BlondeBomber

I am looking at capitalizing on the triple qualifying mileage and any other deals in this post strike time on Air Canada. The media says there will be "incentives" but other than the triple miles on Air Canada flights I have heard nothing. Please post ASAP if you turn up anything.

BlondeBomber

Act fast -- some bookings today only! The lines will be jammed-try booking on the net at their cybersite.

The Air Canada Welcome Back Sale

Incredible savings on departures from Canada plus triple qualifying miles for returns by Sept. 30.
Sample fares (Canadian dollars)

$79 Calgary return from LOS ANGELES
$ 149 return from WINNIPEG
$ 229 return from NEW-YORK/NEWARK
$ 299 return from HONOLULU
$ 399 return from LONDON HEATHROW
$ 599 return from FRANKFURT
$ 899 return from HONG KONG


For more details, call your travel agent or Air Canada at 265-9555 (1-888-AIR-CANADA from other areas). Service for persons who are hearing-impared (TTY): 1-800-361-8071. Make your own reservations through the Cyber Ticket OfficeTM at www.aircanada.ca

For travel completed by September 30th, 1998: 1-day advance purchase and minimum 3-day stay required. Offer cannot be combined with any other sale or offer.

For travel completed after September 30th, 1998: 7-day advance purchase and minimum and saturday night stay are required. For Continental North America destinations, travel must be completed by December 16, 1998. For international destinations, last departure date is December 10, 1998, and travel must be completed by January 9, 1999. Due to regulatory requirements, first travel date may start as late as October 29, 1998. For the Caribbean travel must be completed by December 10, 1998. Tickets must be purchased by Spetember 21, 1998. Tickets are 100% non-refundable. Seats are limited and subject to availability. Day of week, time of day restrictions may apply. Fares may vary depending on date of departure and return. Advance purchase, minimum/maximum stay and other conditions apply. Fares valid at time of printing.

For travel by Sept. 30?--One-day advance purchase. apply to new bookings only. Fares subject to government approval. Tickets must be purchased by September 14, 1998.
go to this site for details: http://www.aircanada.ca/back/sale.html

Rudi

thank you

Rudi

BlondeBomber

I just looked on easysabre and it looks like these fares are also valid with departures from the U.S. I haven't seen any that are good from overseas but it may be that the fares are just being posted.

BlondeBomber

With bonuses and other incentives, I just got myself about 14000 qualifying miles, Super Elite Status, and 35000 Aeroplan miles for $200 US of air travel, including all taxes and airport fees, using these low fares. Besides it will give me two days of travel to California--not bad!

megamiles

Hi Blonde and others,

I just got myself 21,000 qualifying miles + a 10,000 threshold bonus for CAD 429 (about USD $270) for YYZ-LHR. I love Air Canada !!!!

BTW, the fare on travelocity and Air Canada Cyber Office was CAD$399 + taxes totalling CAD$479 but somehow the fare on certain flights on expedia.com was only CAD$429 (while others were showing CAD$479)- I think that Microsoft's site is screwing up - hopefully Air Canada won't demand the difference when I'm at the airport. My ticket has been ticketed, paid-for and confirmed at CAD $429 so I'm not going to worry. BTW, the GST alone on $399 is around $30 even without including all the PFC's and airport charges so this is some discrepancy.

BlondeBomber

Congratulations megamiles. I tried to get some other flights for my mother and brother but by the time they had told me yes, the seats were gone (I haven't tried Canadian but I don't know if they are matching the triple miles). There still are a few good seats out there. The Canada-London and Canada-LAX/SFO were just too good to pass up for the pre-Sept 30 travel. I am still trying to get through on Expedia to do a November booking but have tentatively booked on EasySabre. I have noticed those discrepancies in the past--it seems like they are not charging airport and other fees sometimes.

megamiles

Canadian is matching all the fares (see today's Globe and Mail). However, they are not matching the triple mile offer of AC.

Today is the only day I wish I lived in Calgary - the Calgary-LHR fare is the same as the YYZ-LHR but a lot more miles to Calgary !! and then triple them !!

Expedia.com is very sensitive to the time that you enter as well as airline choices. Unless you try several different departure times or several specific airline choice rather than "All" airlines you don't know if you getting the best price. easysabre seeems more accurate as it display all the flight options for the day (albeit in a not so pretty fashion)

megamiles

my apologies Blonde, Cdn is matching the triple quialifying miles. Here the quotes from the press release:

"passengers travelling between September 14th to September 30th earn triple points for their travel, every one of which counts toward tier status"

For more info - go to www.cdnair.com, click on the strike info link on the first page and then click on press releases.

BlondeBomber

Thanks for the update. Combined with their 5000 point offer to use 4 partners and book a flight before October 15 ( I presume triple is good until Sept 30 only like Air Canada), this could be a real "Plus".
Not only were the Air Canada London fares good from Calgary, but so were the LA and San Francisco fares ($79 Canadian return plus taxes = about $140)which with triple mileage earns 7230 points per round trip (without any bonuses for upgrades that I might use). $280 Canadian has bought me two trips to California and over 14000 in qualifying miles, a companion reward ticket at any fare for anywhere in the world Air Canada flies, an extra 20000 bonus miles and super elite status--I'm not complaining. That is not likely to happen again for a few years.

BlondeBomber

Air Canada has upped the ante in this post-strike period. Bonus miles galore (on qualifying fare flights)for Aeroplan members!

Sept. 1 - Nov. 30 (to be credited Jan. 1999)
all Star Alliance carriers in classes V,H,B,M,Y,S,C,J
1-5 one way flights -- Double Miles (plus triple Sept 15-Sept 30 = 6 times)
6-11 one way flights -- Double or 15,000 Aeroplan miles(whichever is greater)
12 one way flights -- Triple or 30,000 Aeroplan miles(whichever is greater)
13-17 one way flights -- Quadruple or 40000 Aeroplan miles(whichever is greater)
18-23 one way flights --Quadruple or 45,000 Aeroplan miles(whichever is greater)
plus at 20 one way flights 2 economy reward tickets to Caribbean or Hawaii
24 one way flights -- Quadruple or 60,000 Aeroplan miles(whichever is greater)

megamiles

Blonde, you are slightly off - if you get triple by flying during Sept 15-30 and double by the promo - you get 5 time (as they add not multiply) Hence even the quadrupling nets 7 times not 12 times unfortunately. Still, a lot of ff miles. I've been checking - I can't seem to find any H fares as either only the cheaper (BB etc.) or the more expensive J/C seem available so I don't think I'll be able to take advantage of this promo (and I'll stick with the el-cheapo Q fares). Some destination have already sold out and others are limited so I'd encourage y'all to buy tickets to/from Canada soon.

BlondeBomber

Thanks for the info.
The Star Alliance classes the double miles promo is good for (in addition to Air Canada's V,H,B,M,Y,S,C,J; United P,F,C,Y,B,M; SAS C,S,M,B,V,G,Q, Lufthansa F,C,D,H,B,L Varig F,C,Y,M,H and Thai P,J,Y,M,Q. Also my post should read triple miles for 6+ flights.

The way I am getting an extra extra bonus is that I get an effective 100% bonus (10,000 miles) for being Elite for every 10,000 miles starting at 50,000 qualifying miles(and I am now pushing 70,000)-- this is effectively multiplying a triple mileage by 2 = 6 times. The triple miles were most important for Qualifying miles and secondarily for boosting me through a couple of 10000 mile thresholds for 20,000 miles on top of two trips to California for 7200 miles each round trip= roughly 35000 miles.

I am not sure about the double promotion and how it combines with the triple (I think it works out to 4 times not 5 and certainly not 6 as I may have implied). The triple miles on a 500 mile flight gives you a total of 1500 miles for that flight immediately. The double (=500, if a V fare or higher class flight)is added on in January of 1995 for a total of 2000 miles (=4X equivalent). I think this is going to give Air Canada grief as some people will be arguing for multiplying rather than addition (and they may be right legally since it is not clear in the ads). I am happy with all the extra miles as it pushes me into Super Elite pretty quickly, especially since some of the miles were retroactive to September 1 and I just came back from Geneva on a business class ticket the day before the strike. I am only mildly disappointed United's V fares do not apply (they are like our L fares) as I will be flying United in V class over the next little while as well.

BlondeBomber

double is added on in January of 1999 (not 1995--can't travel back in time yet, although these fares seem like something out of the 80s). There are still a few cheap fares to not so popular destinations.