considering top 10, then be prepared to invest a lot of effort.
- The guarenteed benefit is the AQD & AQM for all those flights. Of course, keep in mind that EYW generally rewards lots of short flights - so it's not the easiest way to earn either AQM or AQD.
- The potential additional benefit is a bunch of aeroplan miles which you might be able to spend on future flights, depending on availability of the flight rewards & seats you want, and keeping in mind that the details of the aeroplan 2020 program haven't been announced yet.
- The additional risk is that you're competing with a whole bunch of other crazies, and so the cut-off levels for the various awards are indeterminate, and have been increasing with every iteration of the competition.
Also, and speaking as someone who's still considering whether or not to compete again this time, I want to discourage anyone who's even considering trying to compete against me.
Aug 11, 2019, 8:31 am
#22
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Windsor/Detroit
Programs: AC*SE, Wyndham Dimond, Marriott Plat, Amex Plat CND & USA, active military, Yoga teacher.
Posts: 148
I took some flights just for fun last year. I earned a ton of bonus miles for my flight from London ON to Victoria BC. I went to some cool places and took some flights I was thinking about but with the bonus miles it was worth taking. I had well over 100 people head of me in rankings and still found it worth it to fly the extra bit. This year I have some time off in November and will fly to one of the supper destinations. I will get to see a place I have never seen and earn some extra miles. I am the person this contest is aimed at. I will not win but I buy some extra flights.
Aug 11, 2019, 8:38 am
#23
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
Speaking to target audiences...... and for those of you who may have missed this when @yultraveler posted this on May 8, 2015 in the thread Earn Your Wings - Fourth Edition
Even though Ian Di Tullio left AC, this is still a fascinating bit of insight into the strategy behind EYW.
p.s. if you're wondering, he left AC, went to QR and is now a VP at Accor in Paris
Even though Ian Di Tullio left AC, this is still a fascinating bit of insight into the strategy behind EYW.
I found this talk on YouTube by Ian Di Tullio, Air Canada's Director of Loyalty, describing their perspective on Earn Your Wings. He goes in details about their creative process and what's to come; quite interesting. He also mentions that their ROI for the first two EYW was 560% with 156 millions bonus AE points awarded.
Earn your Wings: Objective Based Gamified Promotional Design
Earn your Wings: Objective Based Gamified Promotional Design
p.s. if you're wondering, he left AC, went to QR and is now a VP at Accor in Paris
Aug 11, 2019, 8:57 am
#24
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: yyz
Programs: status-free
Posts: 565
Canopus deals quite well with the "if you do win" scenario (and how it's mostly uncertain).
If you don't win, it's almost certainly not worth doing extra trips specifically for the extra aeroplan points, although you can probably break even or make a small profit by tweaking already-planned flying. For example, in EYW 2018, if I visited Vancouver from St. John's, I could replace a direct-ish flight with yyt-yhz-yul-yyz-yxu-yyz-yeg-yyc-yvr-ycd-yvr, pay about $500 more, and earn an extra $380 worth of points. The real payoff would be if the extra 7-8 segments and $400 AQD got me over some threshold for higher status and/or eupgrades.
If you don't win, it's almost certainly not worth doing extra trips specifically for the extra aeroplan points, although you can probably break even or make a small profit by tweaking already-planned flying. For example, in EYW 2018, if I visited Vancouver from St. John's, I could replace a direct-ish flight with yyt-yhz-yul-yyz-yxu-yyz-yeg-yyc-yvr-ycd-yvr, pay about $500 more, and earn an extra $380 worth of points. The real payoff would be if the extra 7-8 segments and $400 AQD got me over some threshold for higher status and/or eupgrades.
Aug 11, 2019, 9:04 am
#25
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Deep River, Ontario
Programs: AC SE/1MM, Bonvoy Ambassador/Lifetime Titanium, ALL Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 236
What about when you aim for top 10 and then the herd ties and ....... ok, I will stop now
Edit - for the record, still worth it.
Last edited by chriscol1; Aug 11, 2019 at 9:27 am
Aug 13, 2019, 1:38 am
#26
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,331
I'm giving the cowgorithm some much-needed performance optimizations. My goal is to be able to construct a 9-day itinerary in 10 minutes.
We shaved off about 15% of the runtime tonight.
We shaved off about 15% of the runtime tonight.
Aug 13, 2019, 5:41 am
#27
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE100K, AC-3MM, Marriott- LT Titanium, SPG RIP
Posts: 2,958
Aug 13, 2019, 9:29 am
#28
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Join Date: Sep 2012
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Posts: 44,331
Aug 13, 2019, 10:46 am
#29
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: YOW
Programs: AC-SE100K, AC-3MM, Marriott- LT Titanium, SPG RIP
Posts: 2,958
LOL-- I was merely referring to your (and others on here with the skill) ability to build these algorithms to build your itineraries for efficiency (or whatever other criteria you require)...Those of us who cannot build these either need 1) more time and/or 2) more money or 3) both.
Aug 13, 2019, 11:00 am
#30
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
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Posts: 44,331
LOL-- I was merely referring to your (and others on here with the skill) ability to build these algorithms to build your itineraries for efficiency (or whatever other criteria you require)...Those of us who cannot build these either need 1) more time and/or 2) more money or 3) both.
But I know a certain top 10 contender who continues to beat me with less money and less tiring routing. Because he has more time. Maybe money too, but it's the time that really matters. If I did two business weeks instead of one, I bet I could double my wing count for only 20-30% more money.