Thanks Brain Drain for the excellent summary. It was alomost as good as being there.

DF

LOL :D I almost considered going just to see for myself! :D

thank the lords. I hope they get that up and running soon. This is a huge advantage for me and our organization that go between canada and japan.

^ :)

Hmm. I wonder how a completely revenue based elite system would work? How would they track expenditures on *A carriers, and if they don't (and I can't imagine how they could) then what would be the purpose of an alliance if you can only get "credit" for the revenue you spend on AC? For example, I do a substantial number of transcons in the states with UA and credit AC, but I do virtually all of my international flying with AC. If none of the UA portions counted toward elite status, even though many of them are paid C, then why give AC my international business? Why not stick with one. I'd happily fly AC across the US, but I can't, and there are many other places AC doesn't fly. Hence the notion of an alliance. I can't see how a *completely* revenue based model would work since my overall revenue is divided among at least three *A airlines (out of necessity) and thus might be under the bar for a revenue model but is substantial when totaled up.

Not that I remember.


I don't think so and it's not in my notes.

I was sitting at the other end of the table and only got to meet him very briefly near the end.

A lot of excellent info was shared. Sitting beside exAC was very insightful. Overall, an excellent ending to a very interesting day. The food was delicious and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Very tasty, but a little under-cooked.

:D

The issue AC (and AP) has with this now is their computer systems - they have no way to match revenue to individual aeroplan numbers. Going to a revenue-based tier model would mean updating their systems, and hopefully that update would include linking up with other *A carriers to capture similar data.

While it wasn't discussed specifically, I'm quite confident that AC understands that this would be an important part of a revenue-based tier model.

I concur - neither issue was discussed.

Here are my notes from the DO today on topics Braindrain hasn't already covered or where I captured additional info:

1. Bridging for RJ's in Edmonton.

A group was just commissioned to work on rolling this out - the first meeting is next Monday. One of the big issues is the Skycheck product - how will they collect bags from 70+ pax at the end of the bridge, get them down into the cargo bay, and do the process in reverse at the destination, and who will do all that work? All the appropraite adapters are in place, however. Bridging for RJ's is also coming to YYC and YWG.

2. The Pass Products

Braindrain's notes said the new passes would be out in October, but my notes say that "nothing new will be out before October", which is when, presumably, the IBM technology refresh project will be complete. A question was asked about passes from cities like Sudbury ("beyond markets", in Charlie's words), and Charlie replied that they know the demand is there, and that it will be looked at "at some point". They seemed to think a long-haul pass will be available in the next 6-12 months. They also talked about the "unlimited travel" pass they have been testing, where the holder gets unlimited travel on AC for a certain period of time. They "are committed to this product" as they feel it drives both loyalty and customer satisfaction

3. Aeroplan Partner Offers

Braindrain mentioned that we all agreed that instant tier status with hotel chains was the most valuable partner benefit they could offer. They told us they would try to add this back in for 2006.

4. Family Aeroplan Accounts

AC indicated that they are looking into doing this, but once again their technology doesn't allow it. It also presents some issues around things like Q-miles, status, etc. The window for looking at this is the next few years.

5. Revenue-based tier status

A most interesting discussion. What exactly was said was that AC would like to be completely "value" based in 3 years time (I wrote it down verbatim :D ). After some discussion, it was mentioned that granting SE status at $36 in annual revenue would NOT make financial sense to AC.

6. Status recognition on reward tickets

Ben said that he though they could get tier levels printed on reward ticket boarding passes. That surprised me, I didn't think they could, but I got the impression that was a take-away for them. Did I mis-read that, anyone?

7. Fleet

The RJ-705's start arriving May 27th. In addition to the specs Braindrain posted, the floors have also been lowered and there are 2 lavs. In AC's words, it will be "the most comfortable plane Bombardier has ever produced". The bar is pretty low there, but you got the feeling AC is pretty excited about these aircraft.

The Embreaer's start arriving August 1.

The 319/320/321 retrofit will be done at a rate of 1 plane every 5-6 days.

The new Boeing aircraft will come with Connection By Boeing wireless Internet access, tentatively priced at US$30/flight. Domestically, they are working with Verizon and Bell to develop a 'Net access product as mentioned by Braindrain.

We discussed during a break that the IFE's will not include a "Channel 9" feature to listen to ATC. The system is capable, but the pilots object. There is also an option to see the view from externally-mounted cameras (nose and belly) on your IFE - AC is still going through the option list on these aircraft, so I don't think a final decision is made, but the comment was made that "content" like this is very attractive to AC as it doesn't incur a licencing fee like movies do.

8. Aircraft Grooming

Although it wasn't explicitly said, I got the impression that AC is intentionally not doing anything more than cleaning the lavs in quick-turn situations. It would seem that they have decided it is more important to turn the aircraft in 25-30 minutes than it is to vacuum the cabin.

9. AC.com

Will probably be able to view a map of available seats prior to booking at AC.com (no time frame was given AFAIK).

10. MLL Food

The food being served in the YVR Domestic MLL is the new standard for lounges in Canada, and will be rolled out over the next few months.

more in part two...

continued from above...


11. Possible New Routes

A few jokes were made by the AC people about how fast the notes from the meeting would get onto FT, so I'm going to assume the possible new routes aren't confidential. If they are, PM me and I'll edit my post.

AC would like to serve Zurich year-round.
Have looked at YVR-MIA and a seasonal YVR-Paris but they are not economically viable.

YVR-Taipei is coming in 2007, as is one more YVR-??? route that I didn't get the name of....

They are planning to add new service from Western Canada to:

San Diego
Sacramento
San Jose
Phoenix
Las Vegas
Dallas
Burbank

They can't serve Long Beach as it is slot-controlled, and they will not be serving John Wayne.

As soon as they can get government approvals, they will operate YUL-Beirut.

They woould like to serve the following cities from YYZ in 2007 and beyond:

Dubai
Tehran
Karachi
Bombay

The old RJ's will also be coming off the Texas routes soon.

12. Fast Track Status

In place at YVR now, and in place during peak hours at YUL although not as seamless as they would like. They want it at YYX badly, but the GTAA doesn't want to give it to them.

13. Evolution of Aeroplan

I thought I would expand on Brandrain's comments. AC has hired Aeroplan to administer the program as well as to "consult" and "make reccommendations" about appropriate tier levels, benefits, etc. but the final decision is up to AC. "That relationship will always continue" <--- AC's words. These decisions are made based on the knowledge that tier members are AC's best customers. A concerted effort is being associate tier status with Air Canada, as opposed to Aeroplan (hence the tier names changing from "Aeroplan Prestige/Elite/SE to Air Canada Prestige/Elite/SE), and I got the feeling that AC understands that they need to provide their tier customers with a frequent flyer program as opposed to a frequent shopper program.

14. Priority Baggage Handling

John agreed that it is an issue, although at certain stations (such as YVR trans-border) it is getting better and at certain stations it is very good (YVR International). The problem is that priority bags are often not loaded per procedures, particularly at stations where the ground crew are not AC employees. A new system is being rolled out that allows them to track the exact location of each bag in the hold, and thss make sure the priority bags are unloaded first - John feels this will make things significantly better.

15. Carry-On Baggage

Ben asked the group what we thought about the carry-on baggage allowance. We had general agreement that the existing allowance and rules were fine, they just need to be better enforced.

16. Other

One additional note: it was mentioned that agents in the Aeroplan call centres get 9 weeks of training.

17. Impressions

These are not actual notes, rather a couple of impressions I had during the event.

a) Air Canada has some very smart, very thoughtful people working for them in positions of influence.

b) There were several issues we raised (such as cabin grooming and processing of upgrades at the gate) where AC's answer was "we have the systems in place to fix this", or "we have policies that keep that from happening". My impression was that the real truth is that AC knows about the problems and has put policies in place to fix them, but they can't force their unionized employees to follow the proper procedures. Obviously AC can't say that, but my guess is that the problem lies there.

All in all, an excellent day. Thanks to the AC people who attended - your willingness to listen to us is gratifying. Thanks also to Parnel for all the effort he went to organizing the event. To my fellow FT'ers, it was great meeting you and putting so many faces to names.

The Question I Wished I Asked....
 

Attn AC Lurkers:

I wish I had a dollar for all the times a question was answered with some variation of "Our systems won't allow us to do that".

What is the plan and the timeline to get off the legacy systems and into a system that lets you do all the things you want to do?

Fantastic summary Lee, thanks so much. ^ ^

great dinner, really good to put some names to faces and meet a group of people who love flying more than I do. ^

Thanks for the detailed reviews!

AC seems to have some terrific ideas coming out which is encouraging.

I'm still trying to figure out whether the info about their call centre agents having 9 months of training amounts to an admission. :confused:

For some reason, I always assumed that AC had an YVR-TPE route. Consequently, I was surprised to find out, that in fact, they do not and are only starting the service in 2007.

Western Canada (hopefully YVR) - Burbank sounds great to me. I would love to be able to fly into Los Angeles without having to go through LAX. ^

Once again, thanks for taking notes for the rest of us.