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 11, 2020, 6:33 am
#46
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: YQB
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 2,139
I fly a lot of semi-expensive short haul flights, like YQB-YYZ-PHL-YYZ-YQB, which is about 1500 miles. I often pay close to $1,000 for those. Looks like I will now be earning about 6000 miles for those flights (3x multiplier if I book Flex/Comfort + 3x multiplier for my E75k status). Not sure if all those miles will be SQM or what but I'm pleased about this.
Aug 11, 2020, 6:36 am
#47
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Vancouver
Programs: AC SE100K 1MM, FB Platinum, Bonvoy Platinum Elite, IHG Gold Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,601
Aug 11, 2020, 6:37 am
#48
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: YYZ/LHR/SFO/SIN
Programs: AC SE100K
Posts: 282
Interesting that AQS (or SQS) requirement for SE100K has gone up from 95 to 100 segments. I always thought that the number 95 represented something like ~47 weeks of round-trip flights for someone who commutes weekly between home and office with the exception of a few weeks' holiday. I wonder how many folks this change affects.
Agree that I don't see much for SE100K.
Agree that I don't see much for SE100K.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Jul 29, 2021 at 9:41 pm Reason: Edit to reflect thread move
Aug 11, 2020, 6:40 am
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,861
Award flights on AC metal able to access signature lounges at YVR and YYZ now?
Last edited by Adam Smith; Jun 22, 2021 at 4:30 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same user
Aug 11, 2020, 6:43 am
#50
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,718
Looks like crap to me. The program will certainly be "more rewarding" for AC, but I expect most of us will be worse off by a good deal. Glad I didn't load up on points when they were selling them a few weeks ago.
P.S. Will "more rewarding" replace "enhanced" in the AC FT lexicon?
Are you talking about the recent mileage sales or Aimia and AC's general attempts to increase Aeroplan's business? The outcome was what you expected, but if the former, your rationale was wrong wrong. Selling a few billion miles sounds like a lot, but when there are probably close to a couple hundred billion outstanding, it's a drop in the bucket. Especially considering that AC has been issuing a lot fewer Aeroplan miles for flying this year.
What is it with these freaking metal cards? I hate the Amex one.
I'm pretty annoyed that they're implementing all of the negative aspects right away, but this being one of the few things that I expect to be good for me, will take months or even a year or more.
Mileage runs for the sake of earning points (as opposed to elite status) have been dead for years.
As for revenue-based, it's not just UA; DL and AA do the same. And even airlines that have still been doing mileage by fare class have often had better alignment between spend and RDMs by having more levels to the charts.
They've definitely killed IKK. The 50% off voucher is nice, but with so few of them, it will be hard to get anywhere near as much value.
That's an overly broad statement and I don't agree. If you want things like upgrades or concierge service, OZ isn't going to do anything for you.
P.S. Will "more rewarding" replace "enhanced" in the AC FT lexicon?
What is it with these freaking metal cards? I hate the Amex one.
I'm pretty annoyed that they're implementing all of the negative aspects right away, but this being one of the few things that I expect to be good for me, will take months or even a year or more.
As for revenue-based, it's not just UA; DL and AA do the same. And even airlines that have still been doing mileage by fare class have often had better alignment between spend and RDMs by having more levels to the charts.
That's an overly broad statement and I don't agree. If you want things like upgrades or concierge service, OZ isn't going to do anything for you.
Aug 11, 2020, 6:43 am
#51
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 91
Where do members see what the credit card spend entails with respect to AQD?
Aug 11, 2020, 6:47 am
#52
Join Date: Mar 2016
Programs: AC SE
Posts: 1,500
They've definitely killed IKK. The 50% off voucher is nice, but with so few of them, it will be hard to get anywhere near as much value.
Aug 11, 2020, 6:50 am
#53
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,861
Looks like crap to me. The program will certainly be "more rewarding" for AC, but I expect most of us will be worse off by a good deal. Glad I didn't load up on points when they were selling them a few weeks ago.
P.S. Will "more rewarding" replace "enhanced" in the AC FT lexicon?
[...]
As for revenue-based, it's not just UA; DL and AA do the same. And even airlines that have still been doing mileage by fare class have often had better alignment between spend and RDMs by having more levels to the charts.
P.S. Will "more rewarding" replace "enhanced" in the AC FT lexicon?
[...]
As for revenue-based, it's not just UA; DL and AA do the same. And even airlines that have still been doing mileage by fare class have often had better alignment between spend and RDMs by having more levels to the charts.
I was not trying to say that AC is unique for going with a revenue based program. I know the US carriers are as well.
I don't know what that guy is talking about. I don't see anything about CC and AQD.
Last edited by Adam Smith; Jul 29, 2021 at 9:43 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by same user
Aug 11, 2020, 7:19 am
#54
Join Date: Dec 2014
Programs: AC, AS, BA Silver/OW Sapphire, DL, SQ/*A Silver, Bonvoy Gold, HH Gold
Posts: 161
Actually, the chart indicates that partner flights would have a fixed cost, while AC flights would never cost less! The new Aeroplan claim to be doing away with YQ yet seemingly AC metal rewards , not in a low-season) would cost way more than they do now on average.
Aug 11, 2020, 7:20 am
#55
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YOW
Programs: AP, AM
Posts: 132
Has anyone figured out what this means for mini-RTWs with stops / layovers / etc?
I've done a couple in Y over the last few years and the 2 stops / destination / making use of <24h layovers have made for some fantastic trips.
I've done a couple in Y over the last few years and the 2 stops / destination / making use of <24h layovers have made for some fantastic trips.
Aug 11, 2020, 7:27 am
#56
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Toronto, ON, CANADA
Programs: AC SE100K, Marriott Bonvoy LTE
Posts: 1,881
Also, elite status qualification and benefit year is changing to align with the calendar year, starting with 2021. Any status that was extended due to Covid-19 will end by December 31, 2021.
Aug 11, 2020, 7:29 am
#57
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL, OZ, AC, AS, AA, BA, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 19,861
Based on Lucky's post, this still seems possible.
Also, elite status qualification and benefit year is changing to align with the calendar year, starting with 2021. Any status that was extended due to Covid-19 will end by December 31, 2021.
Also, elite status qualification and benefit year is changing to align with the calendar year, starting with 2021. Any status that was extended due to Covid-19 will end by December 31, 2021.
Aug 11, 2020, 7:31 am
#58
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,718
Aug 11, 2020, 7:32 am
#59
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YOW
Programs: AP, AM
Posts: 132
Aug 11, 2020, 7:54 am
#60
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: AC SE 1MM
Posts: 341
Elite Status Boosts?
So in theory if you spend $500k on a Black Credit Card a year you will get all your SQM for Super Elite and you just need to buy 20k worth of tickets?
