Air Canada Adds Revenue Requirement For Status Qualification

That's 20 Canadian cents per mile, which is 15 US cents. Still more than the 12 cents per mile that United requires for 1K status, but I wouldn't call it "whopping."

@ Andrew -- To clarify, I consider it "whopping" more in relative than absolute terms. In other words, that the revenue requirement varies from ~12 cents to ~20 cents.

They are "greedy" AND it's a good way to thin the ranks.

It's a corporation. It's not going to love you bcak.

It stands to reason that AC has set a higher price than any of the US carriers. They are the only Canadian carrier within an alliance. They can screw us and get away with it, so they do. Very very few Canadians have the option of choosing an alternative. Travel within Canada is either on AC or on WS, which has no useful loyalty program, no premium cabin, no lounges, no alliance partners. Business fliers are captive to this wretched outfit.

It seems short sighted, while I understand the business aspect of thinning the top rank. It seems that the more devaluations these companies throw out, the less loyal they make all of their customers. They may very well succeed at saving some money here, but they may also drive away a loyal base that brings them much of their revenue.

Maybe this isn't a big enough deal to worry about the loyalty of these customers... then again with that logic, they shouldn't be a big enough group to justify the savings this would bring.

YYZgayguy: They're not greedy. These companies are for profit organizations. I never understood why shall an airline reward an average travel so highly based on the number of trip s/he takes.

I know many of you will disagree mostly because these changes affects you but in my view an airline shall reward their best customers the most. In other words those who spend the most not who flies the most on discounted tickets.

I'm thinking about switching from BA to UA purely because of their revenue based loyalty program. I earn around 25-30k miles per trip with BA (paid first) while I could earn 75k miles with United. United miles worth a bit less for sure but not this much.

Personally I hope more and more airlines will switch to the revenue based model to reward those the most who spend the most.

A good reason that they would not link the credit card and revenue requirement is because the Aeroplan program (and thus credit cards) is not run by Air Canada.

AQD requires AC 014 stock, which is basicaly the same of having air canada flights min requirement.

DL has the loosest revenue requirements as their credit card spend waiver applies to Diamond Medallion and some ancillary fees count. UA stops at Patinum for PQD waiver and since AC has no credit card waiver and higher spend for Super Elite, they take the bottom of the barrel.

A pox on all their FF program executive's 🙂

@Aquarius: The reason airlines "reward an average travel so highly based on the number of trip s/he takes" is that it paid off for them. The airlines need the economy revenue very much and a growing segment of economy fliers are aspirational status-seekers and points collectors. The purpose of Altitude isn't to "reward", it's to attract. Making top-tier unattainable might not be a winning strategy, because it won't make you (paid F traveller) more loyal. It'll thin out the ranks, which cuts costs and makes high-end resources less crowded, which increases comfort and exclusivity. But there's a downside: If I can't possibly reach the top tier in AC, I might take my CAD$17,874/yr spending to American or Delta.

You'll be pleased because your upgrades will clear more and cabins and lounges will be emptier, but will AC win in this scenario? I'm sceptical. I think they've overreached with the $20,000 and that their greed motive has been instrumental in this bad decision. They've underestimated their downside in this tactic.

As noted, since credit cards are affiliated with Aeroplan which is a separate company, there will be no credit card waiver since AC sees none of that money

As wpj pointed out, they are eliminating the minimum AC Flights requirements, but here is their definition of Altitude Qualifying Dollars:

You will earn Altitude Qualifying Dollars (AQD) for the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges (Y, YQ and YR) on eligible flights flown, including:
• Flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rougeTM. This includes codeshare flights marketed by another airline and operated by Air Canada.

•Codeshare flights marketed by Air Canada and operated by Star AllianceTM partner airlines ticketed on Air Canada ticket stock (ticket numbers beginning with “014”).

We are Canadian.. We don't get a choice..

@Ivan:

+1

Thank you Air Canada.

Lucky, you should realize that $20 000 is not really that much spend, the target super elite 100K is a business traveler of which they are generating profit from. Specifically business travellers who fly paid business class. Unlike travers like yourself who although they fly hundreds of thousands of miles a year, spending very little money on their tickets (AA's Beijing mistake fare) and cheep economy tickets whining when they don't get an upgrade. I believe that this was a great move by Air Canada and would love to see other airlines utilize this platform so that airlines don't lose money awarding these perks. If airlines don't do this they will continue to limit perks for elite members.

Just my 2 cents.

Will

AC's trying to cultivate an image of relative exclusivity where only those who've paid for the front cabin sit in the front cabin. And that its top-most elite tier caters to the cream of that crop. Research has likely shown that the senior exec class doesn't like to travel with lesser sorts, and AC had watered its elite program to let too many 99%ers into the SE ranks. Time to prune the top of the tree. After all, aside from a very few individuals who pay their own way, those paying the full tab to fly up front come from corporate ranks, and have their tickets paid for by their employer (or client). They like to see their fellow Albany or Granite Club members in the seat next to them, not the guy (or gal) who's club is the Y.

AC's 75KElite tier will be the top tier for the 99%ers and I suspect the 50KElite tier will slim down as more TANGO fliers end up as 35KElites instead of the higher STARGold tier. However, the 50KElite tier will continue to grow, albeit slightly more slowly, but as more AC fliers in their 60s start earning Lifetime MM status from 30+ years of flying AC for business, but never quite cracking the upper tier ranks. Averaging 35K EQMs over those 30+ years will see a mounting number of these folks so it will be interesting to see how AC modifies the benefits of this tier, and its Lifetime MM program to shave costs.