Burj

Um...this is great...unless of course all your *A miles are with US...

I would get it if they offered to give you the miles with AC's program only...

BUT why would they offer to give you miles with UA's program but NOT US's program?

keithguy

I wouldn't go that far. Other airlines that have done this (e.g. AA) at least allowed the customer to keep the tickets if they wanted. Here, AC is still not owning up to its mistake and really not giving much of an 'option'.

For those who did not ticket on AC ticket stock, I'd like to see how AC plans to refund those...

tcook052

A better option that any had been given up until now. Isn't something better than nothing?

Burj

Um...not to be too cynical...but isn't this a pretty classical negotiating tactic?

First take unilateral action that is questionable...then offer some little token and people consider that as better than nothing...

The logic fault is that this buys into THEIR argument that you have no choice but take their crumbs, or take NOTHING.

But who are they to decide what the options are?

view

Well, this is clever offer by Air Canada to make at this stage, think they can get out of this stink by suddenly playing "nice", and everyone seems to be buying it as well.

Remember, AC is still getting its way, i.e. the tickets are not honoured. So they'll pay you off with a couple of miles, do you really feel like you got what you paid for?

No thanks, AC.

tcook052

Full status miles and a full refund is "some little token"? FWIW, I was very much against AC's unilateral action cancelling and refunding some of these unflown tickets but it is MHO that they are at least making the attempt to correct that oversight and offer some alternatives. Now, if you'd prefer to wage war in some small claims court or take nothing as a matter of principle that is of course up to you.

Jaimito Cartero

Full status miles only for *A segments, and only on AC or UA. Not exactly full in my eyes.

It's too bad that they didn't make this offer weeks ago, instead of being bullies, leaving people stranded, and after many people had made other connecting flights and non-refundable hotel arrangements. It's not like they didn't know that they had hundreds or thousands of these tickets out there.

view

Exactly, Air Canada has already left a sour taste in many mouths by the way they have behaved in this matter, and in that regard this solution is, in lack of a better word; half-assed.

Burj

Well if they are going to cancel our ticket they HAVE to give us a full refund. They can't very well cancel our tickets AND keep our money.

So what they are offering are full status miles, WITH AC or UA only. Well how much do miles really cost AC? Granted AC can't afford to give EVERYONE a bunch of status miles...but the number of people who bought these tickets compared to ALL of AC customers is very very small.

Thus giving us miles doesn't really cost AC very much at all. I mean really how much are miles actually worth?

Note that US lets people BUY their way to status for not much money...something like $600 for CP?

My point being that while status miles might seem like a great thing to us, it doesn't cost AC that much...

Having said all this, for people who were not inclined to fight this, then yes this is getting something where before they would get nothing.

mtacchi

Well, I think the offer is fair.

They will get you to Mexico if you truely want to go.

and they will give you status miles for the entire journey.

or just give you the miles and your money back.

Look, I am like the biggest AC pain in the A*s, but you have to admit
they offered what 99% of the people were after.

As for those who have been stranded , or lost $$ for other tickets purchased, I would suspect, they can deal with you on a 1 on 1 basis.

I think everyone should thank Andrew for his work on this.

For folks like me travelling in November, this is beyond the ideal situation. :-:

superscot

Well, I'm afraid that I think the offer is an insult.

Miles only into AC or UA. On my routing that generates (if I read the programme rules correctly) 10212 miles into AC or 15068 into UA. No option to put anything into my BD DC account.

Whichever way I go, that leaves me with orphan miles in a FFP that I don't want to join (no way will I put them into AC anyway - after this fiasco, I will go out of my way never to fly them again - I have only flown 4 segments with them in the last few months, 2 in Y and 2 in C, so I guess that's not too major a loss for them). The number of miles is insuffucient for any reward flight and not even enough to swap through points.com.

And I lose out on the OW miles from my LA segments, not to mention the opportunity of having a full day in SCL. I'll also have to do a bit more flying to maintain my BD *G.

I hope that everybody doesn't roll over and accept these scraps from the master's table.

yyzgigi

I agree that this sucks for those that had the fare canceled earlier and certainly do not defend AC's earlier heavy hand tactics. Hopefully they have learned from this mistake and will either put appropriate controls in place, or be prepared to deal with the consequences.

I'm not sure I would have publicly suggested this option, although I guess AC does get more revenue this way. However, anyone who is concerned about cost of positioning flights and hotels also has a straightforward option to take #2. Seems hard to complain to AC that you are upset about actually having to go from ORD-MEX and therefore they must refund your positioning flights at their expense, as you did buy a ticket from ORD-MEX.

If you have positioning flights and they were good deals with mileage opportunities, I would personally take them and then enjoy an extra day in MEX rather than sitting in a airplane for 48 hours. If you cannot stand sitting in MEX for a few days, maybe there is a good MR from MEX.

SAT Lawyer

Andrew:

(1) Is AC only offering status (elite qualifying) miles, but not redeemable miles?

(2) Does this offer deprive those of us who had flights that were being credited to programs other than AC or UA of those miles. For example, no SkyTeam program miles for an AM flight that was part of the ticket?

Thanks for you response.

I personally want to go to Buenos Aires and Mexico City so I doubt I will take AC up on its offer to modify or rescind our contract. I certainly will not do so if I am not getting both elite qualifying and redeemable miles. Moreover, if I am going to lose the miles for the flights I booked which were operated by carriers other than AC, this offer is a non-starter.

TimothyNoel

Got my call last night at 9:35pm from Carla at the AC Tampa Rate Desk. Was this an avoidance tactic? Carla is soft spoken with an uplifting offer that there is no possible way to say no to. In a "goodwill gesture" AC has kindly refunded my money and awarded the miles to my UA account. There were no other offers. I can call back anytime I like if I have questions. How nice.

I personally was looking forward to my tour of western South America, seeing some new place and trying out different airlines and lounges. Now I am never going to get to see the biggest swimming pool in the world!!!

seanthepilot

Can someone please PM/forward me the contact number at AC for this particular issue. I don't have the telephone registered to my credit card turned on while overseas.

My Aeroplan profile has my current mobile number, but as of yet, no call.