Randy Petersen
Welcome all from Canada and around the world to this very special chat tonight. Rupert Duchesne, the president of Aeroplan has been very wonderful with his time to come on tonight and chat with us. As a member of the Star Alliance and given the task of recovery of the airline industry, Aeroplan is very busy at this time. Actually, Aeroplan is a very interesting story. Started in July 1984, they recently honored over members of the Canadian Plus program and are unique in that they operate as a separate dision from Air Canada the airline. This can create special challenges and again, thank Rupert for his time. Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Rupert Duchesne
thanks

Randy Petersen
Since none of you came here tonight to hear me, I say we really use Rupert's time and get right to the questions......

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by Carioca Canuck: When is the Aeroplan IPO scheduled to be offered ?

Rupert Duchesne
we had originally hoped for the spring of 02 but plans are on hold for the time being as AC returns to prfitability

Paul
rupert. It seems that super elite members have lost alot with the 2002 benefits. no longer can we upgrade when making a booking, the flight classes for upgrade have been reduced, and flight schedules have been cut by 50%. why not leave the benefits the same at least in terms of when you can upgrade

Rupert Duchesne
we faced a real dilemma - too many of the upgrade seats were being used too far out and few were left close in which was upsetting a lot of full-fare flyers - thanks for the q

Yulse
Rupert will AC reconsider these changes based on any of the suggestions that this group has made to date ?

Rupert Duchesne
a lot of the changes we made were based on flyertalk comments and input from peiople we correspond with regularly

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by ACORD: When can we expect to see improvements to the Aeroplan web site and IVR system? I'm thinking specifically of real-time access to account history like Delta has (as opposed to monthly statements the mean one has to wait up to two months to see details of a transaction)

Rupert Duchesne
we've got some great plans for the web site which will rolled out in the next fwe months and with more improvements ar per DL later in the year

MatthewClement
Rupert, given that the problem was that too many upgrade seats were being booked too far out, why not just reduce the capacity control on seats which could be booked in advance? And how does that affect the upgradability of V-class fares?

Rupert Duchesne
because the upgrade class is also a revenue class due to system limitations which we're fixing but it costs $$$$$$$s. V fare was the other way of controlling the volume of upgrade requests - even though we have more J seats than US carriers have"F" TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by J. Wismark: Thank you for restoring the Short Haul award to YXY. Why was YXY award made long haul in the first place, and was the change worth the terrible PR it has generated throughout North.

Rupert Duchesne
short vs long was originally based on adjacent provinces but there were distortions - we listened to the Territory's views and made an exception for these Northern cities which are totally dependent on us to link with the world

errorplan22
Rupert, given that AC no longer awards Aeroplan miles for TravelCuts Z fares, how does Air Canada plan to engender brand loyalty with the next generation of business flyers: students?

Rupert Duchesne
good question - we want to satisfy these folk but the Z class is used for all sorts of v.heavily discounted fares and we can't afford to incur the cost of miles on all of these fares - system issues which we have to deal with TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by Maxfinder: Will we ever be able to purchase upgrades to business/first (from any fare) using points?

Rupert Duchesne
This would be a great feature and one we're looking at as it would be in everyone's interest TQ

catwood
Are there any chances you will be partnering with USAIR in the near future?

Rupert Duchesne
Never say never but I can't think why we'd want to at the moment!

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by airbus320: Air Canada, as well as the rest of the airline industry,is experiencing a slowdown in trafic. Why is Aeroplan not introducing more proactive measures to retain the loyalty of its top tier members?

Rupert Duchesne
we have - lower thresholds and Status Bonus Miles promo for Q1 we looked at an AA-type rollover but rejected as it would ahve meant 30% more members and thus 30% harder to get the benefits for the membership TQ

BlondeBomber
I was promised online booking (PTO) by fare class by Air Canada two years ago. Nothing has happened yet you now require specific fare classes to get upgrades. When are you going to get your technology in synch with your upgrade policies?

Rupert Duchesne
as soon as we can but we're very strapped for investment dollars as are all airlines and it's going to take a while to get the full system re-write suite done TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by J. Wismark: It would be great to redeem Aeroplan points for products other than travel. Are there any plans to include items such as Air Canada merchandise or other consumer products as award possibilities?

Rupert Duchesne
Yes Yes and Yes - all our members, flying and non, have asked for non-air and non travel eg hotel rooms, AC Vacations packages, car rentals, big-screen TVs, high-end goods, Mars Bars (just kidding) TQ

brendan01956
Does Aeroplan/Air Canada have any plans to introduce express check-in kiosks at additional airports in the near future?

Rupert Duchesne
we'dlike them in every airport - the FFs are big users and they save everyone time and money. but they cost $$$ and we're slowing the roll-out cos we need to spend our $$s first on replacing gas-guzzlers with sleek 330s and 321s TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by MoreMiles: My questions are: 1. Why is Air Canada selling the Aeroplan mile, in exchange for cash? Then why won't Air Canada recognize this is a liability and calculate accordingly in their operating budget? What does it take for Air Canada to know these reward seats are not free? 2. Why doesn't Air Canada maintain a uniform policy, and offer 35-50% miles to transborder flights? If domestic and Carribean flights are calculated this way, so should the rest of North American flights. I like to see that happen... I live in Canada and pay my taxes. I want to be treated as equally as the Americans, who don't pay taxes to our governement.

Rupert Duchesne
we sell it because peole want to buy, it generates cash for us so we can buy more seats from AC and Star partners and then buy non-air redemption products in the future. We account for third-party liability (sold points) at full cost. we've done domestic 50% on discount fares for years and by-the-way a little US carrier called AA does the same systemwide.... TQ

ACORD
Those of us who fly mainly in paid J often have stacks of upgrade coupons remaining at the end of the year. AA and others allow one to cash these in for points -- any plans for AC to do this?

Rupert Duchesne
frankly we havn't looked at this in detail - most FFs use all their upgrades but maybe some of you won't this year.......? An electronic upgrade system that we're looking at developing will do this eventually. I know it's unfair to those who fly J all the time that's why we'd like to fix this.

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by Tax Dude: It seems to me that the Aeroplan program now has two goals: 1) encourage/reward frequent flyers, and 2) generate revenue by selling Aeroplan miles to third parties (CIBC, Future Shop). I think these two goals conflict and Air Canada is in danger of alienating its frequent flyers by trying to provide their benefits through an "Air Miles" type program targeted at allowing 7 million members to earn free travel and merchandise through various marketing arrangements? Do you agree, and if so do you have a plan for resolving this conflict?

Rupert Duchesne
They don't conflict - we'll generate cash through these sales which e can invest back in the program and many of our FFs are the most rapid accumulators of miles on CIBC Aerogold and Diners - they wouldn't be too pleased if we stopped! US airlines are moving fast in this direction as well TQ

Unhappy Elite (PW)
Why is AC the only major NA carrier that doesn't offer bonus miles for online booking?

Rupert Duchesne
AC's newly announced on-line booking company Destina.ca will be an Aeroplan partner so watch their space over the next fwe months....TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by Mamac: Hello, I wonder if Air Canada has planned to put online auctions on their website, like the ones that exist on Air France or Lufthansa website ? If so, will booking with miles be possible ? Thanks.

Rupert Duchesne
we'd like to do on-line auctions for Aeroplan and will on our site when we have the capability. hwoever, if AC does this I don't think you'll be able to substitute $$s for miles

interested1
Late last year, AC introduced a change fee for for date changes on AC rewards for its top tier members. Most AC routings are issued electronically. How can AC consider this charge as a fair charge to their loyal top tier members for a simple date change?

Rupert Duchesne
this is a good one. we had so many SEs and Es making multiple bookings (often with upgrades) that it was out of control and unfair as it blocked revenue and redemption seats AND upgrade inventory. Most service cos charge fees and I think you'll see US and other airlines go there too TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by Lloyd: Why is Air Canada not following other major airlines and giving the most frequent flyers ie SuperElite a complementary SuperElite status for 2002 due to the highly irregular circumstances of Sept. 11 which had a huge effect on travel.

Rupert Duchesne
I answered this earlier - it would mean 30% members more per tier and thus 30% more people who want to get into the lounges and use upgrades - not many airlines are doing this and we think it's not a good and fair idea - we lowered the hurdle instead to the point where we'd have the same number of members 2002 vs 2001 (and our hurdles are lower anyway for Elites and Prestige which puts us at an advantage) TQ

Randy Petersen
Rupert, you are doing well with all these questions. Let's keep asking and thanks for keeping your humor. Maybe I should ask, what are your thoughts about what FlyerTalk is.

Rupert Duchesne
good input so far and as an ex-high flyer i like the input but you havn't been subject to my British humour yet so be warned!

Dogstar
As an AC Basic who is going to do a lot of air travel this year (out of YVR), probably to E or SE levels, why should I (continue to) fly AC instead of UA? UA appears to have better service, seating, & upgrade opportunities. Does AC want my business & what are you doing to earn it?

Rupert Duchesne
Yes we want your business. We've had some service challenges but we'll get back to where we were. CP and AC both beat the pants off the US carriers in the past every year so I know we can do it. If you fly our partner UA I'm pleased for them but do you want to pay $$$$s for the Red Carpet Club? TQ

ErrorplanVillageIdiot
Why don't you allow Standby anymore... Every other airline in the world allows this.... Is it because your system can't track passengers and instead of fixing the problem, you just don't allow standby for all?

Rupert Duchesne
we do allow standby for the higher fares but the competitors for the cheaper fares usually don't (Westjet, C3 that was). It also meant that we were having trouble closing out flights on time and we want to get to the top of the on-time ladder as business customers pay us to do that and expect it first and foremost TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by Empress: The most important question that many of us are asking and hope to be answered by you personally: is Aeroplan planning to make further changes/adjustments to their current program? As you might well be aware, a lot of people have already or planning to move to UA or other carriers, what is Air Canada doing in order to retain their business?

Rupert Duchesne
Yes we are but I hope that you'll think they're positive. Like a new website, more redemption capacity on high-demand flights, etc We're also looking at other stuff which you've brought up. I still think that a lot of what we have is damn good as I said in the press release. we can't be best on every benefit but i want our blend to be the best for as many of you as possible (and so is Star with things like mixed rewards and Starnet booking). BUT some are always going to consider the grass greener elsewhere. believe me I don't want to see you flying on anyone else but you do have a choice. AC's coming out of this crisis better thanour US peers TQ

SCMM
On Flyertalk many of the other Airlines/Hotels etc have a Representative on-line who can interact with us, help us with problems and generally give the Company Line - On-Line. Would you consider appointing one of your Reps to do this?

Rupert Duchesne
This is a really good idea and we'll look at this BUT it will take staff from the phone lines (although I hope you'll agree that our agents are damn good) I could also say that the new site when launched will be so slick that you won't need help but my CIO will kill me if I say this....TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by Altaflyer: As a new Elite I am very angry that just as I am expecting to be rewarded for my loyalty you withdraw many key benefits after a year of being enticed to fly more to achieve Elite Status. Would it not be more ethical to announce such sweeping changes a full year in advance?

Rupert Duchesne
I still don't think they're sweeping - it's still a good program but I admit that we should have announced the chages all-at-once and earlier - believe me I've got the scars to prove that we've heard you on this one loud and clear BUT given the uncertainty of our industry we can't make year-out promises. pls wait and see if what we do this year on AC service/fares etc and Aeroplan program features lives up to reasonable expectation vs the full basket of US airline benefits (we're all already much better than the rest of the world's premium airlines - upgrades, what upgrades?) TQ

Fermat
As a frequent NA flyer, the most important things to me are seat pitch, flexible schedule and (of course!) Q-miles. Is there Air Canada looking at implementing something similar to UA's E+ seating for us "road warriors" who sometimes can't get into J?

Rupert Duchesne
our seat pitch with our newer fleet is already better than the average US seat but not as good as a few. I understand that as a result of the economic meltdown some US airlines are wishing they'd not done it and are possibly going back TQ

Mikel at WebFlyer
This question was submitted ealier by A. Devlin: When will Aeroplan start providing upgrade awards for points, rather than the certificates that are provided currently?

Rupert Duchesne
we want to as i said before but can't yet due systems - we need investment $$s which are scarce but we'll do it as soon as we can then members can work from a "bank" of points and spend them as they wish TQ

Randy Petersen
Well, the hour comes to a close and it's been a while since any guest has been as entertaining and quick to take on any question as Rupert. I'm glad that FlyerTalk was able to bring together Aeroplan members to hear and see what is going on at Aeroplan. For the record: Rupert wants this dialog to continue with his members and has asked to return to FlyerTalk Live! in about 4 weeks time to review things that have happened since and to continue to answer your concerns. He becomes the first guest we've ever had to want to return so soon. So either you were all too easy on him tonight, or he loves FlyerTalk.

Rupert Duchesne
Thanks to all! TQQ

Randy Petersen
A great evening, again thanks to Rupert who has asked to return in 4 weeks time to continue. We've never had a guest that wanted to return that soon.....he must love you all. Again thanks for the valuable time of Rupert and of course the time from our FlyerTalkers....