Alaska Airlines To Join the Oneworld Alliance

It was a while ago that I last wrote about Alaska Airlines. I had promoted this as a backup program to for anyone who flew and collected miles on Star Alliance-based programs (I have since flirted with Asiana, United, and now Air Canada). 

I had written a post about the flexibility of Alaska Airlines, and about the benefits of "going at it alone." Back then (~2013), they were partners with numerous Skyteam members (KLM, Air France, Delta, Aeromexico, and Korean Airlines) as well as Oneworld members (American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and British Airways). They had absolutely no Star Alliance members. What a perfect complement for those who don't normally fly on Skyteam or Oneworld member airlines with regularity, but don't actually want to lose out on any miles that could potentially be earned?

Something that was also unique was that all airline partners counted towards status for Alaska Airlines. This, of course, was not a big deal given that the benefits of status were only really for travel on Alaska Airlines, and Alaska Airlines had a minuscule footprint compared to its partners.

Then there were some changes that weren't so good
Delta started to encroach upon Alaska's Seattle hub and began to compete with Alaska. Finally, in 2017, Delta and Alaska severed their relationship: they were no longer code-sharing, and there were no longer reciprocal mileage earning benefits.

In 201, American Airlines had taken steps to do something similar. Reciprocal elite benefits were taken away (waived checked baggage fees, priority boarding, preferred seats). Members could no longer earn miles on domestic flights that were not under a code-share agreement). In October 2019, more changes were announced: Alaska Mileage Plan members could no longer earn or redeem on American Airlines' flights and vice versa except for on code-share flights after March 2020.

And then something big happened 

On February 13, 2020, Alaska announced that it had full intention of joining the Oneworld alliance. This was a complete reversal of the cuts made to its current Oneworld world partner, American Airlines.


Some of the notable pieces of this release are that:

• Effective immediately, one can redeem points again on all American Airline flights, and use the AAdmirals club from American Airlines
• Effective in Spring 2020, one can earn points again on all American Airlines flights
• Effective in Summer 2021, Alaska can earn and redeem on all Oneworld partner airlines, and elite members will have full reciprocal benefits within the Oneworld partner airlines. 

What it doesn't say (but seems obvious to me), is that once Alaska enters into the Oneworld alliance, its relationships with the other "global member airlines" will likely have to cease. This means that it will likely no longer be a good backup for those who are occasional flyers with Skyteam airlines. And of course, people will be comparing why one would want to choose American over Alaska when it comes to crediting points from flights. One will need to understand

• points earning ratios
• changes to mileage requirements for earning status
• changes to minimum spend requirements (currently Alaska does not have any whereas American does)
• changes to redemption costs 

More details to be released soon, we hope.

Things I Love About My Favorite Airline App: United Airlines

Every major airline has an app. And after having used many airline apps (American, Delta, Alaska, Air Canada, Qantas, and more), I have decided that my favorite and most functional app has got to be United Airlines'.

Here is what I wish all apps had:

1) An easy introduction page with all the vital (and bonus) information

Of note, there's access to your membership number (greyed out), one's account balance, one's status tracker (to always show you how close or how far you are from your next status goal), and how many upgrade points you have available, if you choose to use them.

What is unique about United's app is that they include your lifetime miles. If any program's million miler status is actually important to the program itself, it should make one's progress towards that aspirational status clear. I am, apparently, over 700,000 miles away from that goal. 

2) Future flight bookings and the ability to check in by clicking on the booking

I don't have an upcoming flight and so I can't really demonstrate. However, it is easy to access all of my upcoming booked flights. One can view details about the flight and make changes to or cancel the flight. One can check into the flight and store boarding passes for flights.

3) Flight arrival times and departure times are easily found and easily interpreted.   

Flight information is bold and clear. If there is a delay, there's typically a small message above the flight information telling you what is happening or why it is delayed. You can click "where is this aircraft coming from" to help you decide when it is time to go to the gate: obviously if the incoming flight hasn't arrived yet when it is officially boarding time for your flight, there's no point in leaving the lounge to go to the gate. Grab another drink in the lounge. Not every airline has this feature.

4) Accurate, clear information about where you are on the standby list and upgrade list and

5) A seat map that is always up to date and always viewable, even until two days after the flight. 

There is no question about where you are on the standby list and the upgrade list. Unlike other airlines, once the flight is closed, you can still see what the list looked like. You can use this information to let you know how likely the flight is to be full when you're flying this route in the future. If you're into seeing who is non-rev and upgrading, you can figure that out easily (everyone from And, R. and below are are non-rev). Furthermore, the seat map is always active and up to date which is also a nice source of information.

I quite like that once the flight is closed, you can pull up the seat map to see if that empty seat beside you really is free -- you can move your baggage from under the seat in front of you one seat over to increase legroom. Very hand to know.

6) Ability to book flights and check out award seats

Like with virtually every airline app out there, you can book either award seats or revenue seats. If you lived in America, you could purchase and pay for the seats right on the app itself. What I wish was for the ability to pay using other currencies; Canadians aren't allowed to buy tickets because most of us do not have an American address (for the credit card) nor a USD-funded bank account. 

It seems pretty basic, but all of the features make the app very functional to me. If it could allow me to book things in Canadian funds, I think this app would be kind of perfect. Now I just have to wait for the other airlines to catch up ...

Air Passenger Protection Regulation: My Experience

This post is my add-on to my last post introducing the rules of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. More specifically, this is about my own experience with this.

Situation #1
I flew on Air Canada to Honolulu on January 9th (AC2411). This was canceled that morning because the aircraft (operated by Omni Air, a lease agreement) was suffering from mechanical issues and canceled on the way coming back from Honolulu. This would be the same plane that would operate YVR-HNL. Air Canada then created a brand new flight, AC2011, which used a larger Air Canada aircraft and crew, and kept the departure and arrival times the same. As there were some weather problems, we arrived roughly two hours late.

In this instance, compensation was not required from the airline because the arrival time of the new flight mirrored the canceled flight. Also, the eventual delay that resulted was due to weather conditions that were outside of Air Canada's control. Finally, the delay was only 2 hours long, and it was less than the 3 hours required before compensation was due.

Situation #2
When flying home on January 14th, AC 2410 (HNL-YVR) was again canceled. This was because the inbound flight (YVR-HNL) was also canceled. This flight, also operated by Omni Air, initially was delayed by what I assume was mechanical issues for an hour or two. This was also in the context of snow, which understandably causes delays.

Omni Air flights are run strangely when working in coordination with Air Canada. Half the flight attendant crew are from Omni Air, the other half are from Air Canada. The Omni Airways flight crew do straight turns as their duty day is longer than Air Canada's flight attendants. The Air Canada flight attendants do a layover in Honolulu.

When the aircraft was delayed enough, I am guessing the Omni Air crew had timed out -- they were no longer able to operate the flight to Honolulu and then back again. Therefore, Air Canada had canceled the YVR-HNL flight and had sent out a text stating that the reason for the cancelation was "crew constraints." Because YVR-HNL was canceled, HNL-YVR was also canceled, also because of "crew constraints."

At the airport, we managed to be re-directed on a United flight from HNL-LAX, and then onwards to YVR. Our original itinerary was supposed to have us arrive at 705am, and this new itinerary was scheduled to have us arrive at 327pm. This represented an 8 hour delay. Arguing that Air Canada did not need to have crew constraints because they were departing from a YVR crew base (with standby and reserve flight attendants who could replace the timed-out crew), this was a flight cancellation that was within Air Canada's control. I was expecting a $700 in compensation.

Air Canada Responds

"We are in receipt of your claim under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. We are sorry for the delay you experienced at arrival to your final destination. 

In this instance, the compensation you are requesting does not apply because the delay was caused by a safety-related risk. 

Compensation only applies to customers who arrive at their destination 3 hours or more for situations within our control. Compensation does not apply when there are unforeseen safety-related issues such as mechanical problems outside of scheduled maintenance or mechanical problems that had not been identified during scheduled maintenance. 

The delayed impact of a flight may be from a previous scheduled flight.  The airplane, flight attendants or pilots may be delayed on a multi-leg journey and these factors can be contributed to the subsequent onward impacted flight according to the regulations."

The End Result
In the end, they denied my claim but were willing to provide a $200 e-voucher for future travel. I will admit that I am unsatisfied by their rationale. The aircraft was presumably fixed at some point, otherwise they would have cited "mechanical issues" in our text alerts. It was very plainly specified as crew constraints. While crew fatigue could also be safety-related, to not use "fresh" crew from their standby reserve is clearly something within the airline's control.

I figure that I was written off here.

What has your experience been in trying to claim compensation? Apparently, I am not the only one to have issues. 

Air Passenger Protection Regulations: An Introduction

On December 15, 2019, Canada finalized its revised Air Passenger Protection Regulations. There are many parts to this, including rules about communication, delayed and cancelled flights, denial of boarding (overbooking), tarmac delays, seating arrangements for families, and lost/damaged baggage. These rules are only for flights that land or depart in Canada.

What is probably the most significant to me are the new rules surrounding denied boarding (overbooking) and delays/canceled flights.

What happens when you're denied booking?
When flights are overbooked, airlines will first solicit volunteers to give up their seats. If passengers volunteer to give up their seats, this is considered a voluntary denial of boarding. There is no prescribed amount that is required for a voluntary denial of boarding (VDB): if you feel like you didn't get enough compensation, then don't volunteer your seat. If airlines cannot solicit enough volunteers, they can remove people off of flights without their consent; this is considered an involuntary denial of boarding (IDB). In either case, airlines are expected to get you to the final destination.

For instances of IDB, the overall length of delay to your final destination determines your compensation. If you were supposed to arrive at 9am, and after involuntarily giving up your seat and being rebooked on a flight that will land at 4pm, your overall length of delay is considered to be 7 hours. The rules therefore are as such:

What happens when your flight is delayed?
When flights are delayed, you are still entitled compensation based on the length of time your arrival at the final destination is delayed by. There is a difference between large and small airlines, but given that I typically use "large" airlines, I will only focus on these amounts.

Caveats
The biggest caveat is that no compensation is awarded for situations which are outside of the airline's control. Weather is one example. Compensation is also not awarded for situations that are related to safety (e.g., mechanical problems with the plane). This is a big catch-all, as ultimately, everything and anything can be funnelled into the category of safety.

How to claim
In order to claim compensation, you are first expected to contact airlines directly. They have to respond within 30 days with payment or a reason why your claim does not meet criteria. They are expected to offer either cash as outlined above, or other forms of credit with a higher value than cash. The passenger is always allowed to choose which option they would like.

Have you ever had to use this?
Stay tuned for my own experience of trying to claim compensation ...

Air Canada for Business: Corporate Rewards

One of the reasons why I had considered Air Canada was their Corporate Rewards program. Their website is here.

What is Corporate Rewards?

Air Canada, like many other airlines (including United Airlines' Perks Plus), has a program designed for small and medium-sized businesses. The idea is that they could help provide a booking platform and small rewards in order to entice small business owners to book with Air Canada and its codeshare partners (for whom they would undoubtedly get a small cut with). This is different than large corporate contracts which likely provide larger discounts and benefits for large, major corporations.

Relevant to me, but maybe not to everyone ...

Being an incorporated physician, I had to register for a small business number. As such, I was now able to apply for this program. You need to have a GST registration number in order to apply. In reality, I'm not sure why more people don't apply for it if they don't have a small side business on the side, as the program is free to join and you could only stand to receive its benefits.

In Canada, the small business number is a 9 digit number. Within that number, there are sub-accounts. If your small business number is 123456789, then the sub-accounts would be as follows:

• Corporate Tax: 123456789 RC 0001
• Payroll Tax: 123456789 RP 0001
• GST Account: 123456789 RT 0001

In theory, you can have several subsections to your business which require several different types of GST accounts, which would lead to RT 0002, RT 0003, RT 0004, etc.

Air Canada requires an RT XXXX. If you do not know or do not need to collect GST, you can use your business number with RT 0001.

What are the benefits of the program?

Given that I am using this for myself and my one other employee, which coincidentally happens to be the person who I travel the most with, I am not really interested in the tracking of corporate spending. It is helpful in the quick-save of the information for the employees, which is somewhat helpful.

More substantively, upon registering, you receive:

• one Maple Leaf Lounge access (one-time use, not very exciting)
• five Air Canada Bistro vouchers (good for a meal and snack, or a beverage and snack)
• 5% discount off of a Maple Leaf Lounge membership (not very helpful)

Most helpfully, there are various levels for spending. After reaching each tier, different benefits are available. Spending is defined as all base fare and certain carrier-imposed surcharges. Taxes do not count. 

• Level 1: $10,000-$150,000 (CAD) in spending (this is likely where I will be hitting)
• Up to 3% off base fares on AC flights and partner flights
• Up to $10 discounts on On My Way flights
• 10 e-upgrade credits
• 3 complimentary preferred seat selections, 10% off of other preferred seat selections
• 1 complimentary Maple Leaf Lounge membership, 5% discounts on other Maple Leaf Lounge memberships, and up to $8 off paid Maple Leaf Lounge one-time access vouchers

• Level 2: $150,000-$300,000 (CAD) in spending (this is for more serious small businesses)
• Up to 5% off base fares on AC flights and partner flights
• Up to $10 discounts on On My Way flights
• 20 e-upgrade credits
• 5 complimentary preferred seat selections, 10% off of other preferred seat selections
• 2 complimentary Maple Leaf Lounge membership, 8% discounts on other Maple Leaf Lounge memberships, and up to $8 off paid Maple Leaf Lounge one-time access vouchers
• Level 3: $300,000 (CAD) + in spending
• Up to 6% off base fares on AC flights and partner flights
• Up to $10 discounts on On My Way flights
• 30 e-upgrade credits
• 7 complimentary preferred seat selections, 10% off of other preferred seat selections
• 3 complimentary Maple Leaf Lounge membership, 8% discounts on other Maple Leaf Lounge memberships, and up to $8 off paid Maple Leaf Lounge one-time access vouchers

The savings will be worth it, I think

I will likely be a Level 1 kinda guy/company. If both my travel companion and I are both likely to reach Altitude 50k, a status that requires $6,000 CAD in spending each, we will automatically reach Level 1. If we were to save the 3% off base fares on AC, that would be a savings of ($12,000 x 3%=) $360 a year. It's not insignificant: this is a round-trip flight from YVR-YYC. 

If you were a "real" small business that regularly flies their employees out of town, and if you were able to reach $150,000 in spending, that would be a savings of $7,500 a year. 

Additional promotions and information

• Currently, until March 31, 2020 for travel by March 31, 2020, you get a 50% bonus on your spending. That is, if your base fare was $1,000, you would get credited $1,500 for the next tier
• Other employees do not need to be Aeroplan members. They can be booked using this tool, their spend can be added to the small business' spend, and that employee can still collect on their other frequent flyer program (e.g., United, Asiana, Lufthansa, etc.) 

What do you think of the Air Canada for Small Business program?

A Comparison Between United and Air Canada's Mid-Tier Programs

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I am looking to switch from United's Mileage Plus to Air Canada's Aeroplan. This involves switching from United as my preferred carrier to Air Canada.

Source: http://www.aircanada.ca

What's needed for Star Alliance Gold with Air Canada?
The Star Alliance Gold benefits begin really at the Altitude 50k level. In order to achieve this level, one needs to:

• Fly 50,000 miles, or
• Fly 50 segments; and
• Spend $6,000 CAD pre-tax

There's a nice chart that Air Canada has posted which simplifies things. There is no guarantee that this chart will be here next year; like United, they may opt for different status earning criteria next year. 

As you can see, achieving the equivalent of United Premier 1K requires a yearly spend of $20,000. Because no one else pays for my travel, this is absolutely not an option for me. So the toss up is either the 50k or the 75k levels.

What are the benefits?

For Altitude 50k and above, one will always enjoy the Star Alliance Gold benefits. These include things like priority check-in, extra luggage allowance, lounge access, priority boarding, and priority waitlist in case of flight changes or irregular operations. 

Benefits similar to United Premier Gold:

• Basic Star Alliance Gold benefits
• Preferred seats on AC with flex fares within North America (United has a more generous policy of economy plus seats on any fare on any flight)
• United's benefit is irrelevant if I have to fly mostly Air Canada in order to secure Premier Gold/Platinum status
• Opportunities to upgrade on the program's carrier within North America without any additional fee. Air Canada offers upgrade points which you would have to burn but will generally give you a higher probability of an upgrade. Near the end of my tenure with United, even as a Premier 1K member, complimentary upgrades were very, very difficult to score

Where United wins:

• Same day change on United flights. This is irrelevant if most of my flights are on Air Canada in order to achieve status
• Reward bookings do not incur fuel surcharges, but are generally more "expensive" in terms of points. This is likely the biggest strength of United's program. 
• United offers upgrade points that can be used on generally higher fares for international travel. Air Canada also makes you buy the higher fare in order to be eligible, and if you are successful with your upgrade, you'd have to pay anywhere from $500-$750 each way depending on which ocean you cross. In this sense, international upgrades are not really realistic 

Where Air Canada wins:

• Higher chance of an upgrade if you encounter an irregular operations, or if they need someone to upgrade for operational reasons
• Air Canada's Altitude 50k status allows you lounge entry everywhere; United's Premier Gold status only allows you into domestic lounges in the USA only if you're flying an international segment as well
• This is less relevant as our tickets will always somehow indicate a final destination in Canada, so I have always been allowed in the lounge. 
• While United does not charge fuel surcharges, rewards are generally cheaper in terms of the number of points needed to be redeemed with Air Canada. Furthermore, more points can be earned with medium to long haul flights compared to United. 
• Air Canada has more promotions to earn bonus miles than United does in general
• If one believes that Aeroplan miles are worth it, there are credit cards in Canada that can earn Aeroplan miles.
• If I'm flying mostly on Air Canada, it would be nice to have these points applied to their lifetime status program. 

So those are the ground rules ...

What's my plan to reach 50k and $6,000 in spending? That's for tomorrow ...

Why I need to switch from United Airlines to Air Canada

An introduction:

United Airlines had a special loophole that I had exploited as a Canadian. Previously, in order to reach their top tier status, you required

• 100,000 miles or
• 120 premier qualifying segments; and
• $15,000 USD spend on 016-ticket stock; and
• 4 segments on United aircraft

In brief, top tier status, 1K, was afforded the following benefits:

• Star Alliance gold status
• Increased availability of award seats (no fuel surcharges added, unlike Air Canada's Aeroplan)
• Free changes and cancellations for award reservations
• Free same-day changes
• Unlimited complimentary upgrades on domestic itineraries (space available)
• Opportunities to upgrade internationally (typically 6 segments a year)
• One free alcoholic beverage and food item on all United flight segments
• Pre-boarding (before group 1), use of Polaris check in desks on all itineraries

As a self-funded traveler who spent $4,600 USD on United last year, I would not have normally qualified for 1K status. However, non-US residents with a non-US addresses, were exempt from the $15,000 USD minimum spend. This made it easy to qualify for UA Premier 1K status, and I took advantage of this for the last 4 years.

Then the changes happened:

Announced late last year for the program this upcoming year, United changed the policy to be more about dollars spent than distance traveled. Now, their requirements are as such:

One Premier Qualifying Point (PQP) is equivalent to $1 USD spent pre-tax. For the same status, I would need to spend either $24,000 or $18,000 (along with 56 flight segments). 

That is impossible.

But we can game the system still somewhat ...

One way to possibly game the system was to fly on premium cabins on Star Alliance partners. PQP for preferred Star Alliance partners would be calculated as the total number of award miles earned divided by 5. (PQP for the rest of the Star Alliance partners would be calculated as the total number of award miles earned divided by 6).

The preferred carriers are:

Air Canada is a preferred partner. 

An example of gaming this system:

A premium economy fare (N-fare) from Vancouver to Taipei (YVR-TPE) would net (5971 x 1.25) = 7,464 miles one-way, or 14,928 miles round-trip. This would net 2,986 PQP for roughly $1,600 CAD fare. 

Or if you bought a business class fare (Z-fare) from YVR-TPE, you would get (5971 x 2) = 11,942 miles, or 23,884 miles round-trip. This would net 4,776 PQP for a roughly $3,500 CAD fare.

Two business class fares from YVR-TPE would cost $7,000 USD, but would give nearly 9,500 PQP, or almost Star Alliance Gold. As you remember, 9,500 PQP = $9,500 USD before taxes. 

And so I thought that it would be cheaper and easier to obtain at least Star Alliance Gold with United Airlines, until I realized that I was going to fly mostly partner airlines. You don't get the best benefits on partner airlines. 

This leads me to the newest part of the journey: if I am going to fly mainly Air Canada to obtain status on another airline, let's work on switching to that airline.

So now, follow along as I play with Air Canada's Aeroplan program ...