Air Canada’s Aeroplan program has made some changes in the face of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Aeroplan members can cancel online through March 31, 2020, without any penalties or fees. Additional eUpgrade credits have been deposited to eligible accounts, and status qualification criteria are assessed at a later time.
You can access Aeroplan here.
Here’s the update:
Free cancellation:
If you’d like to cancel any Flight Reward, the fastest way to do so is at aeroplan.com. Due to high call volumes, we are experiencing long hold times at our contact centres. Until March 31, you can cancel free of charge and receive all of your Aeroplan Miles back in your account, plus a full refund of any associated taxes, fees and surcharges on the unused value of your travel. Simply log-in and visit
Miles expiry pushed to May 14
As you know, earning, redeeming or transferring Aeroplan Miles will keep all of your miles active for 12 months from the transaction date. In order to give you one less thing to think about, as a policy matter, we have paused expiry until May 14, 2020. This means that between now and May 14, any Aeroplan Miles which would have expired will not. Effective May 15, our normal expiration policy will once again apply, meaning that miles will expire if an eligible transaction has not been completed prior to this date.
Additional eUpgrade credits
In light of reduced travel in 2020, we realize that Altitude members may not be able to enjoy their upgrade privileges. In recognition of that, we are providing all Altitude members with additional eUpgrade Credits, valid until May 31, 2021. You can view these in your eUpgrade account and use them immediately.
2021 status
We realize that for our loyal customers and frequent flyers, your travel plans this year have been disrupted just as our business has been impacted. We’re watching the situation very closely and, as travel patterns unfold over the coming months, you can count on us to address this unusual situation. Rest assured that we’ll do right by you with policy changes and special offers for Altitude status qualification.
Conclusion
Airlines and hotels need to come up with plans to get traveling public on the road again once the peak of the pandemic is over. Member tiers should be extended at a minimum by 12 months, like some programs have already done.
Let’s hope that there is something left on the aviation sector once the life gradually returns to normal.
Good moves all, but alas have just tried to cancel an Aeroplan award online and was directed to the call centre (perhaps because it contained LX flights as well as AC?). Given the closed Canada/US border also had to cancel AC revenue flights, and those were no problem, though was only able to get a credit voucher for future use. As an E50K appreciate the extra eUpgrades with their extended lifespan beyond the usual February expiry.
I now have travel credits with AS, BA and SQ. Refunds from KLM and possibly in the near future (if flying isn’t resumed by June) AF, LH and LX! That’s thousands of dollars “invested” in the return of normalcy (hardly likely to be what we have considered normal for our lifetimes).
Good luck with cancelling online:(. I am trying for 1 week, have 4 flights booked and I was able to cancel only one. I called AO (and lucky to get through) and the lady refused to cancel my flights w/o a fee- her wording ‘ no fee cancellation is applicable until April 30 only”. Our flights were in May toward Europe. As I type now I am on hold for >2 hrs with AO. The sad thing
is that one cannot do anything.
I ran into an issue canceling a reward ticket online and received an error message followed by a request to call in. When calling in it seems the agents on the phone have a different set of rules even if you can’t cancel online and they wanted to charge $75. I called back and spoke with another agent who suggested trying again in a different browser. Sure enough I was getting the error in Safari but when trying it in Google chrome I was able to cancel online ok. Also if you are trying to cancel on a mobile device try on a PC if you can.
So,,,,a hypothetical. Let’s say one has a reward flight for mid-April using United & AC transiting through the US to Canada from Australia.
United’s last flight out of Sydney is before the end of March so that’s a no-go from the word go. The US is closed to Canadian citizens so it’s a no-go on that front as well. So far there has been no re-scheduling of this flight by Aeroplan as I suspect that there will also be no Air Canada flights from Australia by then either.
Does one cancel of their own volition by March 31 given their policy of no cancellation fees and full refunds of taxes etc. or does one wait to see what Aeroplan will do with this booking? What do people think Aeroplan WILL do in this case?
FTR, don’t need the flight anyway. Booked a new reward and flew home already. Just curious about your thoughts.