Need advice for upping my AQD in 2019
 

Hey all, hoping I can get some advice here. Im trying to hit SE by the end of the year on AQS/AQD. I work a fly in/fly out job with a route between YQM/YYZ/YQT. I've just hit 76 AQS and ~13.5K AQD. I counted and worked the math for the remainder of my runs (7) for the year and while I will hit 104 AQS I will only reach about 16.5 AQD. I fly flex generally, company pays for the flights so I can't be overtly greedy, sometimes I get premium economy if I book too late as its the same price or cheaper. The problem is that I only accrue about 210$ worth of AQD for each direction (93 + 120). Is there anyway to optimize given my circumstances? Would another leg actually in my itinerary actually add any meaningful AQD? Do I have to do a specific AQD run to make this happen? Is it even worth the push for SE over E75?

If adding another segment affected your AQD, it would be negative, since it would be the same fare but with more fees subtracted.

The only way is going to be another trip, but I'm not sure SE over E75K is worth $3500.

Curious. What would be your max $$ investment to make the jump?

When AC added AQD it was, unfortunately, designed to box out people like yourself; Canadians flying a lot of short domestic segments, not a lot of spend. Well, some other categories of flyers too, but anyway.

You can up your AQD by buying more tickets or buying LMUs, but I wouldn't be spending $3500 either if that was me. Especially with no International travel.

Given that AC upsells from E75 to SE for around that amount...

But regardless, I personally think it's worth it. Only because I've experienced both worlds at great length.

I've never had to think about it, because I have no issue hitting the requirement.

Because of how many Aeroplan redemptions I make, the IKK, YQ waiver, and now change fee waiver probably save me ~3 thousand per year, but that's because I spend 1-1.5 million miles per year.

I value the other perks at maybe $2000.

So I would value them at ~$5000, but that doesn't mean you should.

It would probably be worth it with a lot of international travel. In my experience no co-pay on eUps and Concierge when dealing with lots of messed up international connections helps get a lot of that $3500 back pretty quickly.

For flying back and forth on short flights between Canadian cities like the OP ... the incremental value is a lot less IMO.

I'll agree with that in general.
For me, I do a ton of transcons and internationals. But moreso transcons nowadays. Makes a difference being an SE.

Although, I feel like employees have been acknowledging me completely unsolicited, but I'm pretty sure it's due to the MM part.

Thanks everyone. I was looking back and it appears I made a large error in my forward calculation. The AQD for the ticket I was calculating from appears to have been on a sale fare. I believe if I walk the line between booking last minute and just far enough in advance to be reasonable I should be able to eek past the $20K AQD threshold and into SE. Considering cashing in 85,000 Aeroplan points for a $1K AC gift card (Currently on promotion) for an AQD run if I need to push over the edge. Next year I'm going to have to pay more attention, lots to learn still.

LMU also counts as AQD. If you get a decent LMU price and are on a flight where being in PE / J can make a difference it isn't a bad way to get a bit more either.