1. I LOVE the concierge service.
2. I LOVE instant KK.

That said, what can the concierge really do if I am not on an eligible fare for upgrades or changes and need help. Am I supposed to phone them every time I fly and say "can you please help me?" Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of the concierge but they can't go out of there way to help every SE who they probably don't know. Yes, your best chance is using the ones you know at your home base but how many times can you bug them with requests until you start to become the call they dread?

I am still struggling with how to keep instant KK so I can burn up my miles. I'm still mulling this over with Mrs Cattle as she understands what that benefit is http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Loosing this would suck but is it the reason that I should spend all my time and money to try and get SE again? That depends. Do I think I ever stand a chance of using these miles in my account again? If no, then go for it and burn every last mile I have in the next 2 years. If yes, then I can do what happened with my FRA/VIE trip and book 6 months in advance and make sure I know when I want to go somewhere and book early like regular people do.

I guess a lot will depend on how much dancing AE does in the next week or two. If not I will go to best routings, not carriers and buy just enough qualifying flights to get Elite and then Tango all the way.....

Don't forget I earn the same 50% miles for the Tango fares as with higher fares now so there is not incentive to keep paying higher fares.

Those of you SEs talking about qualifying for Elite and then burning off your points on award travel, why not do it the other way round?

Start using your points (or do non-AC flying) now and do the 35K for Elite later in the year -- maybe you'll get a 62K for SE or other targetted promo!

And I still worry that AC will follow BA's lead and jack up redemption prices significantly, e.g. 100K for J to LHR, 150K for F (on partners), perhaps with a little sweetener of a reduction to 50K for Y.

andrew

Or get points in another program that offering great deals, UA 3X deal is so much better than AC at the moment, hard to resist. Also E is almost as good as SE so wait for a E promotion.

Although I have been very disappointed with the deterioration of Air Canada, I have remained posative about Aeroplan S/E benefits. The real benefits of S/E are upgrades, instant KK and the concierge service. The concierge service has been diminished due to lack of staff and now the upgrades have been attacked by RD. That leaves instant KK. The problem is, if they took instant KK away from the Elites - even though it cost them nothing - why would I feel comfortable that they would not take it away from S/Es?

This is a serious dilema. What RD did this year to the S/Es has destroyed any trust I had in AC and AP. I am very seriously considering switching programs. The problem, however, is that I would have to burn up a lot of miles (1M+) in the next year before I lost my status and access to instant KK. Any suggestions?

With the way AC and AP treat their staff and loyal customers, it is hard to understand why anyone would invest in them.

Heads should roll!

If you wait long enough RD will reduce the requirement for SE again--maybe to 50,000 so that he can show he has a lot of SE's who are supporting AC. Of course at that level instant KKs etc will not be needed and the concierges will be running the MLL as some do already. Maybe we should get together and redeem points enmasse so that when the instant KKs are gone we will have no regrets!!!