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C1 Pass Petition


YYC I/C

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The Embraer 180 is coming soon...we will sucessfully retreat from marketshare..ohhh the load factors. The cons don't have a thing to worry about....sorry a seat to worry about.

Collecting millions you say....who dat. rolleyes.gif

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Rumour has it that AC will be opening up all un-filled last minute inventory to Aeroplan points flyers effective Jan 1/07.

So now in addition to competing with other employees for a seat, you will have to compete with every customer with points. One guess who will have priority ! angry[1].gif

As it is, it's next to impossible to get on a flight. When this happens we can all kiss our passes goodbye regardless of seniority.

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Guest rattler
Rumour has it that AC will be opening up all un-filled last minute inventory to Aeroplan points flyers effective Jan 1/07.

So now in addition to competing with other employees for a seat, you will have to compete with every customer with points. One guess who will have priority ! angry[1].gif

As it is, it's next to impossible to get on a flight. When this happens we can all kiss our passes goodbye regardless of seniority.

Never thought I would hear anyone complaining that the customers might get boarded ahead of pass travellers.

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Rattler,

Why must a simple statement of fact be interpreted as complaining? Are we supposed to be "happy" our number one benefit is to be decimated?

I would guess you are not an employee of any airline, otherwise you would understand the enormous implications of this move as there are a great number of employees who put up with the BS of this business only because they have pass priveledges.

If true, it will be interpreted as a huge slap in the face to the people that are working their azzes off to make AC successful in the first place and it has the potential to backfire in managements faces big time.

I'm sure the simpleton who drempt up this little gem doesn't travel space available.

JayDee

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Guest rattler

Rattler,

Why must a simple statement of fact be interpreted as complaining? Are we supposed to be "happy" our number one benefit is to be decimated?

I would guess you are not an employee of any airline, otherwise you would understand the enormous implications of this move as there are a great number of employees who put up with the BS of this business only because they have pass priveledges.

If true, it will be interpreted as a huge slap in the face to the people that are working their azzes off to make AC successful in the first place and it has the potential to backfire in managements faces big time.

I'm sure the simpleton who drempt up this little gem doesn't travel space available.

JayDee

Jaydee I was a member of an airline for 36 years. During which we fought to get improved pass priv. for all but we never lost sight that the paying customer came first. Those who are in the business simply for the passes were never a majority of the employees, but all of us did live the dream of "free" travel cool.gif . Not suggesting that you should shut up or get out but if the only reason you work for an airline (assuming that you do) is for the travel benefits and you see those disappearing, then perhaps it is time to take a look at your career path and get a job that would allow you to purchase air travel like other consumers.

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Rumour has it that AC will be opening up all un-filled last minute inventory to Aeroplan points flyers effective Jan 1/07.

So now in addition to competing with other employees for a seat, you will have to compete with every customer with points. One guess who will have priority ! angry[1].gif

As it is, it's next to impossible to get on a flight. When this happens we can all kiss our passes goodbye regardless of seniority.

It is true that Aeroplan is bringing out a new form of reward, code-named Dynamic rewards. They have said so in so many speeches that you would have to be numb or dumb not to have known. The principal is that any Aeroplan customer can get a last minute seat by paying a commensurate number of points, just as a person can buy a Latitude seat for a much larger dollar amount even if all other cheaper options are sold out.

Dynamic rewards will require significantly larger points redemptions than the current Avenue and Classic rewards. I presume Classic rewards will remain, but it is possible AP will eliminate Avenue rewards, which come out of a supplemental inventory to Classic but nevertheless out of fixed allotment.

Dynamic rewards would have no fixed allotment, but would be priced, as theory goes, according to the cash cost of the underlying seat. In other words, a YYZ-YVR return on prime flights during the Christmas-New Year peak would require a much larger redemption (because the same seat is selling for $1000 cash) than an offpeak return on the same route when the seat is selling for $600 cash. The same principle would apply if one decides to use prime time of day flights on a route vs off-peak times of day. Either way, however, it will cost more to get one of these rewards than buy getting a Classic reward which is roughly equivalent to a Tango fare if you are buying well in advance.

What people don't appreciate - some don't even try - is that Aeroplan points are a form of currency, like dollars, shekels, rubles, euros, ringatts, dinars, swissfrancs, etc. When people fly as paying customers, and earn Aeroplan points, Air Canada buys the points from Aeroplan. It pays cash to Aeroplan. When a customer uses his or her Aerogold Visa Card, the CIBC in essence shares part of its merchant commission with the cardholder, and banks that with Aeroplan in the form of points. Instead of rebating me cash on the purchase of that stereo, they credit me with points that they buy, in cash, from Aeroplan.

Now, when somebody claims an Aeroplan reward trip on AC, Aeroplan has to buy that with cash money.

Heretofore, the amount of cash paid reflected the value of a Classic or Avenue reward - an advance purchase seat, out of a very limited inventory, created so as not to cost AC any cash-paying customers. These rewards would typically cost Aeroplan - and I'm guessing here - less than the equivalent Tango or Tourist ticket, but for AC they would top up loads and revenues. AC would get a payment worth millions of dollars for those seats.

As Aeroplan keeps growing, and the accrued number of points - many billions - continues to grow, AC and Aeroplan see a chance to develop a new system that helps Aeroplan reduce that points liability, puts more cash in AC's pocket and gives customers something they should have - the ability to buy any seat using this alternate currency called Aeroplan points. For AC in particular, this is a way to get people who have these points stashed in large numbers to start travelling, which unlocks their points piggybanks and gets them travelling. For AC, it will get a higher yielding points customer, and when that larger number of points is translated into cash, it will benefit AC's bottom line.

For example, August is a tough month for me for cash flow. There's not a lot in the ole savings account. But I have a mountain of Aeroplan and Air Miles points. So I use my Air Miles (alternate currency) to get gift vouchers for food and fuel, which are just like cash, and buy groceries and gas with them. With Aeroplan, what are the chances I can turn those points into something THIS month (as opposed to reserving a seat to Sydney, Australia for the second half of 2007!). What AC and Aeroplan are doing is proposing to give me the ability to purchase a seat or seats on a flight so I could go somewhere interesting this month, but because that's basically a walk-on fare at this point, I have to pay a lot of points, much the same as paying cash to buy a seat to Paris for a departure a week out in high season.

Due to the higher cost to the customer of these Dynamic rewards, one should not assume that most AP customers will avail themselves of that option. Most, I suspect, will prefer to stick with the Classic rewards and all their restrictions.

There may be more competition for a seat on some flights, but I suspect this will have more of a domestic than an international impact, and it is also possible that if it is successful at getting a lot of Aeroplan customers to "buy up" for the flexibility of making last minute bookings, it could also cut down on the number of Classic rewards claimed, and even the inventory of Tango seats.

It isn't certain that employee pass holders will be significantly affected. There will probably be some such situations with a route like Montreal-Paris or Calgary-Frankfrut or Vancouver-Tokyo, but also keep in mind the upgauging that will begin next year when the 777s replace 340s, adding 30-80 seats per departure.

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Jaydee I was a member of an airline for 36 years. During which we fought to get improved pass priv.

So far, I have 33 years in this business and counting.

No, I don't stay for the passes, though a ton of junior employees do.

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Try using your Aeroplan points at the 'classic' level... Just about impossible to go anywhere in the peak or shoulder season. I recently switched to Avion because of the lack of seat availability on certain routes. Aeroplan has a gigantic liability issue with all the un-redeamed points floating around, this is an attempt to upsell its customer or depending upon your view; diminish the value of the points.

Either way it will negatively impact employee travel, which; with the current loads, is an almost useless benefit anyway.

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Try using your Aeroplan points at the 'classic' level... Just about impossible to go anywhere in the peak or shoulder season. I recently switched to Avion because of the lack of seat availability on certain routes. Aeroplan has a gigantic liability issue with all the un-redeamed points floating around, this is an attempt to upsell its customer or depending upon your view; diminish the value of the points.

Either way it will negatively impact employee travel, which; with the current loads, is an almost useless benefit anyway.

Once again, the impact on employee travel will depend on the uptake - the number of people willing to pay 2-3 times the points to fly last minute or when Classic inventory is otherwise unavailable. I have never flown anything but Classic, but do have the luxury of being able to make plans in advance and stick with them. I do not see myself as a user of the Dynamic rewards, simply because I value my points too much to blow a few hundred thousand of them on a single trip when tickets are otherwise hard to get. By the way, the Avion concept is precisely the same as the Dynamic rewards. The points charged reflect a higher fee paid by RBC to the participating airlines to access inventory closer to departure than you can do now with Classic AP rewards.

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'Online security – keep your Air Canada employee number confidential.

It has recently come to our attention that an online petition had been launched by a group of Air Canada employees and retirees, requiring fellow petitioners to submit their employee number along with their petition signature. While the site advises its signatories that all information provided on the petition signing form will be viewed by anyone accessing the online petition signatures page, please keep in mind that sharing your employee number on the Web can be risky. Because your Air Canada employee number is also your user ID for several IT systems within the Air Canada network – such as the Portal, the Employee Travel Website, RES III, etc. – it is highly recommended that you keep your employee number confidential. Protect yourself as well as company information by keeping your employee number to yourself.'

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