Aeroplan

Recently booked a trip via Aeroplan for my daughter. Flight was on United. Online system allowed me to book tickets no problem. Once booked I contacted airline to let them know she had a cast on her foot. They advised despite system allowing me to purchase tickets she would not be allowed to fly as she was a 'minor' (3 months shy of 16). Spoke with a manager in customer service who allowed me to purchase 2 unaccompanied minor services ($150 USD each way) and assured me all was arranged.

Departure was a bit rocky as originating airport could find to reference to the chaperone purchase. Finally found it and she was allowed to board. Chaperone I had paid for did not show up in Dulles and fortunately a departing flight attendant took her to her gate for 2nd flight. For return flight United in Charlotte absolutely refused to let her board and advised they didn't care about chaperone agreement. United head office agreed with them. They finally managed (after almost 2 hours) to get her on an American Airlines flight (lovely people) and she made it home.

Received refund for 1 portion of chaperone fee and am awaiting response as to whether I can get refund for original flight. That being said, you can't apply for these online or on phone, you have to fax them in so we will have to see. Contacted Aeroplan and was advised that despite whatever their system did it was my problem/issue with airline as to whether she was allowed to fly. 20 years as Aeroplan collector and have put up with their ridiculous excuse for redeeming points but am done.

Today I was trying to book a hotel for an upcoming trip to Toronto using my Aeroplan points, as I've done many times over the past decade. When I searched for available hotels on the Aeroplan site, having specified "Toronto" and "City Centre" (the other choice being "Airport"), the site returned 13 search results. Of those 13 "Toronto hotels", only TWO were actually in Metro Toronto city limits, which is what you expect when you specify "city centre". Three more were in far flung corners of the "Greater Toronto Area" (GTA), five were in other cities at least one hour from the Toronto city centre (assuming perfect traffic flow!) and, finally, yes, THREE were in NEW YORK STATE! Then I saw the announcement that one of the hotel chains I had often booked with has dropped Aeroplan altogether - ouch.

As an Aeroplan member since 2001, I had long ago concluded from bitter experience that using points to book flights was almost always a waste of time - too few seats available and too few flights to choose from. However, I had stayed in the program to book hotels. Now that too is apparently a waste of time, so I intend to leave and would advise anyone considering Aeroplan to think again.

I have a high number of Aeroplan points and was looking to use them for an Air Canada flight from London to Toronto for my daughter and her family. The points themselves were reasonable. However, the taxes and fees etc. added a huge number of points based on a cash figure of $2063.44. I then checked with the airline direct and found that the total cost was $2876.90 including taxes, fees etc. That in itself makes it hardly worthwhile to use points and booking direct would add Aeroplan points rather than using over 400,000. However, my question is why Air Canada indicate taxes etc. at $733 and Aeroplan $2063? They should surely be the same as the definition that Aeroplan use on their website for this part of the cost is "Miles will cover all taxes, fees, charges and carrier surcharges related to a flight reward that are imposed by the airlines, governments or authorities".

Note that there is no mention of fees to Aeroplan. It would be extortionate even if they did, but which 'authorities' are receiving the extra $1330? Surely this is borderline or actually illegal? It appears that Aeroplan are making money under the pretext of it being imposed by bodies external to them. There is absolutely no point in querying this by calling the helpline as, notwithstanding the time taken to get through, there appears to be facility to escalate a complaint to a higher level. The executives of the company hide their contact details and there is no way to email a complaint.

Been looking to redeem points for the past two years, and so far have not been able to find available dates at regular points usage, even when looking out as far as they book. EXTREMELY frustrated. This organization should been fined and put out of business. While I've used my points to travel numerous times over 15 years, the ability to actually find available travel dates (even as far out as 6+ months) has with time, become increasingly impossible with Aeroplan (especially to South America and most Caribbean/Southern destinations).

Website availability calendars will show available dates, however departure and return dates are "purposely" set so far apart that selecting travel for 1 week periods has "by design" been made almost impossible. Selecting "stated" available dates almost always ends up costing a "premium" number of points. Good luck trying to reach customer service as waits are consistently a minimum 30-60 minutes. Customer service is the worst of the worst. My advice to anyone considering applying to become an Aeroplan member is to look elsewhere. As soon as I'm able to redeem travel points (which may never happen), I'll be signing up with another rewards program. Shame on Aeroplan and I feel sorry for their employees who have to work for such a disreputable company with worst reviews I've ever read. Avoid at all cost.

I booked a flight last night with Aeroplan to business class from YOW to YVR, only to find out that I could not travel on that date, so I cancelled and called Aeroplan as soon they opened at 07:30 this morning. When I explained what had happened, they said rebooking would cost 100$ and a full refund would cost me 150$ to refund points and dollar portion I paid. I had trust in them for having a honest and fair policy which is not true. Advice for others reading this: call as soon as they open and they answer fast but this mean 04:30 in BC.

While I had new travel dates, I decided to go for a refund as to avoid this again in the future. I told the agent it's better to pay for your flight, this way, it gives you 24 hours to change your mind without fees on any class of fare paid and without the hassle. The agent being rude asked me where did I find a 24 hours, she said when you book, it's final. It cost 100$ to re-book, if more than 22 days from travel, 150$ for refund to reinstate your purchase, if not you have a credit for a year on same class you booked. You need to contact Aeroplan to rebook where this is when they charge you 100$ up to a year. After the year, you forfeit your ticket. You only get one email on this so don't lose it. If you can't find business class, you can book economy but you forfeit half your miles and if it costs more, you pay more.

Availability is very poor and most flights are either too early, too late or with a connecting flight as when you compare on Air Canada site, there are 5 or 6 times more flights there. Seats and flights are very limited. I managed to get YOW to YVR business class one way this time but had to check calendar and choose a date 3 weeks from when I really wanted to travel. I decided to get a refund, paid 150$ plus tax, miles instantly went back in my account. To not take another risk, I decided to redeem for 4 gift cards leaving my balance almost at zero. I have American Express Platinum card which is 499$ a year, I will keep as long as they partner with Fairmont to give me Platinum benefits thereto, it's worth it. If that partnership gets cancelled, then I cancel my card as I will not use any of the other benefits that related to the Aeroplan program except for lounge's access.

I heard Air Canada is leaving Aeroplan by 2020 to start their own program, I can't wait to see what the new program would have in store but I will surely try it. My return flight was booked with Westjet dollars, when I called this morning, no hassle, got credited everything no charge as it's within 24 hours. I hope the new Air Canada points system works similar to the Westjet program. I have been a member since 2001, was great at start but in recent years, the program is failing, same as AirMiles where I stopped accumulating miles, I will do same with Aeroplan. I will not go out of my way to accumulate Aeroplan miles and will only get those from business that only offer them but will book gifts cards instead. MyPlan: when I reach 3500 Aeroplan, I will redeem for a 25$ gift card that I can use.

I have been a member since 1992. Recently I tried to use my miles for a one way ticket from Toronto to SFO. I did not have sufficient miles so I decided to purchase what I needed. When I got done investigating, the amount I had to pay (not including the over 34K miles I had) was more than the cost of a one-way ticket! I decided to fly from Detroit. Then I was told my miles were going to expire. I have never heard that airline miles expire with any other airlines, so I went online to see how I could use them. None of the gift card options were of interest so I donated them to a charity. I have chopped up my card and will not try to use it again. When I went online with Aeroplan to try to contact them electronically, I could not find a way to do that.

My wife and I are planning a trip to Australia in March of 2018. We have booked a cruise and require round trip airfare Toronto to Sydney. We have been saving our points so we can fly business class on this flight. I checked in advance with Aeroplan when we could book this flight, as I wanted to book it as early as possible to get business class seats. It was recommended to me that we book one way travel, that way we could book the outbound flight as early as possible, as these seats could be gone if we waited for the return flight to open up. I was told we could book 350 days in advance.

I checked regularly when the flight would open. On the day the flight opened, I found a flight direct (with a stop in Vancouver) that showed available seats. When I went to book it, it came up and said "due to real time availability the seats were not available". I thought this was because I was too early. I kept trying on that day, nothing. The next morning when I checked the flight did not appear on the search. I then called Aeroplan. They told me there was only one business class flight available. What!!! I proceeded to book one business class flight and one economy. I was later able to upgrade the economy to premium economy (for more points). When I checked the Air Canada site for this flight, there was only one seat taken in business and one in premium economy.

This indicates the Air Canada only ever gave ONE seat to Aeroplan in business class. I spoke with Aeroplan and they confirmed this. When I went to book the one way tickets for the return flight, the same problem. Still checking and the only seats taken in business is our seat. This is totally unacceptable. You save miles for a long time to use them, you go online EARLY and there are no seats. This is not because someone got in before I did, I could accept this, but because Air Canada has not given Aeroplan sufficient seats for 2 people to travel together. Totally unacceptable. This makes we wonder I participate in the Aeroplan reward program, I think I would be better with a different reward program.

They never credit my miles, I always have to call after each trip. Even then when I try to enter missing miles online, it seems that there is always some kind of a problem. Then you call and they make wait for hours on the phone, to finally let you know that you have to send a special email. After sending an email for each flight, they always make sure 1 or 2 are missing in your account. It seems they do everything possible to avoid crediting you, your earn miles, they mainly hope that you will simply forget about that. Aeroplan is simply a rip off company, can't really believe that Air Canada deals with them, what a disgrace.

Aeroplan appears to be intentionally blocking reward seats on 2 Star Alliance partner carriers AVIANCA and COPA with only an explanation that it is an IT problem with no expected date of fixing. Yet researching the web I find that there are other travelers experiencing the same problem and that it is ONLY Aeroplan doing it. Other Star Alliance carriers apparently are not. If they are the reward program of a Star Alliance Carrier (Air Canada) they should, under no circumstances, be allowed to block reward inventory from other Star Alliance carriers. It is part of the reason we give Air Canada our business... Shameful.

I had a large number of Aeroplan miles but did not use my Aeroplan card much. I received an email last April just before I left on vacation that my miles would expire soon. During the vacation I presented the card on at least 4 flights with Air Canada partners and it was accepted without comment so I assumed the points were reset and did not check my account. Only recently when I was checking my account did I realize that they had rejected each of my attempts to deposit the Miles and then deleted the Miles. Only when I called them did they inform me that the Air Canada flights were on a class which did not give Aeroplan miles. There is nothing in the Aeroplan documentation that indicates only some Air Canada (and partner) flights give Miles. Therefore I think I should have been given the benefit of the doubt and had my Aeroplan miles restored but Aeroplan would not even consider that option.

Why do I pay a much higher charge for taxes and fees when I book a flight with my Aeroplan miles than for the same flight booked directly with the airline? For example, a Montreal-Toronto flight booked with Aeroplan costs 7500 points plus $85.22 in taxes, fees and surcharges; same flight booked online with Air Canada directly costs $124. 31, including taxes, fees and charges of $54.31. Is this legal? Does Air Canada not care that so many Canadians complain about this "loyalty" program?

The whole reward points is scam, I never got an email and no mail but somehow they decided that my points were expired. I guess one of their employees needed my points that took me years to accumulate. SCAM AND FRAUD ALL THE WAY. Very disappointed, I cancelled my TD Visa card that links to the Aeroplan as well.

Aeroplan points are useless. There used to be a time when the program was pretty good. Being a member for 24 years I have watched it erode to the point that the points and status mean nothing anymore, unless the old Super Elite Status, which is almost impossible to obtain now. For about the fourth time this year I have sat down for over an hour trying to get a flight in 11 months from now, this time, from YVR to London looking for Business but Economy only and a layover in Montreal or Toronto. So I move my date of departure up down close to a month, nothing. I change routing, try and find a flight that is direct and save the 6-9 hour layover and hotel.

I am trying to plan a multi-city for two so trying to reduce travel time. Here is an example of the searches I get back: YVR to London 15 hr 20 mins, London to Rome, 2 stops, 9 hr 30 min travel time. Total Duration 23 Hrs 53 mins. I move it from YVR - Frankfurt or Paris or Rome or anywhere to get decent flight as my dates are flexible. So I go on the AC website avoiding Aeroplan and within 3 minutes the first search is a direct flight with one stop over and lots of seats available, total travel time 13 hrs 40 mins only $900.00 more for two tickets. Using points the taxes and fees are outrageous!!! These are old points as I travel a lot but never AC if I can avoid it on international travel these past few years due to this program.

Also the planes are often older and interior in disrepair and the so called loyalty program is useless. If you book through an agent who will try and find you a seat sale they might book on another Star Alliance portal (airline) to book on an AC flight as it is cheaper for some reason when they are looking at times in the hundreds of dollars. That makes sense to anyone even to AC you would think, but guess what, points don't count towards status. You must book with AC and fly on an AC plane or one operated by AC to get qualifying miles on a flight towards perks like lounge access, etc. So you pay more, fly on an older plane to get stale food and a free beer in a lounge also priority check in. If I can figure out how to ever get rid of these points, 360,000 points on a flight or a bunch of gas cards is my next step.

I have now dropped my Aeroplan credit card and picked one with lounge access and baggage perks and next switch to Lufthansa's program. Still Star Alliance and a much better loyalty program, the airline recognizes flights with all star alliance members. Better Loyalty program website and much better planes, well done Aeroplan, you drove me to do some pretty intense research to avoid you after 24 years by trying to force me to pay more to use your airline booking service and by trying to force me to just buy a ticket by making redeeming points. So inconvenient to a loyalty program member.

Today I was booking flights online for myself and my parents. I made a mistake and called the call center immediately. I waited 2 hours the first time and no one answered. Then I called again and waited for 1 1/2 hours. No one answered. I went to cancel two of the flights out of three and it cost me 300 dollars. Not to mention that there are no decent flights available, no one wants to talk to you. Their service has always been awful, but this is over the top horrendous. THEY SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BE IN BUSINESS.

My experience is that I am consistently getting "Page not found." I have an account and have had one for years. I have being trying to book flights using my points, I put in all the information necessary to book and then I am consistently getting "PAGE NOT FOUND." I have tried different days at different times... same thing every time. Is this their way of not allowing people to use their points? I cannot get through on the Help line.

OK, so here is the deal. I traveled a lot on AC - Super Elite for 10 years. Lots of international travel. Let me give you an idea how I was treated. About 5-6 years into being Super Elite I was late for a flight in Houston. I called the Super Elite phone number (which gets answered immediately) and told them I was going to miss the flight. They ask how late, and I said probably 10 mins. "No problem, you might make it, the flight is late". Well, I got to the gate agent and they were pulling the jet way from the plane. The agent looked up, saw my passport and immediately radioed the pilot. Yes, you are reading this right, they opened up the plane and I boarded. And it goes on, I have punted poor souls off planes because I needed the seat at the last minute and so on. Not proud of this, AC simply allowed it.

Now that I am a mere "mortal" (and my life is far more balanced), I am trying to use the 100's of thousands of Aeroplan miles I have accumulated and it is impossible. When I was Super Elite, this was never a problem. Want to fly biz class to Hawaii last minute? I would log in and choose my flights, pay very little in taxes/fees and off we went. Easy! Fly to Asia and upgrade to biz class, not problem. I would often buy an economy ticket and get upgraded merely by asking when I checked in.

However, now, it is hopeless. The program is clearly geared toward Super Elite flyers, which means you are literally in the air 4-7 months of the year. This is sad. Frankly, I wish Aeroplan would simply "call a spade a spade" and terminate the program for non-frequent flyers as it gives false hope, collects data on purchasing habits without anything in return and sours people on travel. The latter really bothers me because travel is what makes us more human!

In a nutshell, take a deep breath and liquidate your Aeroplan account using "gas cards" or buying a TV you don't need. Then cancel the account. Then, get a "Travel rewards" card from any of the banks. TD has a good program with Expedia. Then you will get 1.5% "cash" back and if you use Expedia For TD to book your travel, you will get a total of 2.5% cash back on the travel you do book through Expedia For TD. Unless you want to travel on business (and it better be worth the sacrifices that come with it) and achieve Super Elite Status, the Aeroplan program is not worth the stress or hassle.

I had terrible experience with Aeroplan. I booked a hotel using my points and I was charged at the hotel again. It's been 3-4 months and I am still waiting for my refund. It's impossible to get ahold of a customer service representative. Based on my Facebook review supervisor contacted me and she was very rude. She was very suspicious about my complaint. She asked me to send my credit card statement to her and when I sent it it's automatically getting blocked from their end due to security concerns.

I have sent email from different email IDs but none of them worked and when I explained this to her she was mad saying "I am getting emails from all other customers." "Then why I am not receiving your email?" And she said "You first check with your bank if they have charged you or not." As if I was lying. Finally somehow she got the email and she said we will refund my money back within 3 weeks and I did not get any refund, so when I called today they said it's 8 weeks not 3 weeks, so still I have to wait. I want to cancel my TD Aeroplan visa card after I receive my refund. It's useless. Please don't get this card ever.

The website doesn't refresh. Bookings are no longer possible, even after hours of multiple attempts, across three different browsers. Technical Support (option #4) disconnects you rather than talk with you, after 21 and 38 minute waits respectively. Option #1, a real person, when I actually get one, insists on charging fees because I didn't use the website - which doesn't even work. The company is trying to make Aeroplan more of a profit center by ensuring that everyone pays a service fee rather than use their hobbled online services (that used to work well).

It's almost impossible to get a hold of anybody at Aeroplan. Their phone number has the longest hold times. Sometimes they're so busy that they won't let you hold. I have a dispute with them but they make it impossible so you just give up. I've canceled my TD credit card because of them. I will change banks as well if TD bank continues to be associated with these crooks.

I would like to know why Aeroplan make it impossible to use air miles. I have tried the following: Tried to book an Air Canada vacation with my husband using points. We cannot book separately because we are sharing a room. To transfer miles from one to the other, it costs over $1,000 which is more than the cost of the trip. Tried to use an Air Canada gift voucher to pay. Can't do that as it can only be used on Air Canada flights. Tried to book various trips on points - usually involves several stops and takes 12 plus hours to get somewhere that should take four maximum.

Tried to book a flight to Europe. It requires a huge number of points and then you charge a surcharge of I think about $550, that is higher than booking the flight with Air Transit or West Jet. Tried to use them all up by flying business class to Europe. Your surcharge is about $1200. Why is there a bigger surcharge to fly business class? I am sick and tired of this. I pay an annual fee for credit cards to accumulate miles and then cannot use them or the cost of using them is too high. I will cancel those cards and never fly Air Canada again. I will not let this go and if will take it to any level to ensure people know that their points are worthless.

I have carefully examined the demerits of Aeroplan. It is nothing short of a complete scam. The premise of this card is by using their Visa; you are to collect points to reduce the purchase on flight, hotel, and car rental. In fact, the opposite holds true. You will indeed have to pay more for all three... a lot more! They inflate the costs of the hotel and car rental prices; and then reduce the costs marginally; making it look like they're actually saving the Aeroplan member money. No; not at all. In fact, on their car rentals; you stand to save over $400 dollars, in a week, by seeking out your own deal. Same holds true for the hotel.

On the flights. What an absolute sham. To take a 6-hour trip, it was going to take me a day and a half with a one-day stopover on the opposite side of the continent; in order to make the points work for me. My advice? Take your card and file it under "G". There are a lot of seniors who might get taken for a ride on this. The government should not allow this to happen. Their phone lines are busy forever. So unless you have a spare 2 to 3 hours to get through; then forget it. The person who I eventually spoke to, was an angry female who was sarcastic and adolescent. Stay away!

No other option than calling the 800 number to change your reservation from abroad. So be ready to pay a fortune! Especially after a 45 min wait! It is very absurd a TRAVEL program doesn't take responsibility for contacting them for free during a TRAVEL!!! The Montreal manager assured me they didn't care how their clients decided to contact Aeroplan from abroad (as if there were options...) and they don't refund the calls because they would go BANKRUPT!!! Aeroplan? With what they charge for a ticket??? While most Airlines have an international toll free or a collect call number... That's not what I call valuing your customers.

We switched our rewards credit card about a year ago after trying time and time again to book flights with Aeroplan with no success. They RARELY have flights to where you are going and if they do it is ridiculously long i.e. 24-hour flight with layovers. We had accumulated over 250,000 miles that we could never use. And now they have cancelled all our 250,000 miles because we didn't use them within the last 12 months despite the fact that we tried to use them many times. How can you use Aeroplan points when their flight availability is so pathetic! DO NOT EVER GET AN AEROPLAN REWARD CREDIT CARD! YOU WILL REGRET IT. Our new reward credit card is awesome. A thousand times better than our Aeroplan card.

Just as everyone else, Aeroplan does not answer their phones. There is the constant claim to have "higher than normal calling". Get some extra help!!! I was charged for Economy Plus but got an Economy flight. These points need to be returned to me. I need an address for snail mail or an e-mail address to write a letter and include the Boarding Passes. I have spent months trying to find these 2 things. Calling doesn't work so I thought print format would. Where is this company and how do you get hold of them to make complaints?

I will be cancelling my Aeroplan visa. No matter how many points you have, when it comes time to redeem them, there will be nothing available. Just keep collecting those points, but good luck ever using them. Joke.

I go through this every year. Here's my experience. My daughter lives in London England. I use my points to bring her home at Christmas. So, I sign on to see the availability. I usually haven't transferred points from Aventura... Always lots of availability. So, I call Aventura to top up my Aeroplan points. They disappear from Aventura immediately, but take about 4-5 days to show up in Aeroplan. (Why is that in this digital day and age?) So I wait the 4 or 5 days and I sign on again. Le Voila, no availability, or if there is, it's at their 'market value' section which is usually double the normal poor schlep's category. This has happened every year for the last 4 or 5 years, which is why I'm convinced it's a scam. The system sees how many points you have, and determines what it will show you.

If you have enough points for their regular stream, there suddenly is nothing available and so recommends you try their market value stream where you'll have to 'top up' your miles and they make more money. It usually ends in a shouting match between me and some poor Aeroplan person, who of course can't help me. Last year, I ended up just buying a full price flight, which at Christmas, wasn't cheap. This year, I started 3 months early, and there's STILL no availability... 3 months early! What a crappy company. Who runs this business anyway? There should be laws about these scammy reward programs. Air Miles is no better... way fewer service ports and still ridiculous extra charges. And just when I was going to use them, WHAM... they raised the amount needed for a flight. Pr-cks! I'm sick of these reward programs that aren't really reward programs at all, and I'm now on blood pressure medication. But, Merry Christmas to all!!

It's nice that Aeroplan waits for all the eastern time zone patrons to plan their trips in the evening and go to bed before it decides to shut down for its nightly maintenance which is now every day at 9:30 pm west coast time. This makes it virtually impossible to plan a trip during our evening in the western time zone. Aeroplan have shut down every night this week!

It could be moderately acceptable if they were busy adding new flights instead of figuring out new ways to extort the maximum amount of points from Aeroplan customers while flying them with as many layovers as possible that include lengthy connection times. If you then decide to buy into using more points for Business for better timing then you will get the pleasure of flying Economy for the longest legs, and with luck, you might get a Business seat for the final 50 minute flight on a commuter airline that has no business class seating. Seriously, what a joke!

Aeroplan, when connected to Air Canada, was so-so. Now it is impossible. I have lost days trying to deal with them and that is not an exaggeration. Aeroplan sure does not work for me as someone who does not want merchandise, but to fly. And last year, my "free" ticket to Portugal from Canada cost me more than a flight purchased through a carrier; not to mention the lost time dealing with them BEFORE and AFTER. Their ads speak of relaxing and fulfilling a dream, but they have become so bad, I am on edge/made nervous if flying via them, knowing if anything goes wrong, it's likely to entail spending more $$$$ or enduring awful hassles. Nightmare, not dream.

Can anyone explain why they are permitted to cheat so much and so long and still exist? Or in all seriousness, what is the "smartest" way to use the 200,000 miles I have with them and change loyalty cards? I have heard and read hundreds and hundreds of complaining reports about them and yet they still exist. What are we doing wrong??? How can we punish them?

I am trying to change a reward flight, which cannot be done online. I have access to their priority line and have not been able to get through for 3 days. If I wait in line, having to listen to horrible repetitive music, after about 50 minutes there is a message saying they are having problems (no kidding!) and to try again later. Thanks a lot Aeroplan! There is no way to contact them by email. Interestingly, they did send me an email apologising (not accepted by me!) and suggesting I use the website. This only made me more irritated. I replied to this, only to get an email saying emails are not accepted!

I tried calling Air Canada, but the wait time is 20-25 minutes! No point in this, since they won't change a reward flight in any case. My wife and I have tons of Aeroplan points. If I can find a way to transfer them to British Airways, which has excellent customer service, without an outrageous discount (cf Points.com), I will. Otherwise, once we have used them up, it will be bye bye to Aeroplan, and Air Canada (whenever possible).