Elite Kits are arriving
Author:
rose
01 6th, 2009 in
xn--9ou.com
edit
A Covering Letter/Folder from Marc Trudeau, VP Marketing for Aéroplan
Membership Card and twoLuggage Tags with straps attached to
A Folder containing Upgrade Certificates (4 SystemWide, 4 NAmerica), MLL Passes (2), and two cards [one outlines benefits for rental cars and other has out-of-country phone numbers to reach the Aeroplan Elite Service Centre]
Elite Guidebook in the form of a three-section, spiral bound manual with storage in the back cover for upgrade certificates, etc.
The overall graphic concept is similar to last year's Membership Card/Luggage Tags, though the colouring has been changed from a black background with white lettering, to a gold background with black lettering. The AC logo this year is white instead of gold.
The cover of the Guide has a photo of the nose of a 767 on the lower part and an outline of the aircraft on the top. It is titled [i.e. the overall theme of the package is] "You're part of the plan". The first section of the Guide is headed "Priority Travel Services", the second section "Rewards and Special Offers", and the third is tabbed "Airport Lounge Access".
The first section, "Working for you" provides basic details of Elite benefits:
Participating carriers; benefits on STAR carriers; access numbers to Elite Centre and AC Res; access to awards; priority waitlisting; preferred seating; priority check-in, standby and boarding privileges [after SEs]; extra checked baggage; priority baggage handing.
The second section, "Designed for you", sets out most of the awards and other partner [hotel and rental car] benefits.
Elites also receive the bonus long-haul economy ticket if they reach the 70K level. This is in addition to receiving 10K in bonus miles. As already noted for SEs, every 10K after reaching 20K brings another 2 upgrade certificates nd after requalifying for Elite [and a 5K bonus] there are 10K bonuses from 40K Q-miles upward. For us, the certificates are NAmerican ones. [Eligible fares remain Y, M, B, H or V class, no reference to T which was added too late for printing.]
Reward Sale includes Hospitality and Executive/Executive First classes within NAmerica [long and short haul] and to the Bahamas and Caribbean. Hospitality class only to all other destinations. There is also the "Buy A Ticket & Claim A Companion Ticket" Reward Sale for both classes of service [based on purchase of a full fare Y or J ticket], but this is not available between HNL-SYD, though it is from NAmerica-SYD [which can include a stopover in HNL].
Free rush delivery, or E-Ticket version, of Award Tickets; no change fee for Award Tickets; Unlimited Gift of Travel are all continued.
Most of the other offers are variants of what EMPRESS already published about SE. There are the CrownePlaza Passport to Privilege benefits found on their special website; Delta Privilege Gold status after three stays at certain periods of they benefit year; Hilton HHonors Silver status, with opton to fast-track to Gold; and Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status. For Marriott and Fairmont, there are extra bonus miles after a certain number of stays, but no elite status offers. Hertz offers free membership in it #1 Club Gold program, but not other rental companies will comp elite status or membership in their programs.
The third section of the Guide, "A Place for you", outlines lounge access details and lists various MLLs and STAR Alliance partner lounges
You can take your chances about AAdvantage finding a partner carrier here. Or that RootsAir is going to even have an upgrade policy. As I have posted elsewhere, if it follows the Virgin Atlantic model, it is not likely to be very generous in this regard, citing the fact that their fares will already be low enough to provide an automatic upgrade into the "next class of service". They may not be inclined to want deeply discounted passengers flying in their front cabins, at least in their initial marketing push.
You just have to realize, the airlines are in the business of filling seats by selling them, not giving them away. The reason we lost the "any fare" upgrade was because there was too high a ratio of L and Q and N class passengers in Business/Excutive. Moving the threshold at least ensured the airlines that they were getting another $100 or so dollars for those upgraded seats.
As for exchanging SystemWides for NAmerican upgrades, call AC and ask.
US Airways has the best tags - a simple belt-like strap. Why can't the other airlines follow their example?
AC rules - only Y, and M
OR
old CP rules - full-fare economy and discounted economy?
Assuming that previous AC rules prevail, under what circumstances does anyone use Elite system-wide upgrade certificates? One would have to purchase Y class fare (I am not sure about M, or T?), which is usually more expensive than the V class fares to overseas destinations that SE can use to upgrade. Do most elites just let system-wides elapse, or can one exchange these for North American upgrade certificates?
Fare details for YJE9
REGULAR EXCURSION SPECIAL FARE FARE
BK CODE
Y -
PENALTY
CANCELLATION ANY TIME PERMITTED.
CHANGES ANY TIME PERMITTED.
RES/TKTG
OUTBOUND FROM YYC TO GVA, SGMTS USING THIS RULE MUST BE CONFIRMED.
MIN STAY 7 DAYS. MEASURED FROM DPTR FROM GATEWAY.
MAX STAY RETURN TRVL MUST COMMENCE NO LATER THAN 6 MONTHS. MEASURED FROM DPTR FROM ORIGIN TO DPTR FROM LAST STOPOVER POINT.
SEASONS
15-28OCT OR 16APR-31MAY. SAME DATES APPLY EACH YEAR. SEASON IS BASED ON DATE OF ORIGIN AND IS DETERMINED BY DATE OF DEPARTURE OF OUTBOUND TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR.
BLACKOUTS
NO BLACKOUT RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
EFF/EXP
TICKET MAY BE ISSUED ON/AFTER 1JAN01.
FLT APPL
NO FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS APPLY.
STOPOVERS
2 FREE STOPOVERS ARE PERMITTED. A STOPOVER OCCURS WHEN THE PASSENGER DOES NOT DEPART AN INTERMEDIATE POINT WITHIN 24 HOURS.
You can find similar fares to other destinations using Travelocity or (sometimes) Expedia if the list isn't too long. I don't know if they offer these direct to AC destinations but they do to add ons like Geneva where you fly AC to Europe and then LH from there.
The flip side, of course, is that if they are strong enough to take abuse, then the extent to which they can fly outside the dimensions of the bag means that they could get caught in something and pull your bag (and maybe you) into whatever caught the tag.
These straps seem to be very impractical. Seems to me that you want a tag that stays quite close to the bag, not one that dangles at some length. Also that you want a strap of considerable strength. The new (?) strap doesn't qualify on the first grounds; and I have no experience to comment on the latter (except as above, re the length and catching). It does seem pretty strong, I must admit, but once those bag guys get hold of it, it will probably become a challenge to see who can pull off the greatest number in a given time period.
Anybody have comments about these tags and how they stand up, and whether they lead to more problems of getting the bag caught because of the strap?
Elites also receive the bonus long-haul economy ticket if they reach the 70K level. This is in addition to receiving 10K in bonus miles.
I am still anxiously awaiting my Elite kit. May be it will come today. In the meantime, I have a question - is the above ticket a replacement for the buy one get one free that I got last year at the 60K level? If so, that is a less valuable reward. Not only does it come after an extra 10K of flying, but it restricts me to the back cabin. It is nice having my company buy a J class ticket to Europe and bringing my wife along with me. On the other hand, from the sounds of it, I can use it on its own, and not in conjunction with a purchased ticket. Is this true?
My last name begin with the letter Q, My AC number begins with 116 and I live in Toronto. I'm sure it will be just a few more days before the rest of the Elite members, who have not received their packages, will receive them...
The new Elite card resembles last year's Super Eilte card won't you say??
catgirl http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
50,000 kit (estimate of SE, E, and P combined) at $5 each by Express post = $250,000 extra expense. Let's start the count down.
[This message has been edited by MoreMiles (edited 02-20-2001).]
On routes where I've used M's, they have been fully refundable and fully changeable without a fee. I don't think anybody buys Y class on those routes; often they cost as much as (or sometimes more than) J class.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out whether or not I want to take advantage of this week's websavers. $200.10 YYG-YHZ and then about 320 YHZ to BOS or EWR. Hmm...
IslandCub, who hasn't been on a plane in at least 10 days...
There are a lot of AA people steamed at the change in upgrade rules on AA: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum71/HTML/002544.html
Just curious, but do the first three number have any significance? As I said above, my card was one of the first issued in 1984, for I have always assumed the initial series of numbers started with "1". Would people be willing to post the first three digits of their Aeroplan numbers and indicate when they joined. And when they received their new kits. This might help us understand seqencing of numbers, and perhaps why some kits did get mailed earlier than others.
118 *** *** since 1995,
last name starts with K
Are they arriving by regular mail or Priority Post?
The answer is no. Aeroplan SystemWides can only be used by Elites from those two "full economy" fares in NAmerica as well as overseas. Cdn+ rules apply until the end of the month on their Blues, of course.
As the SEs all say: "It's certainly incentive to fly those 100K miles to be able to upgrade from those fares..."
And I would think there are plenty of Elites who buy Y and M tickets and thus can use these certificates. Obviously, they are more valuable on international flights than NAmerican ones. In my past days as an Elite, I have managed to use all of those Systemwides because I had bought both business and other trips using full economy fares. On one occasion, a New Years Day 1996 flight back from DEL, I was even able to upgrade two of my colleagues, not just the one officially permitted.
2. North America, and transoceanic (non-Europe) - Y and M (are M's fully changeable or cancellable without penalty).
As far as I know, there are no M fares to non-Europe transoceanic destination. I think M fares are usually non refundable but the costs of the ticket can be used toward future purchases minus the change fee.
3. I have an email message from Aeroplan this past December that these certificates on transPacific trips to Asia are also valid for H2 - can anyone verify that?
There are no H2 fares to Asia, there is however a Y2 fare to HKG. Even if there are, I am sure it's not upgradable unless you are a SE since that is classified as a H fare.
4. Does anyone know if these can be used to upgrade T fares - either within North America, or to overseas?
There are only T fares within North America, no T fares for overseas destination. I would think {guess} that only NA certs would be good for T fares because they are still considered as discounted fares?
5. Finally, does anyone know if Aeroplan would exchange them for North American certificates, if one does not think that one would likely purchase flights with the fare codes to ever use them (as is the case for myself, and my wife, both of us being Elite members)?
I doubt it... it's easier the other way when you live outside of Canada and AC would be willing to exchange the NA ones for system wides but you could ask and see what happens..
My last name begin with the letter Q, My AC number begins with 116 and I live in Toronto. I'm sure it will be just a few more days before the rest of the Elite members, who have not received their packages, will receive them...
The new Elite card resembles last year's Super Eilte card won't you say??
Yes, the Elite desk will exchange the Y/M Int'l upgrades for N American ones, BUT you have to live outside N America.
I was getting tons of these last year, and just mailed them back and got them exchanged for N American (I still have about 10 due to expire end of the month, if anyone's interested).
So you just need to borrow a friends address for a few weeks (you can use mind if you like)...
However, since the middle tier is relatively easy to attain, I might consider going for this status on both AA and AC instead of shooting for SE.
If I recall right, you said you mostly fly full Y or J and you never claim award,if that's the case, I think the value of SE for you is less than for some of us {me, BB...} who a lot of the time do buy V/H fare and upgrade. So I think going for 2 status on 2 airlines might be a good alternative for you.
153-xxx-xxx member since 1992
155-xxx-xxx member since 1987
197-xxx-xxx member since 2000
759-xxx-xxx member since 2000
I'm 153, my last name begins with A. I received my SE kit at least a week ago. My wife (155) received Prestige kit Feb 16.
Canada Post is pretty bad - AC may have mailed at the same time but some kits are stuck in the "system"[?] I wouldn't worry about 9 days though, it should be there when you get back.
Let me try to explain,..
There's 2 slots {or holes}.. put the strap into the first one {the slot/hole facing the outside} and then pull it back up from the second slot, this way the tag should be secure. To put it on your bag, just do it like you would do with the airline regular luggage tags.
I have a pic from the Elite guide last year on how to do it, if you want I can scan it and send it to you..
You guys should have seen me trying to figure out one of those plastic CX tags (ones you pick up at CX check-in) last year. "What's with this slot?" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif
FewMiles..
last name J*******
Still waiting,
When I called them yesterday the agent referred to supervisor who said the kits are being done by an outside company. I imagine this means an eastern bloc contry or somewhere in Antarctica.
WRT the elite packages, I live in a small city, and haven't been an Aeroplan member that long (only a decade or so). On the other hand, my last name begins with C, and I qualified for Elite (well, CP Gold) months and months ago.
Leith
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif
And I thought it was just me!! I remember going through this last year. I finally got them attached, but definitely not the way they were designed to be attached.
[This message has been edited by MD (edited 02-22-2001).]
Canada Post have a "Hold Mail" Service.
Many Canadians wish to have their mail held because they are going on an extended holiday or will be away from their home or their business for a period of time. Customers must complete a "Hold Mail" form which can be obtained from a postal outlet. The completed card, which indicates the period of time that the mail should be held, is sent to the customer's normal delivery office to inform the postal employees to hold the mail. The held mail will be delivered on the "resume service" date indicated on the card. See Hold Mail Service Rates.
a) Consumer (min. 2 wks.) - $3.00/wk
b) Commercial (min. 5 days) - $5.50/day
c) School - $120.00/school/year.
The cover of the Guide has a photo of the nose of a 767 on the lower part and an outline of the aircraft on the top.
I am pretty sure that it is a A321 and not a 767 {assuming that SE guide and E guide are the same} as the outline of the aircraft in the back have "wingtips" and it also signify "part of the plan" as those A321 are coming in later this year. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I live in an apt building, and last year, the Elite package was too large to fit into my mail area in the lobby, so it was left at the local post office in the Shoppers Drug Mart... Well, I'm going to YYZ tomorrow for 9 days and obviously won't be able to pick it up during that time. Any thoughts?
Finnair (AY?) now codeshares the YYZ-LHR service with BA. I wonder if it would be possible to accrue mileage in you AAdvantage account if you were booked on the AY flight number, or if the fact that BA metal operates the flight still subjects you to the archaic BA/AA trans-atlantic policy.
It's probably in tomorrow's mail!
I understand that upgrades is a privilege, not a right, of attaining a certain tier status.
My point is that I am a former Canadian Plus Gold member, and I did like their upgrade features, much more than Aeroplan (at least for middle tier members, although for top tier members, Aeroplan is superior to Canadian Plus - in terms of upgrading anytime, and all upgrade certificates being usable anywhere the airline flies at discounted as well as full fare economy fares).
My points now are:
1) if one can not use the system-wide upgrades, will AC exchange them, if asked, for North American residents (most people on this bulletin board suspect the answer is no, but I suspect that no one has actually asked).
2. in terms of the American Airlines thread, now that the lowest tier and middle tier qualifying levels are matching those with Aeroplan (at least for Canadian residents), one would seriously consider becoming on a recurring basis (once the complementary status ends Feb 2002)a middle tier member, provided there was a domestic Canadian carrier allied to American - if one could say that upgrades were easier than with Air Canada (of course the down side is that one does not get complementary lounge membership with American) - even without taking into account the ability to purchase the upgrade stickers that one can do with most US airlines, and that one was able to do in the past with Canadian.
I wonder if the delay in the kits coming out is due to the manpower of manually fixing all the wrong zone charts.
Since I am at the beginning of the alphabet, they may be sending them out in that fashion. Then again, I have also been an Aeroplan member since 1984, so they may be going out by seniority. Obviously, if one is not in a major city, there will likely to be a few extra days in transit time too. Since the Aeroplan cards don't technically become necessary until March 1st, there are still two weeks to go. No need to panic guys.
I got my SE kit quite early and my last name begins with "Y" and I've only been an Aeroplan member for 2 months.
I think I'll hang on to my CP Gold tags for a few months until I can figure out these ones...
[This message has been edited by NoahVail (edited 02-14-2001).]
1. Europe - Y only - but some Y's are cheaper than others (can someone give me an example of the "economical Y fares", versus the "full Y fares").
2. North America, and transoceanic (non-Europe) - Y and M (are M's fully changeable or cancellable without penalty).
3. I have an email message from Aeroplan this past December that these certificates on transPacific trips to Asia are also valid for H2 - can anyone verify that?
4. Does anyone know if these can be used to upgrade T fares - either within North America, or to overseas?
5. Finally, does anyone know if Aeroplan would exchange them for North American certificates, if one does not think that one would likely purchase flights with the fare codes to ever use them (as is the case for myself, and my wife, both of us being Elite members)?
As Elite I have often used these to upgrade transatlantic flights purchased in Y class. This saves a ton of money.
I've also used them for North American trips. Example: YYZ-MIA-YYZ in M class is about $1300, in J class about $2400. This saves $1100. These certs are very valuable.
If you think AC ones are hard, try figuring out the AA ones.. I still haven't figured it out yet.. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Remember, Cdn's upgrade may have been more generous than AC's, but Cdn is no longer with us. Three guesses why, and one of them just may be their overly generous upgrade policy...
...You just have to realize, the airlines are in the business of filling seats by selling them, not giving them away. The reason we lost the "any fare" upgrade was because there was too high a ratio of L and Q and N class passengers in Business/Excutive
[list] CP did not go under because of their upgrade policy. If this were the case, many successful US carriers would be insolvent.
"giving them away"? L and Q class tickets are not free. IMO they should either allow upgrades from all APEX fares or not. There is little sense in causing so much confusion and using YMBVT etc formula. AC probably wastes more money in staff man-hours administering this than they would lose from people booking these fares. Difference between Q and V fare is not too much.
Right on, Shareholder. With Elite upgrades valued (for me) at about $10,000 per year, I felt very well rewarded.
i think you answered your own question... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
dorian
------------------
The Global Lounge Project (https://www.quickbase.com/db/6vcfnaqu) - open source airline lounge listings
flyers'places (http://www.flyersplaces.com) - restaurant, bar & hotel tips
The Star Alliance RTW Price Chart (http://www.informationlab.com/rtw.htm) - by Dorian
The Star Alliance Gold Comparison Chart (http://members.home.net/deercroft/starall01.html) - by Blondebomber
You're right, the free Y class NA ticket is in fact a replacement for the buy one get one. You can use it on its own, you don't have to use it with a purchased ticket.
There was talk from several SE that from past experience, one can pay the difference between a D and W class ticket and fly in J class for that free ticket.
Chocolate sundaes http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I don't see much likelihood of a "domestic Canadian carrier allied to American" given that AC is (for all practical purposes) the only carrier in Canada. However, that is not an issue for me because I always depart Canada from YYZ and rarely travel between Canadian cities. The ability to purchase upgrade stickers is very attractive, but my experience has been that this is more than offset by reduced opportunity for upgrades on AA. This is because of equipment (MD80s B727s) with very limited numbers of F class seats. The other big factor for me is that AA has no mileage partners that service YYZ-LHR.
However, since the middle tier is relatively easy to attain, I might consider going for this status on both AA and AC instead of shooting for SE.
No sign of the kit down here in NYC, and it doesn't look good since I have an upcoming trip on March 8. Canada Post is always slow on transborder delivery. They really use snails to deliver the mail. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif
As for using the SystemWides only with the more expensive fares, well I am afraid AC is in the business of making money, not giving away free seats. When one can achieve Elite status with two trips to SYD, HKG or DEL on a $1,400 ticket, I can understand their rationale for not wanting to be overly generous to us Elites. CP was being extremely generous with their Ultimate Blacks, and we all know what happened to it. And its SystemWides were flexible with different eligibilities for NAmerican or International. But again, they were not filling their cabin with enough passengers who were paying the higher fares, just with those paying cheaper fares and using easier upgrades.
Those days are over. Ifone wants the benefits of SE, then one will have to fly 100K this year to earn it, and all the liberal benefits which goes with top tier elite. Otherwise, learn to live with what the current program, or join one of the US airline programs that will let you upgrade with your points, if this is your priority.
We'd all like to fly in the front cabin all the time. But we were not all born to the manor, or hired on as VP at a multinational consultancy.
If AC does not hurry up fast enough... they will start losing lots of money sending these kits by Express or Courier posts. They have one week left and Canada Post is known to take up to 1 week processing time for domestic mails.
50,000 kit (estimate of SE, E, and P combined) at $5 each by Express post = $250,000 extra expense. Let's start the count down.
Unfortunately, that requires them to actually care... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif
Islandcub, spatial perception-challenged
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