Changeup2000

Not according to this thread: Zoned Boarding (2020 onwards)

And I get personal anecdotes that 25K members still enjoy zone 2 boarding. Granted, the official boarding rule from Air Canada website appears to state otherwise:

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ne.html#/Board with zone 2*:

• when you travel in Premium Economy Class, or in Premium Rouge on an international flight
• when you purchase a Latitude fare as an Aeroplan 75K, 50K, 35K, 25K, or Star Alliance Gold member
• as the Primary or Secondary Cardholder on Aeroplan black credit cards (TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege, CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege, American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card, American Express®* Aeroplan® Business Reserve Card, American Express®* Aeroplan® Corporate Reserve Card)

My take is a missing "or" in the sentence "when you purchase a Latitude fare (or) as an Aeroplan 75K, 50K, 35K, 25K, or Star Alliance Gold member", because all other elite members do not seem to need Latitude fare to qualify for zone 2.

PaulYK

This will no doubt increase applications for the premium credit cards in the short term, by many of those who have tended to meet 35K requirements but don't fly enough to usually make 50K.
But there are a lot of frequent flyers who just about make 35K, who I think will stop spending extra and flying more to make 35K now that there is no lounge access. Many can't justify the high annual fee of the premium credit cards.
I think for new flyers this will also make it harder to get them "addicted" to status and chasing higher levels. I know when I first got status it was the benefit I appreciated the most. I am not sure back then I would have paid the high annual fee for a premium credit card.
This move might as a result backfire a little on Air Canada in terms of revenue from passengers actually flying. But maybe this just proves that revenue from credit cards is as profitable as has been suspected.

asovse1

A lot of care and detail went into writing the FAQ this time around but they also name-dropped the Newark MLL into the last FAQ. Hopefully it's not an error and we have more news on their Terminal A plans soon

Changeup2000

I totally agree with you on this. In the past, I routinely dissuaded people from spending to get 25K, but would say it might be worth it to spend a little bit for 35K. Now, I would most likely say it is not worth it.

The Lev

It says "Members with Aeroplan 50K, 75K and Super Elite Status, plus one additional guest, can now enjoy access to Virgin Australia lounges when departing on a Virgin Australia or Air Canada flight from that airport."

I'm flying VA next week. Will be nice to have this benefit assuming "now" really means as of today.

dr_torch

Yes, I know. And I found it factual as well. But it still made me laugh.

asovse1

i think it's already effective: https://loyaltylobby.com/2022/09/07/...lounge-access/

using google's verbatim search, i can't find the AC press release for that block of text they quoted, though

Changeup2000

I believe it was effective September, IIRC. Cannot find the thread or news here, though.

Adam Smith

Interesting that no one here seemed to have picked up on it, because the VA partnership thread only contained mention of the VA pax's access to MLLs, and someone asked a couple weeks ago whether their AC status would get them into the VA lounges and no one answered.

asovse1

It doesn't help that that VA's lounge eligibility page doesn't mention Aeroplan Elite access either, nor is it mentioned in the Aeroplan Elite Status benefits page

The blog posts that did pick up on it did not link to an official AC source, so it must have been a press release sent out to bloggers only lol

I guess the first official mention we have is with today's news, but it strongly hints that VA lounge access would only work starting with your 2023 benefits, which the blog posts clearly contradict. AC should have marketed this better!!

canadiancow

If you travel in J, it doesn't really change much.

That's been pointed out many times. It's missing a new line and a bullet between "fare" and "as".

dr_torch

Wondering if I should do a segment run for E50K lol.

I have 38 segments and I will fly 3 right now before the end of the year. So that is 41 ... only 9 left.

If only we still have double segments

18wheeler_vanrekt

Delta [must] have enough customers spending enough on their AMEX-branded cards to pay 750k miles one-way for dynamically-priced DeltaOne, so perhaps they have less of a need to incentivize spending on their CCs than AA does?
(I realize Aeroplan pricing sometimes leads to similarly fantastically-priced flights... but I'm US-based so I know Delta better for this practice)

zkzkz

So..... Anyone know any way to get 15k status miles in the next two months?

Asking for a friend......

newfbc

If it were a month ago.. a return in Flex to LHR (or anywhere in EU) would have done it.

Ron.