WaytoomuchEurope

Well stated, Cow. You’ve pegged one of my big frustrations with the new program. I’m one of the idiots that uses points largely for domestic travel for myself and family/friends but I actually don’t think I’ll do it anymore. I literally haven’t seen a single domestic reward that made me think “oh that’s good value”. And I’ve looked at 4 or 5 dozen options at this point.

Jasper2009

I agree that reward pricing within NA is distinctly unimpressive - especially when it comes to NA PLH J awards. And based on the several hours of searching I have done, AC's claim that the mileage cost will only exceed the published bands <10% of the time seems like complete bogus. And finding NA J award availability at the "saver level" definitely seems much harder.

However, it's not that hard to find some attractive awards.

E.g. I just did a quick search for May 5 and figured I'd try the furthest destination (YYT).

YVR-YUL-YYT (incl. widebody flight YVR-YUL): 35000 miles o/w in J
with SE status and a co-branded credit card: probably closer to 30000 miles
apply a 50% priority award: ~15000 miles

That's not bad at all IMO.

But yeah, a SE who mainly used to redeem miles for travel within NA (whether Y or J), the old IKK system was MUCH better.

canadiancow

Under the old system, a 25K could have booked that for 25k points and no YQ. My dad could have booked it for 25k points with some YQ.

If my 4 priority rewards save me 60k points per year, that's an insane devaluation for SEs. Not that I'd consider using mine in North America.

Jasper2009

My main point was that ~30k miles for someone with a co-branded CC isn't much worse than 25k miles + YQ (and may actually offer good value for an elite member redeeming a priority reward).

But yes, I tend to agree. The new "priority rewards" system may work well for solo travellers who mainly redeem for int'l J and have with a lot of flexibility. For those with families, less flexibility and a focus on NA awards, the new system sucks.

robsaw

For churning purposes and WB, does AMEX consider the old Aeroplan+ card to be a "previous Aeroplan card" when applying for any of the new Aeroplan AMEX cards?

BenSenise

according to the prince of travel, there's a discount for having a card, any card, but the difference between core and premium is very small.

https://princeoftravel.com/blog/new-...erred-pricing/

YOWgary

>Excellent article Cow.

Agreed, solid analysis Scott.

>Too many similar themed sites seem to have an "Only express mild disappointments." editorial policy.

I and other writers have had a tough time striking this balance. I want to be able to provide solid analysis of the facts, and sometimes that analysis is "[airline] has simply done a bad job of [thing]". When I wrote my initial review of the newly-announced Aeroplan program back in the summer, I took a "some parts of this are weak, other parts show some promise" approach and immediately heard from readers saying they thought I was being too soft on AC.

...problem is, the better access I have to information direct from the source, especially when I'm trying to get answers or clarification on a minute detail of the program, I need [airline] to be willing to talk to me, and thus far, when I ask neutral-to-positive questions of an airline, I get an immediate and detailed response, and when I ask any question that could even be construed as critical, I don't even receive a "no comment". AC aren't the only ones doing this, but their track record on the above is 100% in both directions.

I'm not trying to throw any other writer under the bus here, my point is that it's a difficult balance to strike, when having better access to information leaves you better able to inform your audience. I've chosen to criticize when I feel it's warranted - always with a solid explanation of why - but every time I do, I recognize I may be damaging my ability to get more access to better information.

Mods - I really hope you'll leave this here, the point is not to discuss 'life as a travel blogger' but "here's one of the processes involved in getting information about the new Aeroplan program".

aznfreak007

it is normal that the new program does not include any baggage allowance despite that with the old program the allowance is included? it seems that when the first flight is Air Canada, the baggage allowance is zero despite the over water leg is a star carrier? (standard reward) ex: 1st domestic leg to YYZ then onto a EVA flight to TPE and another flight to final destination?

canadiancow

This was brought up at the do last night, but Mark Nasr and Scott O'Leary have a 90 minute video where they answer some questions.

(FT seems to be hiding the link when I do it normally)

I found the following points interesting:
1. US credit card definitely coming sometime in 2021
2. November 9 is 60% of what they wanted to launch. The other 40% is still coming. (for example, the new booking/change engine for rewards)
3. Two or three exciting partner announcements coming within the next 3 months.
4. Definitely expect elite/card preferred pricing to change. Expect better discounts for higher tier elites, more premium cards, high usage on cards, etc. Increased differentiation between tiers. Basically, if you're at the top end of status or cards, don't bother booking anything now.
5. Award search calendar is coming before end of year. It's built, it's coded, they're just tuning the queries.
6. For any changes to redeemed SE IKKs, they will honor the old price. So everyone who made speculative bookings should be happy. I even just cancelled one because I didn't need that trip any more.
7. How the next year plays out will affect how they tweak status qualification, but they will definitely not require the currently published criteria.
8. With rollover SQM, 60% of elite members would be one status tier higher

Bohemian1

Thanks for this. I will give it a watch.

But this statement alone is potentially very useful advice.

nexusCFX

I wonder if we can expect competitive offerings here given the different markets? The now-discontinued TD US Aeroplan card definitely wasn't, and any super premium card won't be very competitive if the benefit is still "MLL access" instead of MLL membership, considering the United Club card gives you a full UC membership that works at *A partner lounges.

But I guess that depends on whether the hope is to get more people wanting to fly AC, maybe connecting via Canada to elsewhere, or if it's just a token offering for people who frequently cross the border and have US banking.

mikeycanuk

Not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things but indicative of how cheap AC is. I'm not getting the Diamond bonus for E store shopping from purchases BEFORE the switch. Classy.

krayZpaving

On the branded credit cards / family integration of Aeroplan. My wife has an Aeroplan-branded credit card. I don't. Our Aeroplan accounts are linked. Do I automatically get the "benefits" of her card when booking award tickets or does it only apply if I get a "secondary" credit card on her account?

bcnfish

I wanted to check how AC is now pricing I and X availability to see if those are at fixed levels. Results are below, one conclusion I can make is that AC has a very unique definition of "predictable pricing".

All flights in the data have both X and I availability.

• YYZ-YVR I rate fluctuated between 25,900 - 53,000
• YYZ-YVR SE discount for J fluctuated between 11% and 26%
• Last minute I seats come at a premium now, YYZ-FRA for 3 days out is 26% more than for I seats months out

EdmFlyBoi

They definitely need to have something that indicates the variable miles required over a defined period of time. At present it is a bit of a shot in the dark unless you are needing flights on certain days. I mostly look at a period of time and historically picked travel dates based on availability. I (like I assume many others) will now pick travel dates based on miles required for the the award ticket. Not being able to presently see this is a big negative.