YOWgary

As we all get our heads around the new variable pricing model, I thought it might be useful to have a thread similar to "Post Your LMU Offer", so we can share data points and start to get a sense of just how "dynamic" the pricing will be.

I would suggest posting as follows:

DATE, ORIGIN AND DESTINATION
AC Status and any credit cards that offer preferred pricing

- Route, including connections
- Operating carrier(s)
- Dates
- Cost In Points Econ / PE / BIZ
- Fees etc.
- Priority Reward, if applicable

So, for example:

Jan 11, 2021 - YYZ-CPH
75K, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite

YYZ - LHR - CPH
Air Canada + SAS
40K / 64.9K / 70K + $114
Priority 20K / 32.5K / 70K

YYZ - SFO - CPH
Air Canada + SAS
55K / 70K / 85K + $122
Priority 27.5K / 30K / 70K


Nov 23, 2020 - YOW - YVR
75K, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite
Air Canada
24K / 64.4K / 29.8K for YOW-YYZ-YVR, all biz, E75 and 789, dep 16:00 arr 19:45
37.1K / na / 59.6K for YOW-YYZ-YVR, biz on YOW-YYZ only, dep 12:00
38.5K / 68.1K / 107.8K for YOW-YYZ-YVR, all biz, E75 and 789, dep 06:00 arr 10:12

Jumper Jack

YVR-PVG NOVEMBER 29, 2020.
Air Canada(E50K + Visa Infinity)

​​​​199K Points + $55 Economy


Yes you read that right.
BTW AC's own reward chart guided an upper range of 65K

YOWgary

Apr 05, 2021 - YVR - TYO
75K, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite

YVR-NRT, Air Canada direct
27.4 / 33.6 / 45.3 + $53
Priority 13.7 / 16.8 / 45.3 + $53

YVR-YYZ-HND, Air Canada
171.9 / 77 / 51.8
Priority 86 / 38.5 / 51.8 + $57
(no typos, econ is higher)

YVR-YYC-NRT, Air Canada
31.4 / 33.6 / 79.7 + $53



Feb 15, 2021 - YYZ-HKG
YVR-HKG, Air Canada direct
36.1 / 49.8 / 69 + $55

YYZ-YVR-HKG, Air Canada
36.9 / 49.8 / 116.4 + $55

YYZ-YOW-YVR-HKG, Air Canada
161.8 / 136.3 / 457.4 + $55

YYZ-YUL-YVR-HKG, Air Canada
37.1 / 55.7 / 141.5 + $55

- on those last two, flying YYZ-YOW-YVR or YYZ-YUL-YVR, twenty minutes apart, more than doubles the cost of the award
- not sure how the taxes and fees are identical with an extra airport in the mix


Mon, Feb 15 - IST-HKG
IST - HKG, TK Direct
na / na / 60K + $75

IST-YYZ-HKG, TK + AC
60 / 80 / 100 + $80

IST-ZRH-HKG, TK + LX
50 / na / 80 + $98

IST-AMS-YYZ-HKG, TK + AC + AC
na / na / 100 + $80



Oct 20, 2021 - YVR-PER
YVR-NRT-PER, Air Canada / ANA
60 / 75 / 85 + $144
Priority 30 / 37.5 / 85 + $144


Oct 20, 2021 - YOW-SYD
YOW-YVR-SYD, Air Canada
na / na / 615,000 + $88

YOW-YWG-YVR-SYD, Air Canada
56.5 / 57.1 / 541,800 + $88

YOW-YYZ-HND-SYD, AC+AC+ANA
57.3 / 90 / 117.6 + $148

YOW-YYZ-HND-SYD, AC+AC+ANA, leaving YOW 1 hour earlier than above
56.5 / 57.1 / 119.1 + $148

That's 615,000 points, where AC's published chart lists NA-Pac, <11,000 miles, at 85K-200K max.

philelite

Here's something interesting...

Dec 28 - Jan 4 YVR-PVR
Business class (Jetz)

Under old program booked: 60k + $170

New program: $155 for tax/fees

Points required for Business - Lowest:
No status: 56,000
25k + TD Infinite card: 46,600
100K + CIBC Aerogold Business: 46,100
100K + No CC: 47,100

Credit card discount is more substantial than 100k status?

canadiancow

For reference, as SE with no CC (yet), it's 200k.

jugaadkabaap

Reposting here.

Based on mine and some other folks exploration before AP went live - Summary is as follows.

• significant difference between No Status and P25K - 10-30%
• P25 Vs E35, E50, SE100 - around 5-10% at max
• VI (Core) provides another 1-2 % gains around 200-250 miles on some samples
• VIP (Premium) gives another small gain
• E35 with VIP Card was Exactly same as E50 + VI card (no change in say 5 scenarios) - Also very similar to SE100 with a VI Card

Again, our exploration was limited wrt E75 & SE100 as we don't have a lot of super elites.

For travel hackers aka AP collectors, 100K AP (without AQS, AQM, AQD) will continue to give P25K status as a continued benefit. So pretty good deal for locking discounted award pricing.

Also, SkipLagging can provide significant arbitrage gains.

pentiumvi

No status, with CC 199.2k

No status, w/ CC, 47.1K


Based on these 2 limited DPs, it seems like CC discount outweighs any kind of status?

YOWgary

From the wild disparities we're already seeing, the only way to get any sense of the effect of status or CC is to compare the exact same flights and dates.

For example, flying YYZ-YUL-YVR-HKG rather than YYZ-YOW-YVR-HKG, departing and arriving at exactly the same dates and times, can produce massively different results, where one is nearly 3x the other. Point is, introducing ANY disparity between flights skews the data beyond any point of fair comparison.

YYCCL3

I've found a few curiosities where the variable pricing is lower than the base amount. With crappy overnight layovers, though. Sample below:

Dec 13, 2020 YYC-PRG
YYC-YOW-YYZ-FRA-PRG (AC/LH)
33.8/48/53.4 + $150

P25K + CC

jugaadkabaap

My understanding is AC / AP rewards significantly for any kinda association with the program.

So having a CC (mid tier) or P25K status gives you significant gains - its a way for AC to bind the loyalty in all three facets, travel, financial and misc spend (estore)

P25K can be obtained from travel or/and from misc spend (CC + estore or other offline Partners by earning 100K AP points) or holding a cobranded financial product. So a tight association is rewarded by a significant discount in AC award pricing.

Beyond that, the gains are meh at best. (Ie higher status or better credit card or multiple cards).

Do they provide more gains, Yes.

Are the gains significant- Not really

pentiumvi

Would be interesting to see some DPs using the above city pairs/dates from one without status AND w/o CC.

May be a rare find though....

YOWgary

I'm working on this - I'm 75K with a CC, my wife is 35K with no CC, and my parents are FOTSGs. I'm running each search across multiple accounts to compare the differences, I'll have it tomorrow.

jugaadkabaap

Proposal,

We all post same itineraries.

All below are based on E35 + VIP (Premium Card). Sorted from low to high

Peak (Dec 27th, 2020)

1) Domestic YUL - YVR




2) Pacific




3) Atlantic




4) USA



Off Peak (June 8, 2021)
1) Domestic YUL - YVR




2)Pacific



3) Atlantic




4) USA

nomadic.relief

But wouldn't you also need to know the actual cash fare for those same flights to properly compare? I know there will always be debate as to what value someone else sees from a point/mile, but these changes were meant to equalize some of that, so do they actually? A headache all 'round is what I see.

**Wasn't posting this to start a debate, just wondering if cash values of the flights quoted could also be posted.

WannabeSE

Anyone have any ideas how they are going to implement redemptions for First Air? Was wondering if it was possible to get up north still..