Air Canada mulls VIP tier and expansion of Signature Suite network

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | As an airline without long-haul First Class, Air Canada has to get creative in appealing to super-premium flyers. Rather than calling Business Class exactly that, Air Canada cheekily brands the cabin as Signature Class, with premium Signature Suite lounges to match.

But those Signature Suite locations don’t follow the tide in terms of who can glide through the doors. These lounges aren’t just reserved for those in Signature Class. Rather, for an elite subset within that category. Booked your flight using miles – including Velocity Points? Chances are, it’s a no for you. You can still visit the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, but it’s not quite the same.

As it happens, Air Canada is looking to roll out the Signature Suite concept even further, beyond its current hubs in Toronto and Vancouver. Leading the way is Air Canada Executive Vice President of Marketing and Digital, Mark Nasr. He’s also President of Aeroplan, the airline’s frequent flyer program.

We catch up on the sidelines of the invitation-only IATA AGM in Dubai to see where Air Canada’s lounge concept is landing next. And, by extension, how Air Canada plans to improve its appeal with the highest of high-tier frequent flyers.

What is the Air Canada Signature Suite?

Most people would recognise the Maple Leaf Lounge as Air Canada’s ‘signature’. But then there’s Signature Suite – for a select few. It is home to table service with upgraded dining, and naturally, has a highly restrictive guest list.

‘Signature Suite really is above and beyond,’ Nasr proudly proclaims. ‘Right now, we don’t think there’s anything like it in North America. We really think it’s more of a First Class lounge-type tier.’ (Qantas does have a First Lounge in Los Angeles, but the offering isn’t quite as comprehensive as in Sydney and Melbourne).

‘I think about the First Class lounges that exist in Australia,’ Nasr continues. Naturally, he’s pondering the Qantas First Lounge and Singapore Airlines SilverKris First Class Lounge – the only dedicated First Class lounges Down Under. Of the Signature Suite, ‘I would put it very comfortably in that competitive sense.’

Speaking of the original design process for the Signature Suite concept, ‘when we sought to build this, we sought to build something really special. I’ve been to all of them personally. Without a doubt, this is the best Business Class dining facility in the world. I would (even) call it one of the best First Class dining facilities in the world.’

‘From a menu perspective, I put us up against… (well,) I won’t give a list to not offend anybody. But I put us up against virtually any First Class lounge from a dining quality and menu and execution perspective. These spaces are not large and they’ve been much more successful than we were anticipating.’

Access to Signature Suite is selective

One interesting aspect of Air Canada’s Signature Suite experience is that it’s exclusively for long-haul Business Class flyers. Or, as Air Canada calls it, Signature Class. But even then, not every long-haul premium flyer qualifies for entry. Those who’ve booked their journey using partner points don’t make the cut. Even Air Canada’s own elite Aeroplan members can’t whisk their way inside on a standard Aeroplan Signature Class reward seat booking.

A challenge that Air Canada is facing is that ‘post pandemic … we’re seeing 80-90% longer dwell time’ in Signature Suite lounges. Nasr puts that down ‘to a lot higher mix of premium leisure. These customers are coming to the airport in anticipation of the Signature Suite. Particularly, before ultra long or late night European short haul, European mid-haul type departures.’

When asked whether there might be scope to expand access to some partners – say, Velocity members – Nasr explains the airline’s thinking. ‘Space constraints (and) the economics just don’t work for certain customers commercially in there.’ Sorry, Velocity Gold and Platinum members, I did try!

But ‘we’ve done two things around that. Number one is we have an upsell option for those on (Aeroplan) award travel to take our Business or First Class flexible redemptions. And then they are welcomed into the Signature Suites if they’re departing from the international terminal in Toronto or Vancouver. Number two, we have an invitation-only credit card program. (It’s) a black card-type credit card, and that’s another way to get access.’

‘And then aside from those two extensions of criteria, we are also expanding the Signature Suite network. (This) will take the form of additional square footage, but will also take the form of additional locations to be announced. So we have this brilliantly popular product. and we feel blessed for it. Now, we’re figuring out how do we scale it and keep it as special as it is.’

Speaking of invitation-only…

We won’t bore you with all the details of Air Canada’s secret credit card. As you might expect, it’s only available in Canada, but it’s still an interesting play.

‘It’s a product that, by design, is very small and selective. But we do have a segment of customers that are particularly not road warriors. They are less frequent, but they love the brand, they love the alliance, and they want to be able to engage. And we have a premium product portfolio, but this is two steps above that.’

But Aeroplan could have another secret, soon enough. ‘Most of the tier one loyalty programs have special invitation-only type tiers,’ Nasr observes. This is ‘something that we are considering,’ hint hint. Aeroplan is even ‘looking at, potentially, reciprocal cooperation and those kinds of scenarios to be determined.’

I ask directly whether Aeroplan was looking at a reciprocal deal with Virgin Australia. That is, an agreement that would provide Virgin Australia Beyond members with Signature Suite privileges, and Aeroplan VIPs with Beyond Lounge access. ‘I couldn’t possibly comment,’ Nasr says.

In terms of opening the Signature Suite to a broader range of flyers, Nasr explains that ‘right now, we don’t have a solution for partner programs. It’s something that I think as we have more space, then we’d be able to engage our partners, to say what would need to be true. And do you have an interest in offering this, just like we offer our upsells to the flexible Business Class, flexible First Class reward redemptions?’

Recognising other top-tier travellers

When your frequent flyer program only has the public tiers to rely upon, how do you keep the 1% interested and engaged? Nasr begins by explaining the big-picture view.

‘We have just on the order of nine million active members globally,’ he begins and emphasises. ‘A lot of people say a lot of things about the number of members they have. And unfortunately, a lot of it’s malarkey because it’s lines in a database or weird definitions of activity. When I say we have just about nine million active members globally, (that’s) people who are actually engaged in the program and doing things with the program, et cetera.’ Nasr defines an active member as one who has earned or redeemed with the program in the past 18 months.

Within that set of Aeroplan members, ‘the elite base is smaller than most tier one Star Alliance carriers, relative to the size of the program. And there are a few reasons for that. On our end, the biggest is that we have some of the more advantageous set of elite benefits. Those include, obviously, ground benefits and more lounge access than anyone in North America is offering. (That’s) because we have domestic transporter lounge access from 50K and up.’

‘We have upgrade credits that work globally, that start at the entry level tier: the 25K level. And then, we do redemption discounts. 50% off redemptions at the 25K tier. It starts out as North America economy, but at the Super Elite tier, it’s global. Every partner business class including stopover awards. So you can go to the Maldives with a stopover in London and come back via Asia with a stopover in Singapore. You get 50% off and you can have five carriers on an award.’

‘So it’s a benefit we invest quite a lot in and for all those reasons, we manage the tier program quite carefully.’ Even so, Signature Suite access is not a privilege provided to a particular status tier. It exclusively comes from the travel class and booking type.

Going above and beyond for true road warriors

Nasr is conscious that those who fly the most need to be rewarded the most. As for the current highest tier in Aeroplan, Super Elite, Nasr is careful to keep it to a small club of serious high flyers.

‘We certainly manage the top tiers, trying to get to a specific outcome from membership size. I mean Super Elites, in addition to all the aforementioned benefits, they also get concierge access. So it would be equivalent to the unpublished tiers in the US, which is the level where a concierge-type service kicks in on the ground.’

Nasr is, of course, referring to levels such as American Airlines’ ConciergeKey tier. There’s also Delta 360 – offering Porsche transfers to the aircraft at selected airports – and United Global Services.

‘So we just have to be careful, because scaling a benefit like that does not happen overnight. You have to have agents (and) they have to be very well trained for that kind of service. They have to be on the ground and in the contact centres. So, we say, okay, well we can’t have more than X thousand members at this tier.’

It’s a small club, after all.

Also read: Air Canada Aeroplan is growing in Australia, but not forcefully: Mark Nasr

Imagery courtesy of Air Canada. Chris Chamberlin attended the IATA AGM in Dubai as a guest of IATA.

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