From AC's web site;

Getting down to business:
For much of 1999, you heard a great deal about the future of Canada's airline industry. That future, in fact, starts now as we take the necessary steps to provide our customers with enhanced services, including more nonstop flights to more places at competitive prices.

As we plan this expansion, in the short term, we are removing a limited number of duplicated flights at Air Canada, Canadian Airlines and their regional affiliates.

What follows are the practical things you'll need to know if you are booked to travel between January 19 and March 31, 2000.

If you are affected by these changes, your travel agent or the airline will contact you prior to departure.


Our airport agents will be on hand to assist our customers who may not be aware of these changes and to ensure that any modifications to their travel plans are handled as expediently as possible.


Air Canada and Canadian Airlines will accept each other's tickets booked on their own services, and will accommodate customers in the same class of service as originally booked.


At Toronto Pearson airport a frequent shuttle service will be provided free of charge to transfer Air Canada and Canadian Airlines customers directly between Terminal 3 and Terminal 2. Shuttles will be located at the Departures level of both terminals.

Aeroplan� and Canadian Plus�
Effective January 19, 2000, Aeroplan and Canadian Plus members flying on scheduled flights operated by either Air Canada, Canadian Airlines or their regional affiliates will earn miles or points. These will count towards higher membership tier status.


To ensure your miles/points are credited to the right account, be sure to quote your membership number when booking your flight and/or checking in. Eligible flights will be credited to your account 6 to 8 weeks after the flight date. Keep your original boarding passes as well as copies of your ticket receipts until the miles/points appear on your monthly statement.


Please note:
Miles/points can only be earned in one program and cannot be transferred to another program.

Upgrade certificates/stickers are not transferable to the other carrier.

Until further notice, Aeroplan reward redemption is not applicable on Canadian Airlines; Canadian Plus reward redemption is not applicable on Air Canada.
We remain committed to providing all our customers with the highest quality of service. We thank you for your patience as we go through this transition.

This info is now in newspaper ads this morning as well.

Raises a couple of questions:

I suppose that if we are booked on a flight that is now eliminated from the schedule, and "protected" on a flight operated by the other airline, we can't use our upgrades from our original carrier.

And what happens if we are flying out of Toronto where AC and Cdn operate from different terminals, and we were originally booked on "the other" carrier, does it mean we won't have lounge access either? Will elite status count for any reciprocal benefits?

Deleted due to duplication of previous message.

[This message has been edited by Shareholder (edited 01-13-2000).]

"and will accommodate customers in the same class of service as originally booked."

i.e., tough luck on the upgrade. But what if you have AC upgrade cert's? Will they let you choose whether you're protected on a CP flight # operated by AC, or take the AC flight #?

And finally, any guesses on whether using upgrades of either kind, on a flight operated by the other carrier, will be like CP+AA, or AC+UA (you can't use AC cert's on a UA-operated flight, no matter what code's on it)?

andrew


[This message has been edited by Andrew Webber (edited 01-13-2000).]

The Globe & Mail reports the following cancelled flights in the AC/Cdn rationaization and they really don't appear to be as drastic as first reports made out, just 7 of 650 flights daily:

Cdn is eliminatingYYC-YHZ (wonder if its the one I book a FF business class seat on for May?) and YYC-HOU non-stops (AC also flies the route) and it seems all its YYZ-BOS flights. AC seems to have more cuts than Cdn, but they (and AirBC) tend to be shuttles on the YVR-YYC, YYC-YEG corridors and on the YYZ-YUL/YOW runs. The story says these will be in off-peak hours.

On the plus side, AC will be adding non-stops between YEG-YUL (perfect timing for our gatheing in July, eh), YVR-YHZ and YYZ-YYJ (Victoria).

Story closes with reiteration of (but no dates for) AC's plans to fly YYZ-TKO, HKG and MEX; YVR-SHA (Shanghai) and YUL-ROM (Rome) and (MIL) Milan, the latter of which would mean the end of CP's codeshare service with Alitalia.

Not as bad as anticipated, but we'll have to see what awaits us in April when the Spring/Summer sked comes out.

I'm a little surprised they'd cut AC flights in the eastern triangle instead of those horrible F28s. On the other hand, they have to offer Canadian Regional for sale, so perhaps they want to keep its value high during the valuation period.

andrew

Something's not quite right here. It appears that it's the CP shuttles that have been "obliterated."

I just tried to add a segment on to an award ticket for my mother, YOW-YUL, on Sunday, February 20th. However, "CP no longer flies between YOW and YUL on weekends", and on weekdays, they have gone from at least 6 flights in each direction each day, down to 1 flight per day. And of course, this flight is strategically scheduled to make connections essentially impossible.

AC maintains its previous schedule, and adds 6 flights per week. The majority of the 49 AC flights per week are on turbo-props, including the recreational grade Beechcraft airplanes.

Total changes: CP drops from 43 flights per week in each direction, to 5. AC increases from 43 flights per week, to 49.

It's starting to look worse. Much, much worse. In fact, without any evidence to the contrary, it would appear that AC is out to screw CP customers, by making it difficult to get where you want, when you want. It certainly seems that Milton and Co. have no intention of living up to the spirit of their recent claims, or possibly even the letter of them.

[This message has been edited by KenHamer (edited 01-15-2000).]

There goes my theory they're trying to keep CR's value high until after the period for offering for sale.

OTOH, I was always surprised that AC only offered turboprop service between Ottawa and Montreal.

I agree for the most part that they're trying to screw CP, but if AC could only justify DH8 with a regional airline for YOW-YUL, while CP was flying F28 jets, maybe there really _is_ not the demand for them. OTOOH, I can't believe there was never demand for a few Business Class seats to Montreal! (ignoring the current merger).

Anybody know why there weren't any 319s or even RJs on the route for AC?

Thanks!
andrew

It's faster to drive from Ottawa to Montreal!

There may be one or two on flights that come non-stop to Ottawa from YYC, YVR or YEG and go on to YUL. The AC service that used to be advertised as "direct" service to YUL did a stop in YOW and then continued on. I suspect the service between the two cities has been considerably downgraded because of closer scrutiny to government (and corporate) travel. As noted, it is almost easier to drive between the two cities, or at least to take the VIA Rail service. When I worked in Ottawa in the 70s, we often did fly down to Montreal for a day of meetings, then fly back, usually on DC9s. But when I returned to work on projects in the 80s, the train was the preferred method (and with car and bus, only legitimate means) of transport, and always filled in the club car with government and Bell Canada employees, and consultants.

.

[This message has been edited by transborder (edited 01-17-2000).]

I fly between LGA-YYZ 6-8 times a month on CP/AA. It seems that CP is also beginning to cancel some of their southbound flights. I was told today when I got to the airport that I had been re-booked on an AC flight. Of course Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 are not exactly close together. Having nil status on AC/UA I get to Terminal 1 to discover that their are 100+ people waiting in line in front of me. I had less than 30 minutes to make the flight. An agent walking along the mass of people asked if anyone was going to LGA, clearly my hand shot up. Most of my miles are actually racked up from quarterly flights to Asia and almost monthly flights to Europe. I doubt that any of the AMR bean counters mulling over the possible bailout of CP predicted any ancillary defections to Star due transborder activity. I have also noticed lately that at least in YYZ and YVR many of the Canadian employees seem to have a "I do not really care anymore attitude". I do not know if that is because I am an AAdvantage (PLT) customer versus Canadian Plus. So much for oneworld. One interesting note, the AC agent had no idea of my FF status with AA/CP. She was extremely helpful "welcoming me to Air Canada from Canadian" and walked me to the crew desk at US customs.