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Aeroplan’s Unpublished “One Free Change” Policy
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I have a round trip made from Calgary (YYC) to Sao Paulo (GRU) because by the time I made the booking my final destination (CNF) wasn’t available for booking . Now it is available and I want to change it making it YYC to CNF.
Can I make those changes without paying too much or even for free?
Cheers,
just to update, I made the changes and had to pay $49 per person in extra airport charges. No other fee.
Great site! So much good info.
Dumb question: what constitutes an involuntary schedule change? I have a trip booked for March 2021 and there has been a change by Swiss airline. The original flight was scheduled for 17:55 but was changed to 21:45pm (same day). Not a big deal…
I probably have to push back this March trip to the summer, hoping the COVID situation improves. Reading your post, I can use this “unpublished one free change” or see if this schedule change can be considered as an involuntary change and ask aeroplan for the “free” change.
Yes, that’s correct. You can call Aeroplan and try to convince them to make a free change on the basis of this involuntary schedule change (even though a four-hour change may not seem like much, it’s been significant enough to ask for free schedule changes in my experience); if that fails, you have one free change available to you.
When you had the two Aeroplan gentlemen on your Youtube livestream a while back, one of them promised that not all details of the new program were released at that time and that anything new would be no worse than neutral, and some good. Has there been anything announced since then, or will it all be revealed at launch?
We’ve heard about the new eUpgrades so far. We also heard about new partner additions like Vistara. We’re yet to hear about the new Elite Status details, new Star Alliance Upgrades, etc. but we know those are coming. Then, there’s a bunch of stuff where we don’t know what we don’t know – to be coming even after the new Aeroplan is launched, well into 2021.
Ricky, would it make sense to book a few dummy flights as far as possible into 2021 before Nov 8 to secure business class flights between Canada and Europe at the current cost of 55k (on carriers with no fuel surcharges). My thinking is that the points and partner booking fee savings prior to Nov 8 would outweigh any fee levied for a date change. Or, in the case of an involuntary change/cancellation, a different date or itinerary could be selected at no cost.
Keep in mind that a simple date change would still be subject to repricing, if it’s a voluntary change, although in this case the difference is pretty marginal (60k under the new program, so an extra 5k).
If you have the miles to tie up in dummy bookings, and you’re looking to lock in those 5k + $39 partner fee savings, AND you don’t have any better uses of those miles in mind, then I think it’d be a good move for you.
Thanks for the helpful reply! Agree that the extra 5k is no big deal. However, for routes > 4000 miles, the extra 15k for any change is significant.
To clarify, by dummy flights I mean a route I actually want (e.g. YUL-ZRH) but on a random date.
Ricky,
This question is not necessarily about fee waivers. But here is my question. I currently have tickets booked in business class with connecting flights from YYC to YVR and return only currently available in economy. In the current system I would just keep checking and if I found business class seats released I would call and claim them. Since after Nov 8 all seats on Air Canada flights will be available will I be able to claim the business class seats I require for my current ‘old system’ booking.
Good question. I know that free upgrades to business on *partner* airlines will continue to be honoured if the overall class of service has already been paid for, but I’m not sure about how it works for Air Canada flights. Let me see if I can get some clarity on this.
Thanks for the confirmation on this Ricky as I have had numerous AP agents say the upgrades will be subject to new pricing and others have said it won’t be, not even the supervisors were sure. Now time to book some Q3 2021 travel 🙂
I wonder if the re-pricing would also happen for involuntary changes after November 8.
Nope, if it’s an involuntary schedule change and you aren’t happy with the alternatives offered, you can request a change of your own and still be subject to the old program’s rules and charts.
Great information. I just had my flights changed twice last week because of schedule change for the flight departing originally on Nov 13 and return Dec 12 now to Nov 8 and return Dec 14th. The best part is they never charged me any fuel surcharges on Air Canada flights when the flights were changed from Turkish to Air Canada from YVR-DEL. DP is the agent told as long as you have a schedule change on itinerary they will change the flights and dates to accommodate the original travel route. And best part is I still have one free change available as confirmed by the agent. Just mention to the agent you have a schedule change and they just accommodate date change, flight changes without any additional payments. They never check if they already have changed it earlier. I am unsure if this is for all trips before 31 DEC 2021 or beyond that. You got till Nov 8 basically to do the changes to save some points on AC / Lufthansa and the fuel surcharges.
Does the schedule change need to have altered your itinerary by at least x hours to warrant the free change? Does their system flag schedule changes on your itinerary in order to check your comments are valid? I’m guessing aircraft change doesn’t count.
Aircraft changes don’t count, but you could always try your hand at persuading a sympathetic agent.
The X hours is also not a hard and fast rule. You might want to make a change as a result of a 30-minute schedule change because your new layover time is too tight. But on a longer layover, a 30-minute change is unlikely to make a difference. It all depends on the agent you’re speaking with and the story you tell.
I would also suggest booking a few select routes that are notorious for cancelling their flights right now (country restrictions). Would give you an itinerary that is hit with irrops, an additional free change that doesn’t include any additional YQ. 🙂
Which destinarions are those Jay?
Please share.