Aug 12, 2020, 12:02 am
Last edit by: Adam Smith
You must call in for stopovers, multi-city, or complicated routings, until the new booking system launches in 2021.
I hope others will significantly improve this wiki!
There are four zones: North America (inc Central), South America, Atlantic (including India and Western Russia), Pacific (inc Eastern Russia) and the chart is based which one you start from and which one you end up in, there's ten of these.
Cost is based on distance, which zone pair your flight is in, which class you are flying in.
Partner airlines (again) are a better deal because while Air Canada will calculate cost on a wide ranges but partner airlines are fixed to the bottom of the range.
YQ is eliminated. There's a 39 CAD fee for booking a ticket which contains a flight on a partner airline. Aside from this, there's no incentive any more to book a return flight it seems and every incentive not to.
Note: The partner booking fee is refundable, so it's basically a YQ, rather than a booking fee.
Most flights are devalued. However, the elimination of YQ sweetens this significantly. Within North America, a lot of flights became cheaper, YVR-HNL very significantly. YVR-TYO is much cheaper while YVR-AKL is a little cheaper.
A vastly more powerful booking system is promised for 2021.
There are a lot of new tricks to be learned. https://princeoftravel.com/blog/new-aeroplan-flight-rewards/ is a good start.
Information that is harder to find:
I hope others will significantly improve this wiki!
There are four zones: North America (inc Central), South America, Atlantic (including India and Western Russia), Pacific (inc Eastern Russia) and the chart is based which one you start from and which one you end up in, there's ten of these.
Cost is based on distance, which zone pair your flight is in, which class you are flying in.
Partner airlines (again) are a better deal because while Air Canada will calculate cost on a wide ranges but partner airlines are fixed to the bottom of the range.
YQ is eliminated. There's a 39 CAD fee for booking a ticket which contains a flight on a partner airline. Aside from this, there's no incentive any more to book a return flight it seems and every incentive not to.
Note: The partner booking fee is refundable, so it's basically a YQ, rather than a booking fee.
Most flights are devalued. However, the elimination of YQ sweetens this significantly. Within North America, a lot of flights became cheaper, YVR-HNL very significantly. YVR-TYO is much cheaper while YVR-AKL is a little cheaper.
A vastly more powerful booking system is promised for 2021.
There are a lot of new tricks to be learned. https://princeoftravel.com/blog/new-aeroplan-flight-rewards/ is a good start.
Information that is harder to find:
- SE IKK redemption from the old program can be changed ("within reason") without repricing. Dates, routings, no problem. Origin/destination should be fine. But nothing that would have required a repricing under the old program. This is from Mark Nasr in https://www.facebook.com/pointsmiles...44878252851420
- The "Activity" page only shows you the most recent ~48 transactions. See this post for information on how to get older data.
- A partial refund may not be possible (e.g. if you book RT and outbound flight is cancelled by you or AC, to delete the first flight segment, you have to cancel the entire ticket and rebook the inbound at a potentially higher fare. It seems supervisor can grant exceptions.)
2020 Air Canada Aeroplan Program
Aug 14, 2020, 2:33 pm
#361
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,354
I wonder if departing from YYZ and returning to YTZ would be considered the "origin". I suspect yes given that you can now do booking to YTO, NYC, LON and TYO rather than designating the specific airport.
For canadiancow , instead of going to LAX and Seattle, maybe you could use SJC and MRY.
For canadiancow , instead of going to LAX and Seattle, maybe you could use SJC and MRY.
The companion pass could be interesting, but I can't see myself booking below Latitude. I'll often book PY for me+1 because even UA*G in PY is pretty high on the upgrade list, but I don't want to put a UA*G in Y unless I can confirm immediately.
Aug 14, 2020, 2:48 pm
#362
Join Date: Jan 2001
Programs: AC SEMM
Posts: 724
Even that doesn't work for me because I don't want to use up a nominee slot for it.
The companion pass could be interesting, but I can't see myself booking below Latitude. I'll often book PY for me+1 because even UA*G in PY is pretty high on the upgrade list, but I don't want to put a UA*G in Y unless I can confirm immediately.
The companion pass could be interesting, but I can't see myself booking below Latitude. I'll often book PY for me+1 because even UA*G in PY is pretty high on the upgrade list, but I don't want to put a UA*G in Y unless I can confirm immediately.
Aug 14, 2020, 2:50 pm
#363
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,904
Even that doesn't work for me because I don't want to use up a nominee slot for it.
SJC is co-terminal so it won't work. SEA/LAX-SFO are significantly cheaper than MRY due to the insane competition. A quick check showed 109 for SEA vs 237 for MRY, not that I'd be taking the Y option.
I have US cards. No Canadian card has an even remotely appealing spend multiplier. I get more points per dollar booking AC.com with Chase or US Amex than with a high-end Aeroplan card.
The companion pass could be interesting, but I can't see myself booking below Latitude. I'll often book PY for me+1 because even UA*G in PY is pretty high on the upgrade list, but I don't want to put a UA*G in Y unless I can confirm immediately.
SJC is co-terminal so it won't work. SEA/LAX-SFO are significantly cheaper than MRY due to the insane competition. A quick check showed 109 for SEA vs 237 for MRY, not that I'd be taking the Y option.
I have US cards. No Canadian card has an even remotely appealing spend multiplier. I get more points per dollar booking AC.com with Chase or US Amex than with a high-end Aeroplan card.
The companion pass could be interesting, but I can't see myself booking below Latitude. I'll often book PY for me+1 because even UA*G in PY is pretty high on the upgrade list, but I don't want to put a UA*G in Y unless I can confirm immediately.
Aug 14, 2020, 3:02 pm
#364
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,354
Because PNRs don't work that way.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Jul 29, 2021 at 11:34 pm Reason: Edit to reflect thread move
Aug 14, 2020, 4:35 pm
#365
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: YYC, Canada
Programs: AC 35k
Posts: 1,898
My Diamond status just got swept to P25K, earlier than expected.
Aug 14, 2020, 5:02 pm
#366
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,354
Aug 14, 2020, 6:43 pm
#367
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: AC SE 1MM
Posts: 344
I really fail to see how it is an improvement that I can get 5 PEOPLE (which could be one trip for a family) at rates already 2x in some cases what I pay now as opposed to be able to do that up to 10 times a year. And the guy who has a lot of CC spend basically now has the same value as a Super Elite. It seems to suggest to me they really don't see the same value in SE. Concierge is nice and all.. but...
Aug 14, 2020, 11:01 pm
#368
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,904
I really fail to see how it is an improvement that I can get 5 PEOPLE (which could be one trip for a family) at rates already 2x in some cases what I pay now as opposed to be able to do that up to 10 times a year. And the guy who has a lot of CC spend basically now has the same value as a Super Elite. It seems to suggest to me they really don't see the same value in SE. Concierge is nice and all.. but...
Aug 15, 2020, 8:00 am
#369
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC*SE 2MM
Posts: 16,655
Sure you can - buy a six month unlimited Latitude flight pass and then have some "regular" spending on your credit card. For example a 6-month Ontario Regional Unlimited Lattitude pass costs $21,894. You've hit the $20,000 SQD requirement, it earns you 90,000 SQM and 4,000 bonus SQM on the black card. All you need to do is spend another $28,106 on your card for another 6,000 SQM and voila SE is yours without every setting foot on an aircraft. 
Of course with an unlimited Latitude pass you just might be tempted to use the 48 hour window upgrade to J for free feature and take the odd trip.
Of course with an unlimited Latitude pass you just might be tempted to use the 48 hour window upgrade to J for free feature and take the odd trip.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Jul 29, 2021 at 11:36 pm Reason: Edit to reflect thread move
Aug 15, 2020, 8:43 am
#370
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM SK EBG LATAM BL
Posts: 23,314
So now that YQ is gone from Aeroplan awards - is AC also going to stop collecting fake US taxes on awards? I believe the excuse was Aeroplan was an agent (which is false, because Avios doesnt collect them). Namely wasnt it FACILITY CHARGE and US TRANSPORT TAX?
Aug 15, 2020, 11:13 am
#371
Join Date: Mar 2020
Location: NFA
Programs: Air Canada Super Elite, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 72
I really fail to see how it is an improvement that I can get 5 PEOPLE (which could be one trip for a family) at rates already 2x in some cases what I pay now as opposed to be able to do that up to 10 times a year. And the guy who has a lot of CC spend basically now has the same value as a Super Elite. It seems to suggest to me they really don't see the same value in SE. Concierge is nice and all.. but...
Sure you can - buy a six month unlimited Latitude flight pass and then have some "regular" spending on your credit card. For example a 6-month Ontario Regional Unlimited Lattitude pass costs $21,894. You've hit the $20,000 SQD requirement, it earns you 90,000 SQM and 4,000 bonus SQM on the black card. All you need to do is spend another $28,106 on your card for another 6,000 SQM and voila SE is yours without every setting foot on an aircraft.
Of course with an unlimited Latitude pass you just might be tempted to use the 48 hour window upgrade to J for free feature and take the odd trip.
Of course with an unlimited Latitude pass you just might be tempted to use the 48 hour window upgrade to J for free feature and take the odd trip.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Jul 29, 2021 at 11:38 pm Reason: Edit to reflect thread move
Aug 15, 2020, 11:59 am
#373
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Delta, BC
Posts: 1,646
As far as whether Aeroplan was obligated to collect those fees previously I'm sure if some attorney thought there was a case to make we'd have seen a class-action long ago given the $MILLIONS at stake, so making assertions one way or the other is moot as no one has obtained a court-backed legal precedent. Only thing is, based upon the supposed AC/Aeroplan legal argument - that should have changed as soon as AC took full ownership of Aeroplan.
Aug 15, 2020, 12:01 pm
#374
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC*SE 2MM
Posts: 16,655
Aug 15, 2020, 2:36 pm
#375
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan SE AND 1MM, HHonors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum , L'Accor Platinum
Posts: 9,580
What will be in it for SEs with this new Aeroplan program?
They launched the website a little early eh?
Edit: http://aircanada.com/aeroplan, since I'm feeling so generous after my spiced rum and Coke Zero, which I cannot currently get on board AC flights.
Edit: Chart shows some improvements (distance based within zones, fewer zones, allows something like YYZ-YOW or SFO-YVR to be cheaper). But lots of bad things. I'm unsure about how the new IKK works. I didn't realize it was capped to J. I'm also unsure about YQ on partners, based on wording.
Edit: http://aircanada.com/aeroplan, since I'm feeling so generous after my spiced rum and Coke Zero, which I cannot currently get on board AC flights.
Edit: Chart shows some improvements (distance based within zones, fewer zones, allows something like YYZ-YOW or SFO-YVR to be cheaper). But lots of bad things. I'm unsure about how the new IKK works. I didn't realize it was capped to J. I'm also unsure about YQ on partners, based on wording.
Between your posts, other posts of your thread, the analysis by prince of travel - I can not see that much advantage for SEs with the new program compared to lower tiered passengers, if any (except perhaps continuing to have access to concierge service, longer upgrade windows and more upgrade credits. maybe better point multiplier then lower elite passengers (ie SE get the 4x multiplier)? It seems that IKK ? will be gone (ie the lower range of the point rewards available to SEs when these awards have already been used for a given flight?).