Taupo:

Don't give up on the $36,000 for SE issue.

I don't believe that AC has spent a lot of time talking about this issue and the loud NO you heard (my ear is still ringing as I was sitting next to Charlie) was from one voice amongst many. Even here on FT the thread about 'how much do you spend' has not come up with a lot of discussion about what we think suitable levels would be. I asked the question straight out in that thread and got only a few replies.

If the news on the other thread is correct and up to date (average spend P-$3700, E-$11,400, SE-$30,000) then your $36,000 is above average. The things that need to be clarified are:
1. Are the averages derived from spending on just AC, or is it all Star carriers?
2. How current are the figures?
3. Your 36k was that just yours or does it include the whole family?
4. Does AC value ANY of our travels on Star carriers in their calculation of Tier benefits, or are they just looking at spending on AC?
5. What do FT members see as a reasonable proposal for dollar spending to reach tier status?
6. How does the loud NO, fit with the UA scheme of granting 1K up-front for a guaranteed $25,000us spend?
7.............and more????

Taupo.... don't let it go just yet.

The $36,000 was for me. My family travelled on a mix of rev and award tix. My wife spent enough to get P lite, I bought one M fare to London for my daughter, bought a J ticket for my mother to visit us from AKL. My family spend would be around $45,000.

NZ has a specification that x amount of flights/points have to be on NZ metal in order to qulaify for top tier status.

If and when I make the time, I could always do a few cheap MRs on UA to get myself to SE.

At YYZ ,AC uses the annex or east terminal.It is not a bridge.You disembark down the stairs of the aircraft to a covered area where the carryons are delivered.At T1 we don't even have that.All the Jazz aircraft have outdoor carryon/skycheck facilities.

As exAC notes,please do not let the revenue issue drop.

Typically I have always arrived and departed at the annex area where one walks outside.
On one occaison we went to a regular gate with a bridge, the bridge was brought to the a/c. The gate was over in the corner where I went to meet SH and missed him. I cannot remember the number but can picture it very clearly.

As to the rev, I said my piece, they said their piece, I will wait for someone from AC to contact me. I am not very good at begging and groveling to anyone except my wife.

as mentioned in the other thread I didn't come up with the numbers. i just found them in an aeroplan info guide published nov 2004. it didn't specify how fresh the info was. i apologize if the info is ultimately proven to be incorrect.

Was this a public document, and if so can you please provide a link if it is available online?

No problem NSE.

I think that we all really appreciated this as a starting point or benchmark. I would opine that if we had a room full of FF and took a poll we might have come close to those numbers ourselves, but your post made us think and that is good.

But, like all stats and numbers knowing the methodology of the data collection and the age of the sample is critically important, so I for one will wait for someone else to challenge their veracity.

The date of November of this last year shows that they are very recent.

AC's elderly B763's are well overdue for refurbrishment. Did anyone from AC elaborate on why they chose an IFE that is not yet certified (March 2006 with potential for delays) vs. one that is already certified (proven product that reliability and quality can be referenced) and available on the shelf for sale and immediate installation? It may be second best but the B763's are old aeroplanes that AC will be phasing out from first line service with the delivery of the new B777's and B787's by 2010? Do they really need the "best" for something that they are only going to keep for just another 4-5 years?

Thanks to all organizers and contributors, really interesting information and loooots of knowledge! A real pleasure to readand belong to this forum

My thanks to Parnel and the AC team as well. Sorry to have missed drinks and dinner, but a 14-day-old newborn at home took priority!

All has been covered. Highlights for me were a very good Q&A session that had minimal *****ing but significant information sharing from the AC team. The AC team came across as very competent and friendly, makes me very hopeful for the future. Lunch was tasty, I had the beef. Hangar tour was great: the Delta plane seemed so much smaller when gutted. Simulator was great - taupo impressed us all with his skill when he went first. Captain Ed had the sim set to "impossible to crash no matter how clumsy" mode when I was flying.

All in all, a great day, and thanks again to all.

The only IFE system that meets that criteria are the current systems. Even if a product is certified in other countries it still needs to be tested on that aircraft type in Canada.

Westjet ran into this with the LiveTV product that was already certified in the USA, but not certified for B737's anywhere. It set them back nearly a year to get the ducks in a row and even then when they go to install it in there 737-800's there is another fresh certification required.

Although this is conjecture , I am very sure I saw a couple of Jazz CRJ hooked up to the bridges in YWG. They seemed to have an extension added on to them (that this is for all the bridges at YWG I don't know) perhaps Airbus320 would know more!

My recollection is that electronic upgrade certificates are one of the (many) things their antiquated reservation system can not currently handle, but it sounded like they will eventually head in that direction, although no time line was given. I suspect paper will be around for quite awhile.

Thank you for the enlightenment. While I appreciate that this is obviously a Canadian government requirment, common sense baffled me the value add of incurring the time and costs for a Canadian certification when competent authorities in other countries, e.g., U.S., EU, Australia had already certified the product for installation on B763's registered in their respective countries.

I think the feedback AC got from this will result, eventually, some sooner than others, in changes from many of the suggestions that were brought up by both AC and ourselves. These are the results that make for a successful event and we have not only AC but also FT to thank with its online meeting capacity that makes this a pretty good community. The hits to date indicate how well this event was anticipated and received by all concerned. Thank you to all involved at AC for the superb planning that went into the day and particularly to Ben Smith for his foresight and support.