Tag Archives for air canada.
During the pandemic, Air Canada cancelled the flights and kept passenger money. They didn’t deliver the service that was promised, but wouldn’t issue refunds. That’s stealing.
The DOT proposed a $25 million fine. Air Canada wants it dismissed, arguing that the law doesn’t actually forbid them from selling flights they don’t operate and pocketing the cash.
After more than a year Air Canada is issuing refunds to customers whose flights were cancelled due to the pandemic. They’re only doing this now that the Canadian government has forked over subsidies. They told the government they’d give money back to consumers, but only if the government gave them far more money first.
The Canadian government had backed Air Canada’s decision to keep customer money for transportation that was never provided. For flights to and from the U.S., though, this is a clear violation of U.S. law.
Twenty one months ago Air Canada announced they’d be acquiring Canadian low cost carrier Air Transat, in a deal that was finally going to be worth about three quarters of a billion dollars. That price got chopped down to less than $200 million during the pandemic.
The deal was delayed by Canada’s competition regulators, that pushed them into the pandemic and lowered the price. Now the deal has been terminated as a result of European Commission objections.
Loyalty isn’t primarily about points or benefits. It isn’t transactional. It’s about building a relationship based on taking care of customers and building trust. That’s difficult to do in a mass way, even with elite benefits because that group can number in the tens of thousands (for top elites) to the seven figures (for lowest level).
A program systematizes how guests are cared through. Benefits are part of doing that. In formulating a set of benefits it’s most important to understand what matters most to the customers that matter most. That’s often how a travel brand cares for the people the member cares most about.
When Air Canada relaunched the Aeroplan frequent flyer program – an American Express transfer partner, and soon to have a Chase co-brand credit card, so highly relevant to Americans – they committed to an award chart.
Right now though partner award pricing isn’t sticking to the chart. That means some awards are pricing higher than they should, and others are pricing for fewer miles.
Air Canada and Virgin Australia are now partners. Aeroplan redemptions on Virgin Australia are even available for online booking already.
Aeroplan continues to work well for Americans, I think, and perhaps even for those who fly Air Canada with elite status or their co-brand credit card. Whether they work as well as promoted for the general member in Canada who doesn’t sign up for a card depends on how pricing of Air Canada flights is managed going forward (but the program still appears to be a real improvement over what was offered before, without fuel surcharges).
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.
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 »
