There should be a therapy group for people who lose their frequent flyer status cards.
As brought to mainstream attention by the film Up in the Air starring George Clooney, their does exist a prestigious club out there filled with people who spend an excessive amount of hours on airplanes.
Over the past few years my life has run course with this, and I attained one of these coveted cards. I don’t have the ridiculously super frequent flyer card (Air Canada Super Elite), but I do have the gold standard — in Canada this is known as Air Canada Elite status.
To attain this status you need to fly 35,000 miles per year. This amounts to approximately 8.39 round trips between Vancouver and Toronto every year, or roughly about 75 hours on a plane (excluding airport time).
At an average cost these days of about $1000 when booked in a last minute urgent business travel fashion this status would cost roughly about $8400 Canadian dollars. All flights must be booked on at least the Tango Plus fair category, which is always about $150-200 more expensive than the cheapest fare which would be about $1260-$1670 extra compared to booking the lowest category Tango fare.
Still with me?
So what does this excessive amount of hours and money spent get you? Well, it gets you the occasional upgrade to first class, access to Air Canada and partner airline lounges around the world (read free internet and free booze), and a get out of jail free card at the airport — where they let you check in with the executive class folk whose tickets are at least double if not triple the price of the economy Tango Plus fare. Ooh, and you also get to get on the plane before anyone else. Whoopee!
That actually is all quite good, but you have to question whether or not it’s worth it for the extra hours and dollars.
Before I had an Air Canada Elite card I didn’t care. I was excited to fly whenever I did, and nothing else really mattered. I didn’t even know these frequent flyer elite people even existed. Yet now that I have the card, I flash it around wherever I can, drop it into travel conversations nonchalantly, and proudly display it on my carry-on luggage as I budge in front of everybody as they wait in line like cows waiting to board a cattle car.
I have to say that I have come to really like the privileges of elite status.
There is a big but coming to this story, so I’ll insert it here. This year I haven’t flown as much as previous years and I will likely lose my Air Canada Elite status. Oh no!
In some ways it won’t really matter, and in a good way it has meant that I have spent more time at home with friends doing things that I would rather be doing than sitting on a plane. It also frees me up to fly with any airline I feel like, which would likely save me money over the long run. There have been times when I have paid more money just to fly on a Star Alliance partnered airline so I could collect status miles.
In other ways my ego is going through a cyclone of psychological devastation. The thought of not getting on the plane first so that I can be trapped in my seat for a few extra minutes watching everyone else board is almost unfathomable. And what about losing my free lounge privileges? Well, that just plain sucks, but honestly some of the lounges are glorified high school cafeterias with booze in them. Most of the time I’m flying at some ungodly hour and don’t even feel like drinking, so really maybe it’s my win. The lounges provided by United Airlines in the states are quite terrible and don’t offer anything other than a cushy chair to their Canadian flying counterparts. In fact United treats Star Alliance Gold passengers like 2nd class citizens compared to how Air Canada treats them. So on the United front I will call it a fail.
On my most recent trip I also noticed that the internet access by Data Valet in the Maple Leaf Lounge at YVR had become pay per use rather than free.
All in all it seems like any privileges that existed for airline carrier loyalty are in fast retreat and heading for the hills.
So will my ego survive without all of the extra glad-handing and special treatment? Yes. With some therapy of course, and here’s how.
Obviously it’s nice to get on the plane first so that I can actually find a place to stow my carry-on baggage, but all of the other privileges associated with the Elite status can actually be bought at a fairly decent price.
You can purchase access to the lounge on a per flight basis if you like, and you can also buy a Maple Leaf club card which entitles you to lounge privileges all over the world even outside of Canada. This costs about $600 CAD, but it also allows you to use the executive class check-in, all for quite a bit less than the cost of attaining Elite status.
The other reason why elite frequent flyer programs may become irrelevant is that a lot of the things that it can get you are being phased out. If you travel light and use online check-in, you can skip the line-up at the airport altogether. I’ve done this numerous times even at airports with executive check-in privileges. Zero line is shorter than even a one person line.
While I’d like to keep my Air Canada status, I think I will have to make peace with losing it. I will likely still fly with Air Canada a fair bit as they are partnered with my Aeroplan credit card and when spending and flying for business it is a quick way to accumulate a “free” vacation.
This rant may just be some sort of self-assuring therapy, but all-in-all I think I’ll be fine without you Air Canada Elite.
Therapy for my battered ego will come as less time spent in shrinking seats and in growing line-ups at strange hours. I’ll be at home more sipping my coffee and riding my bike.
Hey, maybe when I do fly every now and again I’ll even be able to afford a first class ticket once in a while which will give me all of the “privilege” I once enjoyed anyway.
