Tag Archives for air canada.
Star Alliance member Air Canada has a limited partnership with oneworld member Cathay Pacific. Brand new today, it’s now possible to redeem Air Canada Aeroplan miles for Cathay Pacific flights online. And best of all, you can easily combine Cathay Pacific flights with other flights.
Air Canada Aeroplan is introducing family pooling as part of their new frequent flyer program launch in November. Aeroplan will allow up to 8 people to share their miles at no cost. Many programs charge a penny a mile to accomplish something similar.
Some of you are going to be tempted to abuse this. There’s a simple reason not to try.
Aeroplan is offering 2500 miles for new members after first activity in the account. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but because of a quirk in Aeroplan’s program that can be leveraged into 20,000 miles worth of travel.
Air Canada started off with arguably the best top elite tier in the world. They had a competitive award redemption program. A decade ago it was best in North America. A series of devaluations and the addition of fuel surcharges changed that, though it remained competitive because of even greater devaluations by U.S. airline programs.
The program was disjointed because the elite program was separate from – and owned by a different company, even – redeemable mileage earning and burning. Air Canada re-acquired their Aeroplan frequent flyer program, and they’ve announced plans for relaunching it November 8.
There are some great new features of the program. On the whole it seems like the program is better. There are, however, some features not to like or wish were better.
Air Canada has announced the details of their new frequent flyer program that will launch November 8th. I’ve had a chance to dive into the minutiae and speak with executives. Here’s your complete guide for what to expect.
This is a really thoughtful program, attractive for both casual users transferring points – because of the flexibility of redemptions and elimination of fuel surcharges – and for their most loyal customers. I especially love top elites conferring ‘status for a day’ on friends and colleagues, and earning 50% discounts on award redemption up to 11 times a year.
Air Canada is running a duo of rich promotions. These aren’t going to move the needle to get most Americans to travel since actually visiting Canada isn’t feasible right now given quarantine requirements and connecting on Air Canada is of limited use given the number of countries that are closed to those carrying U.S. passports.
Nonetheless these are offers to watch, because they underscore what a loyalty program can do to help get members excited and because they’ll be gathering strong data on how much promotions can move the needle right now on travel in places where the virus seems under control.
These are user-friendly changes and also makes it easier for Americans (and others outside of Canada) to participate in the program on an irregular basis. I especially like the fee-waived mileage reinstatement options.
Airlines are differentiating their approaches to the pandemic. Offering a better experience is a key strategy to winning business away from other airlines.
For U.S. consumers who do not live in an international gateway city, a connection is required. And as Air Canada brings U.S. flights back online, this matters because they’ve historically been the foreign carrier serving the most U.S. destinations – making the one-stop required for an international trip just as easy via Canada as via many U.S. cities. Air Canada is a direct competitor of U.S. airlines for U.S. passenger international trips.
Through July 12, Aeroplan will sell miles with a bonus of ‘up to’ 75%. They’ll sell you 1 million miles, double the usual limit.
There’s an extra kicker for those seeking elite status with Air Canada: the amount you spend buying miles with this promotion counts towards the airline’s qualifying dollars requirement.
Air Canada, along with other Canadian airlines, hasn’t been refunding tickets when they cancel flights. The Canadian government has backed them, though for flights to or from the U.S. it’s a clear violation of U.S. law.
Telling customers they can only have a voucher, to use later, is effectively an interest-free loan (they hold onto the money until they earn it later) and a risky one (risk that the customer will have an opportunity to fly, and that the airline will still be in business).
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
