BlondeBomber

Just thought I would start this as the scheduling, pricing, hassles have me flying more often on other airlines (not even Star Alliance) than AC (except in Canada so far).

I would have flown Air Canada to Anchorage Alaska but it would have required an overnight in Vancouver (at least one way), was $6500 in J and the total time commitment was not in my range.

I had an outstanding credit of $200 USD for Delta for a cancelled F booking from last year to CGK so I am going to be flying WestJet for the second time in my life (the first was close to when they were a perky start up) to SEA then DL to ANC (all in one day with total travel time under 8 hours one way and a little more the other, no overnight required). This will be in WS "Premium" to SEA and DL First to ANC, all this for $1275 CAD after my credit was applied. Even without, it would only have been $1550 CAD for front cabin, better connections and minimal travel time.

I would have flown Air Canada might become my refrain this year given the cancellation of direct flights out of Calgary south to PHX and LAX etc. I am not happy about this but while not thrilled to be flying WS and DL, they are OK and I will survive. For the savings, I can have a lot of fancy seafood in Anchorage!

My only concern is the SQD situation for SE this year. I will get to SQM as I am already over 70K but SQD is in the low thousands.

I had a similar problem last year (but didn't need the SQD) so flew UA, ANA and Garuda to Jakarta and Denpasar rather than taking AC to Asia and then someone else from there. I got an all in J fare of $4500 CAD vs AC in the $8500 range. I would have flown Air Canada . . .

wjw

Might be my refrain in the second half of the year for a different reason. Mine is I would have flown Air Canada but the jump in SQD from 75k to Super Elite makes it stop making sense.

I anticipate I’ll be at well over 100k SQM and around $9,000 SQD by the end of summer. As I enter into my busy fall travel season there doesn’t remain much incentive to fly AC as I know I won’t earn $11,000 SQD in that timeframe. However I will likely spend ~$7000, which I might as well spend on SkyTeam airlines so at least I end up with mid-level status on two alliances versus sticking with Air Canada/*A when I’ve already qualified for 75k and know I won’t make SE.

Nitehawk

I would have flown AC a few times this year within Western Canada but...

Western commuter passes (and Alberta energy) passes are like $600 per latitude credit. I flew flair (direct rather than connecting) for $100-$200 last minute. 1/3rd to 1/6th the cost of the latitude pass. And i saved many hours due to no connection.

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YYJ _SLF

*A and AC code sharing are a bit of a joke.

I am flying YYJ - YVR - IST - KGL - IST - YVR - YYJ in June on J revenue flights. AC wanted to force me through YYZ as an extra stop which is a non-starter for me. TK couldn't give me code share connections on AC metal for YYJ - YVR and YVR - YYJ that made sense. I ended up buying TK tickets for the long legs from and to Vancouver and AC tickets for the short legs from and to Victoria.

I should get to SE this year anyway and I was happy to give up the SQD that I can't roll over on my AmEx Reserve card and to get a 125% fare bonus rather than 150% on my SQM to avoid YYZ.

We are going to AKL in 2024. It looks like AC will force me to go YYJ - YVR - SFO - AKL rather than YYJ - YVR - AKL. The extra stop in SFO is a non-starter for me too.

AC's rules about code shares with an extra stop in Canada or the US compared to a direct non-AC *A flights mean that I will book affected travel directly with other *A airlines as long as I will get enough SQD and SQM to get to the Elite level that I want in that year without an extra stop.

I am sure that encouraging this behaviour on my part makes sense to Air Canada's overall revenue model but I am not sure that AC has considered the behavioural aspects that never hit their revenue model.

Changeup2000

I would have flown AC last Xmas from YVR to LAX if AC did not preemptively cancel all flights of that route before a snowstorm. I ended up driving.

I would have flown AC a month ago from YVR to YYC if AC did not preemptively cancel all flights of that route before a snowstorm. I ended up flying Flair.

I would have flown AC two weeks ago from YYZ to YHZ if AC did not preemptively cancel all flights of that route before a snowstorm. I ended up plane spotting from my hotel windows.

I would have flown AC last week from BOS to YYZ if AC did not preemptively cancel all flights of that route before a snowstorm. I ended up flying Porter.

I would have … wait … I guess I see the issue here.

MaxFlying

You should have booked more Destina fares You would have been 3MM by now

gcashin

I would have flown Air Canada on YYC-IAH, YYC-SFO, YYC-LAX, YYC-PSP, or YYC-LAS but.....they cancelled those routes (except some seasonal LAX/LAS) and handed them over to WS.

theshaun

I would have flown Air Canada but I hate the airline and avoid it all costs. It's worked out well for me the last 10 years.

Sean Peever

I would have flown Air Canada, but the Air Canada website kept failing to work on "purchase" with an Air Canada Credit Card, on an Air Canada computer in the Air Canada lounge on the Air Canada Wifi.

RangerNS

The AI has been reading the other thread and decided you are associating with undesirables.

returnoftheyeti

I would have flown AC YUL-SFO, but I tested positive for COVID and could not enter the US.

Adam Smith

I would have flown AC to/from SFO in February, but they eliminated the YYC-SFO route. I ended up not taking the trip because I didn't want to make a connection (neither UA nor WS was flying the route at that time).

I would have flown AC to/from YVR in January, but AC more than doubled the price of the Alberta Energy flight passes, making it much cheaper to buy tickets on other carriers. I would still have flown AC on the return leg, if I hadn't been so annoyed at the fact that I had no frigging eUps because of (a) the stupid July 1 eUp expiry cutoff, (b) the failure to roll over eUps in a timely fashion, and (c) the failure of rollover SQM to trigger threshold eUps. Instead, I spent ~$40 less to fly WS in Y and used one of the seat selection vouchers they give me with my status to get a free [WS's equivalent of a Preferred seat]. Although I was so annoyed with AC around that time that I might have flown WS even if it cost $40 more, just out of spite. Well, no, I'm probably too rational of a financial actor to have done that. But I didn't miss AC J as much as I thought I would - and I flew Lynx on the outbound!

I would have flown AC to/from OGG last week, but AC runs a frigging 7M8 on that route. Instead I bought J on WS and enjoyed their slightly better version of the Super Diamond seat for 6 hours each way.

Bartolo

Destina — that’s a real trip down memory lane.

rankourabu

I would have flown AC home on March 19th 2020 from PTP, but they canceled the flight leaving everyone stranded on the island.

Luckily got out on the last AF flight off the island to MiA on AFKL points since fares were $1000+

I wonder what ever happened to that guy that insisted on staying put and catching ACs next flight two days later which of course never came.

AC was later forgiven when they refuneed the ticket in vouchers 3 times in 2020.

expert7700

would have flown AC to/thru DXB on 6 one ways in the past 3 months.
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AC is such a premium product that they can demand 450k Aeroplan points per person 1 way . The dinky little startup partner (Emirates) was less than 25% of the cost (85k-110k points). Felt uneasy knowing the EK planes were not ETOPS certified. On most of these we had to settle for 4 engines and sit upstairs. Had to hang out and order in onboard bars pouring $200/bottle liquor. Hard to get a good sleep on full width pods without the foot coffin/cubbies. ​​​​​​

Would have flown AC's longhaul from BKK 4x but gave up 2 of those due to a cancellation due to no spare plane or crew during irrops on North America the day before. A couple inches of snow -- in Canada. Then a pesky NORAD missile test cited for a 12hr delay. That could have been a neat airshow. Had to fly BR flights, and was lonely: no crew or nonrevs to fill the empty mini J cabins.
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Would have flown AC transborder on a one say nonstop YYZ-LAS (777 widebody to LAS) recently, but AC gate agent felt empowered to bend the 15min gate deadline, by offloading me 10min early. I got to enjoy lots of extra time with Global Entry officer and pay for my own hotel in YYZ. I enjoyed a 1am wakeup by the concierge who finally looked at the details, confirmed the gate closed the flight early, and offered a hotel after denying it 4hrs earlier.earlier