expert7700

Interesting tidbit in the terms & conditions:
"Altitude Super Elite 100K and Elite 75K Status Members who earn 250,000 Aeroplan Miles during this Offer and registered will receive 25,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles that count toward Million Miles recognition."

I believe someone here is short a similar amount from MM status!

Bohemian1

As many have said, not much here for current 75K / SEs unless you are really close to MM, and care about getting MM right now.

jerry305

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plumber

If they would allow some donated Aeroplan miles to count towards MM, I would donate 100K miles right now!

Donate miles and receive Bonus Altitude Qualifying Miles.From now through April 30, 2020, for every five Aeroplan Miles you donate to a charity fighting the COVID-19 crisis, you’ll receive one Bonus Altitude Qualifying Mile (AQM) – up to a maximum of 25,000 AQM.*
https://www.aeroplan.com/travelathome.do#/

Thanks for the feedback to this comment. I see now that this is of limited help. :/

expert7700

Although Charity donations receive redeemable AQM and status AQM at 5:1rate. But they do not count towards Million Miler cantidate status dashboard.

Now, Credit card partner / shopping portal miles DO count, but only if your activity generates 250,000AQM. Then you get a one time 25k boost towards MM status.
​​​​​​

Bohemian1

That doesn't address what [MENTION=195318]Plumber[/MENTION] was talking about.

@expert7700 beat me to it, but here's the relevant text from the AC Ts&Cs on the donation miles deal (bolding mine):

agjil

All you need to do is transfer 50,000 American Express MR points to Aeroplan and you're set.
You don't need to spend a penny during the promotion period, although this is assuming you have an existing American Express card with at least a 50K MR points balance.
I guess I made a big assumption that most people who are in this hobby collect American Express MR points and usually have big points balances.

Adam Smith

Sorry, yes, I thought you were talking about the 20 credits that came at 70K

The answer is that 20 eUps, especially at the P25K level, probably aren't worth a ton. The number of eUps required depends on the destination and fare class. AC seems to have nuked the detailed chart that showed how distance impacted eUp requirements. The much less useful eUpchart that only shows "starting at" certain numbers of eUps is here: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...calculate.html

If you're used to buying Standard or low Flex fares, those 20 eUps will disappear quickly. If I recall correctly, if the route is >1,500 miles in North America, it will cost you 15 eUps to upgrade low Flex fares, for instance. So one YYZ-YVR flight would consume 75% of your credits. Internationally, 20 credits won't get you much unless you're buying a pretty high fare. If you go to Europe, it's 21 credits to upgrade a one-way in Flex, plus a $500 co-pay, to upgrade to business class.

Even if you find a fare you like, and that you have credits for, you're also subject to the booking window. Other than Latitude or PE Flexible fares, upgrades can only be requested a certain number of days in advance, and that window opens earlier the higher your status. With P25K, you're almost at the bottom of the heap.

If you're waitlisted for an upgrade (your window has opened and you've requested an upgrade but it wasn't available at that time), you're also behind all of the people with higher status (who are in the same cabin) for any upgrades that do become available. So if one seat becomes available, but there's an SE or 50K on the list ahead of you, no upgrade.

Historically, some routes have been much more difficult to upgrade than others. Typically routes with more business traffic and status passengers are more difficult to upgrade, as are those where most J seats are sold. When the J cabin on YVR/YYC-YYZ is half paid and half SEs, you're going to have trouble getting an upgrade as a 25K. Same with, say, YVR-SYD, where upgrades and points redemptions are scarce. But you might have better luck with, say, YYZ-FLL or YVR-BNE.

I don't want to get you too down on the eUps, because you may be able to use them for something cool, but just beware that it's not going to be easy

Adam Smith

Yes, if flying, points collecting, etc is a hobby, it's easy for people to have 50K MR and transfer those over. But most people in the country are not hobbyists, have never churned credit cards, etc. They usually have a few different credit cards, which often include store-branded cards that came with some promotion (e.g. discount on first purchase, interest-free financing for first purchase, etc), but they have one or two primary cards and just use those for day-to-day spend, which is where their points balances primarily come from.

I'm sure there are a few hundred hobbyists, or maybe even a few thousand, who could easily transfer over 50K MR, but how many of them will? P25K isn't exactly very valuable, and those folks tend to manage and value their points very carefully. If they were planning to book tickets through Aeroplan soon, sure, the added incentive might make it worthwhile to transfer over the points, but otherwise it's probably pretty marginal.

etgohomeok

Thank you for the explanation! I definitely won't count on getting anything magical out of the eUps then haha.

Reviewing the chart I also just realized that YQ are waived on award redemptions within NA, which is actually huge for me; with my regular flying habits that will almost certainly save me at least a few hundred dollars. Plus the 2 MLL passes and priority boarding are great.

expert7700

Unsurprisingly, AC gives themselves an unreasonable amount of time to post. I think this means AQD, for example, will post too late for ​​​​​​"early status recognition".

1. The Bonus Altitude Qualifying Miles (AQM), bonus eUpgrade Credits and Status adjustments (250,000 level) will all be processed by August 31, 2020
   
2. The Bonus Altitude Qualifying Dollars (AQD) will be posted by December 15, 2020.

Adam Smith

If you have a bunch of Aeroplan miles, the YQ waiver can definitely be quite valuable.

I don't disagree on principle, but realistically, early status recognition seems unlikely to be very important this year.

lcohen999

So just so I understand this

If I move 250,000 MR miles over to AE. I will get an extra 25,000 MM miles extra eupgrades, etc?

I can reduce that with credit card signup bonuses and what not too.

While I am still 400k away from 2MM, I lost a step this year. Given I am keeping the points with me...I am wondering if this is a good idea or not

Adam Smith

Yes. 4,500 AQM, 20 eUps, $1K AQD, 29.5K Aeroplan miles, 25K MM miles.

True, although how many CC sign-up bonuses are going to post by May 31st?

lcohen999

That is true...I have more than enough MR to move over without breaking a sweat

jeffypop75

Sounds like they are making a distinction between AQM and Aeroplan miles when it comes to the bonus. I would guess they will credit 4500 AQM, then deduct 4500 non-AQM Aeroplan miles.

The applicable Bonus Altitude Qualifying Miles (AQM) will be credited by August 2020 to the Eligible Participants Altitude account who earned the required number of Aeroplan Miles and registered for this Offer. Since these specific Bonus Altitude Qualifying Miles (AQM) are not Aeroplan Miles, an adjustment will be made to your Aeroplan account when the Bonus Altitude Qualifying Miles (AQM) are credited.