Aeroplan

For a variety of reasons (like life is sometimes complicated) I was too busy to travel, and keep up on my Areoplan business. I learned today that Aeroplan stole 60,000 points from me. A policy that forces people who justifiably earned their points to have annual activity on their account is nothing more than a ploy to find ways to steal points from members. Areoplan is a predator business with no business sense at all. I cut my Aeroplan card in two today. I used to make a point of travelling on Air Canada. NOT ANYMORE.

I selected a hotel and went through all the steps: selecting, inputting all my personal information, placing it in the "cart", and checking out. The site was processing my "order" and a few minutes later I receive a message: "There was a problem with your booking. We're currently experiencing technical difficulties with certain bookings on our site and through the Aeroplan Contact Centre...." I logged in and out several times, restarted my computer, went through the same steps with the same result. At this point, I called Aeroplan and received a recording stating the call could not be answered due to difficulties.

Where to begin? In my location we’re forced to call in to redeem points. There have always been very few available dates for flights, but it’s only gotten worse lately. Just called to change an existing booking and there was next to nothing available. Then, by the time they got to booking us the agreed on flights THOSE were no longer available. No one could help, the prior flights were refunded so we didn’t even have those, and the supervisor I spoke to told me it was my fault because we’d asked to have the booking fee waived. Over two hours on the phone and we’re worse off than we were before we called. Points are no good to me if I can’t used them, and I’m tired of paying ridiculous fees for a sub-standard service. I’m switching to a new rewards program, and I wouldn’t recommend this one to anyone.

We recently were caught up in the M8 flight cancellations to Maui. I used Market Fare (significantly higher points) to get good flights (direct and no red eye). We were to leave on Monday March 18th and I had not heard anything about our flight as of Saturday March 16th so I phoned Aeroplan as our friends who were leaving on the same flight on Sunday (17th) morning for Maui had heard on Thursday (14TH) that their flight had changed to Sunday evening (direct). The Aeroplan lady said my only option was to leave on Sunday on a 6:25 am flight to Edmonton then 10:35 to Calgary and finally a flight to Maui at 15:30. We also returned a day earlier leaving at 22:50.

My entire experience with Aeroplan from the beginning has been extremely frustrating and disappointing. It is extremely hard to redeem any points for flights or other merchandise. The one time I thought I could finally put the points toward something, I received conflicting information from one agent to another and ended up wasting 25,000 points and being unable to use anything. When I called, they just kept saying there is nothing they can do and it isn't their problem.

Having achieved AC Million Mile status and accumulated over 2M Aeroplan miles this program is a credit card loyalty program with literally no options for international travel. I can hardly wait to exhaust my points and move in another direction, loyalty programs should not annoy your most loyal customers. I am tired of filling out surveys and being paid for 30 minute interviews. I even wrote the CEO of Aeroplan to see if they can help. There is no incentive for aeroplan to have you redeem your points. Wonder if Air Canada can revive Aeroplan as it is an excellent airline.

The Aeroplan rewards program should be renamed the "rewards and punish program." Very misleading to my eyes. The rep said they had sent an email to warned us of the expiry date of my points, but the inbox was cluttered with their promotional emails only. And this was a very ineffective way to communicate. My points expired two months ago. Luckily it was just 5000 points not 50,000 saved over 30 years like someone had! I tried asking for extension of my points for one day because it is not possible to keep up with their policy - very unrealistic. She responded "we never make exception to the policy. Even if you are busy, got cancer, or had a baby."

I live in Asia where I used to require a minimum of 20,000 miles to redeem a flight. Recently Aeroplan increased that minimum to 40,000. Now the only place I can redeem a flight is within North America where the minimum is 15,000. However, I won't be there this year so I asked for an extension of the expiry date but Aeroplan refused and told me they are a "business for profit". I don't understand how extending the expiry date of my miles will destroy their profits. You can't contact Aeroplan by email as they told me "only by phone as we don't have a customer email service". So I want to transfer my 23,000 miles to a friend. I tried to do it online and the charge for that transfer is a whopping $462.78 Canadian dollars. I am done with Aeroplan and hope I never again have to fly on Air Canada. Such sharks!

I just had the worst customer service today with Aeroplan. I’m horrified that a company like this will treat people so badly. It was a very invalidating experience because I didn’t answer her question correctly. She was so condescending and rude, that it made me ask for her supervisor right away. That person wasn’t much better! I told him why I asked for another person and he quickly dismissed this and tried to just get the problem dealt with. I’m not a happy Aeroplan customer at all. Oh, and not to mention, the whole reason I had to call again was that two payments had been taken out of my account instead of the one. So not even my fault. Ridiculous!!!

I checked my Aeroplan account and said my 30,590 air miles had expired? I called in to find out why and was told they were not used in the past 12 months and didn't have any record of retail transactions in the past. I have no way of now finding out why they weren't registered so have lost all my points. I have been a member for quite a number of years so was shocked. I was told I could buy them back for $300+ or buy back a portion of points. WOW I was shocked by this very poor business practice first of having a expiration and that of only a year. No updates to check on status like other plans send out.

I was an Aeroplan member for 20 years and during that time accumulated 40,000 points. The last time I logged in to check my points and to book a short flight I discovered that ALL of those points had been revoked due to plan inactivity. Referring to the Aeroplan website, it states that this is the result of account inactivity for more than a year. However, it also states that members will be notified of pending revocation. I was NOT notified, not by email, phone call, or postal mail. A call to Aeroplan to recover those points was met with indifference, claiming my only recourse was to repurchase my lost miles for over $400! This is theft. Will never fly Air Canada again.

On August 2018 I received a warning letter that I will lose my 10K miles if I do not perform any transaction before October 2018. So I did couple of transactions at the end of August 2018 but it shows zero transactions went through in my account so at the end Aeroplan removed all my miles. So guys, be smart and do not waste your precious time on this. BIG SCAM.

I've been a loyal Aeroplan member for 35 years. I have Black status and I thought I was going to get something for my Aeroplan points but I was wrong. My flight to the UK cost be 137,500 points and $1,500 in taxes and fees - which was more than the cost of flying with Air Canada without points!!! Basically Aeroplan just takes your points and still charges you the full amount under "taxes and fees". I called Aeroplan to get a refund and they said they charge $600 to refund the flight. And if I wanted to make a change, then it was $400 to make a change! Do yourself a favour and switch loyalty programs that actually give you something for your loyalty.

Saved for years on my $125 a year Aeroplan gold card only to find out my miles where gone, expired? No family Disney trip. Called several times always waiting waiting. Finally after months I get through only to find out if I want miles back I’d have to pay for them? Wtf! Well I was dumb enough to buy them, go to use them and they don’t offer any flights to use them and the ones they do offer are inflated miles and long flight durations. Even tried 6 months out, none! This is the worst air miles company period. They need to be investigated!

Cost in dollars as much as the actual cost. I had 37000 Aeroplan miles. I wanted to use them to go from Toronto to Richmond Virginia. Agent's calculation was 25000 Aeroplan miles plus $245 and I refused and booked my flight directly via AA for $259. Aeroplan is just a gimmick and you don't get any value.

I used my air miles through Aeroplan to book a room for my daughter and wife this December 2018. My daughter checked in with her mother that has Asthma and they were not in the filthy stinky room for more than 5 minutes and she could not stop coughing. We asked them to see another room that maybe did not smell like cigarettes as it was suppose to be non smoking. They told them no. They tried to go back up to stay but did not even last an hour. They had to go find other accommodations because they were going to sleep in the car. I used almost 160,000 air miles for a one week stay. Booked this through Aeroplan. They now have our money/points for the week long accommodation and will not return it. We were there for 1 hour. The door lock would not work properly. They could not secure the door properly.

Another reason to say "Goodbye Aeroplan" and move to a more progressive awards plan... We recently booked premium seats Toronto-Bangkok on Air Canada Dec 27th. However due to a sickness in our immediately family we had to postpone our flight to Jan 5th. On the new flight, premium seats are available on Air Canada but not to Aeroplan. We are forced to settle for economy seats but must forfeit the nearly 50% more in hard earned mileage points we used for the original booking which were paid in kind by Aeroplan to Air Canada. No one at Aeroplan will help saying it is out of their hands. Air Canada turns around and says they cannot help as it is an Aeroplan issue. Employees of both companies refuse to refer us up the chain of command to resolve the issue. Stonewalling action - Abysmal customer service. CUSTOMERS BEWARE. FIND A MORE PROGRESSIVE AWARDS PROGRAM

Years ago you could get somewhere with Aeroplan points, and the customer service was great. Number 1, they were actually reachable. I cashed in 50,000 points for a gift card, never received the card, tried logging a complaint on the site without success, and basically realize they just stole my points and did NOTHING about it. Further to that, I fly constantly for business, and the accumulation of points is a mere FRACTION of what it used to be. I hate Aeroplan, and I use the word hate very sparingly. No wonder Air Canada is dropping them. They're useless.

I try to book flights from YYZ to SAN for the holiday season. What I always get year-after-year is little to no availability for departures in December. On top of that if I'm lucky to find a flight the taxes, fees, and inconvenience with multiple connecting flights make it pointless. It costs almost as much as just buying direct flights on dates I want. So my other option is to "Market Fare Flight Rewards". I have 38,000 "miles". I need 41,000 more miles to fly to San Diego. The cost for the cheapest flights turns out to be a mind-blowing $1626 + $124 in taxes which is 2.5x the total cost of the ticket cost without Aeroplan. You can collect Aeroplan for free but what really bothers me is the false marketing as incentive to buy flights with Air Canada or paying outrageous yearly fees on an Aeroplan credit card only to find out your points are pathetic and you basically can't use them towards any travel. False marketing, horrible selection, outrageous costs.

Since it was the first time I was redeeming points, I chose to call an Aeroplan agent to help complete our booking (additional booking fee of $63). The agent was able to see FMFR flights for my preferred travel dates that were not listed as available on the Aeroplan website. I found this strange. We were flying business class and the agent booked us on a return flight (AC845, November 5, 2018) which was not currently listed as FMFR for business class (only economy was offered as a FMFR). The agent was confident that business class would become available on the flight between our booking date (April 2, 2018) and our departure date (November 17, 2018). I trusted her confidence and used my points to travel business class even though our return flight was booked as economy.

I am outraged how Aeroplan regularly steals points from loyal customers and has a "too bad for you" attitude when you contact them to claim the points YOU EARNED AND COLLECTED. I collected over 100,000 Aeroplan points saving up for a trip. When I went online to redeem them my balance was 0. Called customer service where they told me I lost them because I didn't redeem them. Ya that's the point - I was saving them! They then told me I can buy them back if I pay them over $1000. After spending thousands to earn them I now have to spend a thousand more to keep them. SCAM!!!

Clicked on Aeroplan website where it says ''Use Points to Rent a Car'' and in same box it clearly says ''Choose ANY date and ANY destination''. It also says in Canada, US, and Europe. Well when clicking in this box, it brought me car rentals in Florence Italy airport, both Avis and Budget, but only offered cash purchase - not use your miles!! Called customer service on this who first were equally perturbed, but then came back with a lame excuse that they did not have an agreement with that destination and company for purchase with points. Escalated the situation to supervisor Jeff who agreed to forward the issue to the Aeroplan Division in question for review.

After spending thousands of dollars on a credit card to accumulate miles they have now expired. They took 50000+ miles out of my account. They sent one email that didn’t state clearly in the subject line that my miles were about to expire. I called about getting them back. The guy on the phone told me there is no way he or anyone else at Aeroplan will credit my miles back. What a terrible thing to do to people. This practice should be illegal.

I am very disappointed to hear that I lost my point with Aeroplan, very disturbing. To make things worse they want me to pay 0.01 for each point to get them back. That amounts to over $2800.00, I never got warning emails, nor phone calls from them, and Esso no longer accepts your card which I used to use mostly. I was not in town for 2 months had personal things to take care off, and now I am back trying to take care of my financial stuff, to find out that my account had been canceled and my points taken away from me. I have never ever experienced such disturbing experience with any of my cards, My points came from my spending at my American Express, because I transferred my points through them, thinking that Aeroplan can be trusted as much as American Express. As a matter of fact I will complain to AMEX as well.

My kid got robbed 25,000 points because he turned 18... We noticed a month too late and that was it...gone!!! They proposed to 'reinstate' the points but it's really at the same rate than when you buy regular miles. They would like us to be loyal, but they have zero loyalty to their customers! Aimia (the corporation running Aeroplan) is just in it for the short-term money at this point... Their stock is down 88% and when they are no longer with Air Canada in 2 years, we will surely dissolve. They will absolutely not be missed.

Aeroplan is terrible. They just took out over 44,000 miles out of my account because they "expired". How can they just take back points they've given? It's robbery! Those were worth about 3 flights to which I was planning on taking kids on a holiday with. I called twice to try to resolve, they want over $500 to reinstate them. Terrible!

I am an Aeroplan member since 2006, have Diamond status. Recently I noticed a couple of transactions which were previously posted - disappeared from my account. Not reversed, but simply gone without any trace. I phone Aeroplan asking for explanations - their response was "if we don't see it, then it was never posted, contact the partner directly for missing miles". But I saw those transactions on the account just a few days ago. And when I continued pressing for answers - the CSR simply hang up on me (he said "I'll put you thru to the supervisor", but then the line got disconnected after a few minutes of me waiting on the phone). I hope I can find a better alternative, 'cause I'm fed up with such poor service.

Useless company to deal with. No wonder Air Canada is leaving their program. They stole all my points because I had not used their product in a year. If I have money in the bank, does it give the bank the right to keep if I don't spend any after a year? Screw you, I don't need your stupid program, but you do need us to stay alive, because without people believing in your program, well you don't have a program.

Aeroplan is without a doubt the single worst rewards program on the planet. Calling it a rewards program is completely inappropriate, because they don’t reward you with anything. I tried for years to redeem my long and hard earned points on flights. Every time I tried to use it for flights, I would get some 36 hour, 4 leg journey from Boston to New York. Should be an hour, not available for anything less than two days. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. So I never was able to redeem my rewards points for a flight. So I just kept saving them. I’ve been saving them since 1983. A number of years ago they changed their policy, their points expire after one year if you haven’t acquired anymore.

I was flying Air Canada from Hong Kong to Los Angeles on last week flight and was unable to enroll with the Aeroplan due to its difficulty, and then I was trying to enroll these past two days, it was impossible to enroll and contact for help. I contacted Air Canada how to enroll the miles, they gave me Aeroplan phone number, but when I was attempting to enroll with Aeroplan, it kept giving errors on my address and other infos. Tried fixing it, no luck for the first day, several hours past. Also the point is, when you called Aeroplan, it is impossible to get through the system as it will asks you for the Aeroplan # which you do not have because it intentionally kicks out error messages for encourage you to give up.