The Lev

I believe UA does for their 1K's (equivalent to SE.)

Clipper801

Lev – Thanks for your comments. Like most consumers, I would like to know what I am buying. All travel insurance policies and most premium credit cards offer some form of trip interruption protection. However, they generally only cover additional travel expenses incurred as a result of a covered event, such as accommodation and meal expenses for an involuntary overnight stay caused by inclement weather. These policies do not usually offer any priority re-booking of the interrupted itinerary. They left it to the airlines. SE>E>P have priority access to AC reservation, wait listing and airport standby. AC made it clear that OMW is not a replacement for travel insurance but it is also through mass e-mail distribution, promoting this product to P, E and SE. It is obvious that OMW is offering something that is unavailable and is in addition to standard travel insurance coverage and benefits exclusive to P, E and SE.

As extensively discussed in numerous previous threads, SE’s are not necessarily AC’s most “profitable and desirable” customers. Many achieve SE status through cheap MR’s such as ongoing discussions at this thread. LOL. I am very happy to see AC/AE restricting the SWU to Y/M/U fares. I like to see AC/AE to switch to a scheme that better recognise the different revenue contribution of different fare types.

shore9

I think it is somewhat reasonable to assume that OMW trumps status members. We have speculated this for a few days now, and the fact that an AC lurker has not yet jumped in and clarified any misconceptions about this tells me that there is no misconception to clear up.

Yes I do not think that it is their job to do this, but in the past, they have been pretty quick to straighten these things out, especially when the misconception is negative.

Perhaps, AC themselves did not think this out fully, and they themselves do not know exactly how it will work, which means when it comes to being rebooked it will be done on a first come first serve basis with status members and OMW ticket holders.

Stranger

I cannot imagine that the bulk of SEs are of the mileage run type. Surely SEs are the most profitable customers. And no my wife would not look favorably on me doing MRs.

As to myself, the bulk of my traveling in recent years has been on M/U fares. Although I do try to plan for my traveling in ways such that I avoid routes/destinations that feature higher M/U fares. I am willing to pay $3000 for a round trip to Europe, but not $4000.

margarita girl

In my defense, I buy plenty of Tango Plus tickets from Air Canada at close to $1000 to fly YYZ-ATL, YYZ-CLT, YYZ-ORD. Problem is those tickets typically earn me 1000 status miles round trip. So I would say that I contribute plenty AC's coffers! I just don't get many miles for my dollars spent compared to those who travel overseas.

BarrieTravelGuy

Well, I am just sitting at YYZ US MLL as my YYZ - EWR (AC768) was cancelled due to weather in the NY/NJ area. I was re-booked on the next YYZ - EWR flight which is at 16:15. I asked if it would be possible to fly to LGA instead of EWR on an earlier flight. The concierge told me that all 3 flights departing before the 16:15 EWR flight were not available. However, she told me that if I had of purchased "On my way" they could have had the OMW group put me on the Continental flight to Newark or one of the LGA flights. I asked if she could put me on stand-by for the LGA flights and she said she would do it; however, there were people from the "OMW Bucket" who were ahead of me and the chances were not good. I am not going to complain because they have put me on the next flight to EWR (my intended destination); however, it appears that for choosing a faster way to get there (i.e. Alt destination, other carrier, etc)... the OMW people are higher then SE's. The crappy thing is that if you buy the AC flight credits you can't even get OMW

shore9

So another status benefit watered down.

BarrieTravelGuy

Yea, I would agree. When I was UA 1k they did everything OMW did but for free for 1k customers. Not sure if they still do - I know their Global Services customers still get the hotels, etc for free.

I know weather is not AC's fault but I remember when the concierge would do just about anything to get you on the fastest flight (and I am sure many still will) but in this case OMW was what I would call a scape goat. Now I am sure she was following the rules so I can't blame her - but what are the rules. Since no one at AC will say what they are I will just complain under the assumption I am right

For those of us who travel on the East Coast and get SE status from segments - you can almost buy what at least E gives you. They still sell upgrade certs, you can buy a MLL lounge membership, Executive Class Check-in, OMW for fast service and next available flight. I always went out of my way to fly AC but now that I can basically get 75% of it by purchasing "A la carte" options what's the point. But maybe that is what AC wanted...

Either way - when everything goes to crap because of the economy, fuel, etc... AC will increase what you get with E/SE to try and bring people back. Even though I think of Aeroplan as a "Reward Program" it's bad economic times when they try to bring it back to a "Loyalty Program"...

Sebring

It's only watered down if that's how that category of status passenger was handled before, i.e. routinely put on other airlines. I also find it hard to believe anyone is buying OMW on that route, at this time of year, let alone enough to make a dent in putting status passengers on the next available flight. Maybe in winter...

My understanding is that OMW pax do not have priority over SE in booking next available flight in the case of a cancellation. It's first come, first served. What I want to see, and it will have to wait for winter, I suppose, is what happens when the OMW folk see a storm coming. Will they engage in any pre-emptive double bookings to get their pax on the next available flight?

BarrieTravelGuy

I would think this would be a popular route for people to buy OMW... especially since AC warns you when you book the flight that it might be delayed or cancelled due to problems in that area. Not sure if it still shows that on the website but if you call in they tell you. It will also be interesting come the summer when thunderstorms are in full force.

I was under the impression that SE's were the priority but that was from one person at AC. Who knows what the real answer is. If it's first come - first served not sure how that will work since the system is suppose to be somewhat automated. i.e. if you are at the airport and checked in and your flight is cancelled it should put you on the next available flight. My question is - in AC's IT system - who comes first. OMW or SE/E. I think that is the question that everyone wants an answer to.

Clipper801

Isn’t it ridiculous to be able to fly to Japan from YYZ for a little bit more than half of what you pay to fly to ATL, CLT?

Is it fair to you who achieve Status by segments, in comparison to one who fly the cheap fare a few times to Japan? Someone achieving SE by flying MR’s to Japan (or other long haul trips) using deep discount fare cannot be the “most profitable and desirable” customer of AC. I don’t know how many are there. The fact that so many seem to be interested in cheap MR’s is perhaps an indication. Adding insult to the injury, someone flying on the more expensive C, Z, Y, M and U fares receive exactly the same no. of Status Miles as the one on the cheapo ticket. Should the latter not receive more Status Miles?

We are going way off the topic of this thread. My apologies.

Clipper801

For those who have purchased OMW, this is what the service promises them:

"One call gives you around-the-clock access to a dedicated group of specially trained Air Canada customer service agents who will:
Rebook the first available flight, on Air Canada or another airline***
Arrange complimentary hotel accommodations, car rental or other ground transportation, and meals
In addition, you will get automatic flight information updates sent to you by SMS and email."

The SE line is not maned 24 hours a day. SE may end up queuing to the regular AC reservation line during off hours but on a priority basis. Who will get a better chance to get to an agent faster? Those with OMW or SE? OMW is handled by "specially trained" customer service agent, presumably not your average AC reservation agent.

In any case, your other post exemplies the benefits of having OMW in a covered situation, being in a "super-priority" position amongst affected passengers including those with SE status but have not purchased OMW.

ChrisA330

I think where the watered down part comes into play is likelyhood of clearing a standby list because OMW pax are ahead on the list. SEs would have previously been first for priority standby, now they will not due to OMW. Unfortunatly for standby lists, first come first served doesn't apply as the list is always re-sorted for status etc just like an upgrade list.

Interesting though, that people didn't think this would be successful, but clearly people are buying the service.

Sebring

Well, status passengers have a dedicated phone line to res... and it might be easier in a storm, at night, to get that number than reach the OMW line. As I said, the reason AC doesn't give a hard and fast answer about whether OMW trumps status passengers in rebooking is because they don't have a short-and-sweet answer. Some things will only play out in real-time situations, and then there will be adjustments. One thing is not going to happen. If an SE is at the top of the waiting list to get on the next flight out, he/she is not going to get jumped by an OMW customer.

threepoint

Referring to the article linked in reply #18, it seems as though there will be plenty of topics for us to comment on in the future: "In his quarterly conference call with reporters on Thursday, Montie Brewer, chief executive officer, defended the new optional surcharge and said there are more to come".