Earn Your Wings (EYW) 2019
Nov 4, 2019, 2:12 pm
#511
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYT/YYC/TPE
Programs: AC SE, UA, National Exec Elite, Nexus, GE
Posts: 1,810
Correlation is not causation.
The one that I recall is that YXE-YWG-YQR used to be a valid route.
But outside of EYW, who in their right mind would fly that? It's not like it was priced at a level that made sense even for a MR.
You're not going to run a promotion like this in order to change the routing rules for fares that would only be used for the promotion. You could just not run the promotion and you'd be in the same place.
Even discussing pricing... it's stupid to look at EYW flyers to draw any conclusions, because it doesn't represent real travel. I'll pay $500 to fly YCD-YVR-YYJ during EYW, but if I actually needed to make that trip, I'm not even convinced it would make sense to pay $5 to fly it. It just takes too much time compared to driving.
Off the top of my head, the only reasonable data I could see them gathering would be for MCT, since that's a number that behaves the same for real travel, but we're really pushing it to its limit. If I keep missing valid MCT connections, it probably needs to be raised. If I make every connection, they could experiment with dropping it a few minutes.
The one that I recall is that YXE-YWG-YQR used to be a valid route.
But outside of EYW, who in their right mind would fly that? It's not like it was priced at a level that made sense even for a MR.
You're not going to run a promotion like this in order to change the routing rules for fares that would only be used for the promotion. You could just not run the promotion and you'd be in the same place.
Even discussing pricing... it's stupid to look at EYW flyers to draw any conclusions, because it doesn't represent real travel. I'll pay $500 to fly YCD-YVR-YYJ during EYW, but if I actually needed to make that trip, I'm not even convinced it would make sense to pay $5 to fly it. It just takes too much time compared to driving.
Off the top of my head, the only reasonable data I could see them gathering would be for MCT, since that's a number that behaves the same for real travel, but we're really pushing it to its limit. If I keep missing valid MCT connections, it probably needs to be raised. If I make every connection, they could experiment with dropping it a few minutes.
After EYW5, some learned not to poke the bear and stopped exploiting extreme routing rules during EYW contests. In fact, there aren't too many of those left to be exploited anyway.
You and whoever end up in the top 10 or even top 20 this year likely never flew the extreme routings I referred to, whether this year or in years past. None of your itineraries would be flown by average fliers outside of EYW contests.
Nov 4, 2019, 2:31 pm
#513
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: 44,470
Sorry to break it to you buddy, but your YXE-YWG-YQR is a small fish and the least of AC's concerns, although they still shut down that routing anyhow. They had way bigger fish to fry, which they did.
After EYW5, some learned not to poke the bear and stopped exploiting extreme routing rules during EYW contests. In fact, there aren't too many of those left to be exploited anyway.
You and whoever end up in the top 10 or even top 20 this year likely never flew the extreme routings I referred to, whether this year or in years past. None of your itineraries would be flown by average fliers outside of EYW contests.
After EYW5, some learned not to poke the bear and stopped exploiting extreme routing rules during EYW contests. In fact, there aren't too many of those left to be exploited anyway.
You and whoever end up in the top 10 or even top 20 this year likely never flew the extreme routings I referred to, whether this year or in years past. None of your itineraries would be flown by average fliers outside of EYW contests.
I'm aware of a bunch of stupid routing rules, but they're much more valuable for anything other than EYW.
Back around v4 (maybe v5, but definitely before v6), I explored a more cost-efficient set of itineraries for EYW, which would have used what you describe as "extreme routing rules". My itineraries tend to have 2-3 segments per fare. The other approach was going to be 6-7, or basically one fare per day, with non-stop flying. It significantly reduced the cost per wing, but it also significantly increased the time per wing, to the point that it wasn't worth considering. But even those only made sense in the context of EYW. And you don't run EYW for the purpose of identifying EYW exploits.
There are tons itineraries that exploit stupid fare and routing rules that have existed for years, are hinted at or even explicitly discussed on FT, and continue to exist. It's easy for AC to identify them, and it's easy for them to adjust the fare/routing rules, if they want to.
They don't need EYW for this.
At one point you could route a certain transborder fare via another continent. That's really fun for a general MR, or even if you just like flying (since it was a pretty cheap way of flying over an ocean in J). And they shut it down. But that would never be useful in EYW. A few thousand wings, sure. But the same amount of money would get you more wings in less time if you actually focused on EYW.
If people are flying these things outside of EYW, they can catch them. They don't need EYW.
Nov 4, 2019, 2:31 pm
#514
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: yyz
Programs: status-free
Posts: 565
Unless, of course, I'm doing this all wrong...
Nov 4, 2019, 2:37 pm
#515
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: 44,470
I suspect that's less true this year. So many Wing-y airports can only be reached through specific gateway cities. If I fly YYJ to YXE or YMM or YXH, say, I'm gonna be on a routing fairly similar to any poor schmuck who actually has to fly that route for real life reasons.
Unless, of course, I'm doing this all wrong...
Unless, of course, I'm doing this all wrong...
That's great if you need a few AQM and need to fly YYJ-YMM. It's not so great if you want to earn wings without killing 18 hours, since YVR-YYZ-YYC isn't worth much, compared to just doing YYJ-YYC-YMM.
Nov 4, 2019, 2:51 pm
#516
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Deep River, Ontario
Programs: AC SE/1MM, Bonvoy Ambassador/Lifetime Titanium, ALL Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 236
What the....? How am I in #11 now? (is the update not finished?)
I know it is because my flights from last week are included and a number of other folks' flights from the weekend are not yet included, but still.
I can only say I clearly spoke too soon last week about my high water mark being 14 this time around.
I know it is because my flights from last week are included and a number of other folks' flights from the weekend are not yet included, but still.
I can only say I clearly spoke too soon last week about my high water mark being 14 this time around.
Nov 4, 2019, 2:55 pm
#517
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: 44,470
Has anyone earned the AQD badge yet? It's only 300 wings, but I've had $3k AQD posted from my EYW flying since Thursday or Friday.
Nov 4, 2019, 2:59 pm
#518
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYT/YYC/TPE
Programs: AC SE, UA, National Exec Elite, Nexus, GE
Posts: 1,810
Yes, I'm aware of that, which is why I mentioned that none of you who will end up in the top 10 or even top 20 ever flew the extreme ones I referred to, because y'all maximize wings per day.
Required sample size and effort (from AC's perspective) are significantly different.
There are tons itineraries that exploit stupid fare and routing rules that have existed for years, are hinted at or even explicitly discussed on FT, and continue to exist. It's easy for AC to identify them, and it's easy for them to adjust the fare/routing rules, if they want to.
They don't need EYW for this.
At one point you could route a certain transborder fare via another continent. That's really fun for a general MR, or even if you just like flying (since it was a pretty cheap way of flying over an ocean in J). And they shut it down. But that would never be useful in EYW. A few thousand wings, sure. But the same amount of money would get you more wings in less time if you actually focused on EYW.
If people are flying these things outside of EYW, they can catch them. They don't need EYW.
They don't need EYW for this.
At one point you could route a certain transborder fare via another continent. That's really fun for a general MR, or even if you just like flying (since it was a pretty cheap way of flying over an ocean in J). And they shut it down. But that would never be useful in EYW. A few thousand wings, sure. But the same amount of money would get you more wings in less time if you actually focused on EYW.
If people are flying these things outside of EYW, they can catch them. They don't need EYW.
Nov 4, 2019, 3:22 pm
#519
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, IHG Diamond, National Exec Elite
Posts: 394
Nov 4, 2019, 3:47 pm
#521
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: 44,470
Nov 4, 2019, 3:57 pm
#522
Join Date: May 2013
Location: YYT/YYC/TPE
Programs: AC SE, UA, National Exec Elite, Nexus, GE
Posts: 1,810
And not everyone's wing counts will jump by 300.
Nov 4, 2019, 4:03 pm
#523
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, IHG Diamond, National Exec Elite
Posts: 394
I don’t really believe it though since my credit card I have had for years did. It post on the date they said it would nor has one of my first flights.
Nov 4, 2019, 4:04 pm
#524
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: 44,470
And yes, I know not EVERYONE, but everyone in the top 10, probably top 20, and most of the top 30, if the wing counts track the way I expect.
Nov 4, 2019, 4:11 pm
#525
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SEMM / HH Diamond
Posts: 3,194
Let's get some predictions on the record. What will the wing cutoff numbers be for the top 10, 30, and 50?