Oh, I think it is a debacle. I bought a ticket on AirCanada.com on air canada flights YOW-YYZ-SFO on July 22. The flights did not post and when I put in the missing credit request by phone, it was actually rejected after 2 weeks. The only thing I can think of is that I got an operational upgrade YYZ-SFO so if they tried to validate me on the flight, they will not find me in Y since i am in J. It is now 4.5 weeks and still no points in sight.

How come they could do all of this before with no problem and now there must be thousands of people out there who have been waiting for weeks to get points that AC didn't post in the first place? I ajree with Snoopyo, debacle is the right word.

I think the did not use to check for the class specifically before nor reject if you are not in the same class as ticketed.

What I suspect is that the new SW forgot to test the case for operational upgrade or maybe the agent did something a little non-standard to get the flight out. When I did a cert upgrade, the miles posted fine. I spent 3 calls and about 2 hours chasing this up beginning of August and the best they can tell me is that it was rejected since I was not found travelling in the class of my ticket. Yup, I was not in Y but sitting in front since they oversold the flight.

But even flights that are cert upgraded sometimes don't post. It happens occasionally and in the past it could be fixed with one quick phone call.

Not to beat a dead horse but help me understand AC/APs thinking in this particular business decision?

Based on the responses that several individuals here on FT, AC/AP is backed up at least 2 months in verifying flights. Clearly, they either have assigned very few individuals to this task OR it is very labour intensive process. Either way, this costs $$$

Now lets take it a step further. What percentage of missing flight credit requests are actually from individuals trying to milk the system vs individuals with a legitimate claim? Although I am sure that AC/AP will not provide those figures to us, I suspect that the vast majority of these requests are valid with these individuals rightly deserving these miles, regardless of whether they be status or non-status miles.

So the question is, how is it financially viable to integrate such an approach given the costs associated with this validation protocol?

The only way that it would be financially beneficial to AC/AP is if amount of money saved by not having to assign these credits is greater than the labour required to process missing post requests. Given the rather meagre percentage of my own flights which have posted this year and the assumption that there is a major proportion of fliers who pay little attention to whether their flights post (or fail to retain tickets stubs, etc), I suspect that this amount is not insignificant. You also have to factor in potential cost savings for individuals who fail to attain status privledges rightlyfully earned or cert thresholds because of the delay/failure to post.

Not to be a conspiracy theorist but anyone with any sort of high-tech background could easily develop a program to track such posts, regardless of differences in class fares, COS bonuses, etc. The only reason for them not to do this is if it is in their own financial interest.

STAR confirmation is a different procedure from AC's own flights. I can understand the length it takes to confirm STAR missing credits, since the other airline must confirm details of the flight and also ensure the miles were not claimed into another program. With AC's own missing credits, this should be a simple procedure of confirming travel -- i.e. boarding pass -- and original res details.

By the way, if you are missing credits for 2/3 of your flights, see if your AP name is identical to the way you write your name in the reservations.

Apparently name variations can be a cause of posting delay.

I've never had any delay of more than a few days in getting any AC or *A flight posted.

Oh yeah, that's right! I'd forgotten about the name debacle with which I'd been snagged myself. However, I prefer to think of that as more of a calamity than a debacle.

But YLU FF's point is well taken. The * confirmation is a different (and it seems complicated) process, but shouldn't they have waited until it was working before they implemented it? On the bright side, the crediting of full J COS bonus for pass upgrades was a glitch that worked in our favour for three years. I trust the credit checking doesn;t take that long to fix.

But don't the same rules apply? For arguments sake, lets assume that 75% of missing post requests are legitimate with 25% coming from people trying to milk the system or from individuals unaware that their fare class was ineligible for points. What is the cost to *A members and their respective programs to process each of these requests compared to the cost of developing a streamlined process such that they don't have to deal with the 75% of requests which are legitimate?

Given the sophistication of software design today (have you ever watched the video games your kids are playing?!?), you could easily reduce this latter number to almost 0%. So why aren't they doing this? Incompetence? Possibly.

Or is it possible that there is a significant cost savings? Once again, I don't have exact numbers, but from what I gather from other FTers, aeropesos cost AC in the range of 2-3 cents/mile. That's a cost savings of $+60-90 CAD one way on a TransAt flight from YUL or YYZ which doesn't post. Even if it's only 1 cent per mile, that is still a significant savings to airlines which already are battling with high overheads and fuel cost. On a flight to Australasia? ...you do the math.

True, there is the potential damage to AC/APs reputation which might arise from public outcry. But aside from FTers (which is a very small, biased sample population), what percentage of the public actually pay attention to their posts, let alone make their complaint public? And perhaps more importantly, what is the alternative for the dissatisfied customer who still wants to be part of a FF programs?

And I don't buy the argument that this is a *A issue. I fly UA, US, LH, BMI and SAS on a regular basis and would say that about +95% of my flights post within two business days. Clearly the name isn't an issue with these airlines. And I realize I may be somewhat of an anomoly but I'm clearly not the only individual who regularly has to chase after segs which have failed to post.

As I said before, I'm not trying to raise a consiracy theory. Actually, I am largely happy with AC/AP. I think it is the best airline in NA with the possible exception of CO. They offer *G status at the lowest mileage level of any airline, have the nicest lounges in NA and I can usually score regional tickets to pretty much anywhere in the Northeast for 15,000 aeropesos provided I book well in advance. Throw in the odd upgrade on the 777 and I'm a happy camper :)

But I still say there has got to be a significant economic incentive in this for them or they would be more proactive at seeking a more speedy resolution.

I am totally exasperated with the posting issues. I spend more times calling Aeroplan than actual time on the plane. Ridiculous! I got home awhile ago from a two week trip in the US, Canada, and Mexico, and I had four segments out of twelve not post.

Also, I love how the fares are skyrocketing.... Wife had a business trip in TO @ $1,002 for tango plus fare. Yoi!

DWM
AC E *G
UA PE *G

This would seem logical but it is not my experience this year. In fact most of my flights are with other carriers and these have all posted within a few days. However about half a dozen flights on Air Canada from two trips taken in May have not posted yet and I was told it will be another month as they must check that I have not claimed them in another program even though I sent my original boarding passes and electronic ticket to AP.

I agree with the poster who likes AC and the MLLs, but every day those miles don't post I get closer to switching my business to Air France so as a loyalty program it's beginning to break down for me. And if I have a good experience there who knows when I'll be back.

Pulled the plug on AC today
 

My AC flights from May have still not posted so today I purchased my first flights in several years on Air France. This really hurts with the fall promos, but I guess if they can't post the base miles I wouldn't get the bonuses anyway. This also means no hope now of reaching SE this year, so my focus from now to December will be getting FB Platinum and with luck I'll do it. Since I travel with a team, this means something like 20 inter-continentals in J lost to Air Canada and about another dozen lost to other *A carriers. Maybe AC should ditch AP and start their own frequent flyer program if their goal is to generate loyalty. ;)

Whooowhoo!!! The flight posted! 500 aeropesos :rolleyes:
For the record, it took 10 weeks. Now I wonder whether my AC*E bonus will post.

Finally called Aeroplan on credit missing for a flight in July. Agent immediately found the flight, told me "posting was rejected because the flight was not properly closed..."

Will adjust. I wonder whether I'll get the extra certs, when, and for which year...