Broader fuel surcharges coming to Aeroplan
 

:td:Following on the heels of this summer’s award chart adjustments that saw many awards increase in cost it appears that Aeroplan, the loyalty program associated with Air Canada, is also adjusting the surcharges they levy on certain award redemptions. Specifically, it appears that the YQ fuel surcharge, to date only levied against redemptions on Air Canada flights, is now applying to flights operated by Lufthansa and Austrian.


With Aeroplan as one of the last great redemption options for the American Express Membership Rewards program this move also devalues those points a bit. Not great news at any level.

and much more

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...arriers-2.html

Just read Lucky's blog post too, WOW, AE is really going down
It's a good thing I used up my 100K by July 15, but wow...

Aeroplan begins imposing fuel surcharges without advance notice on Star Alliance awards!
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemil...liance-awards/

Did we really need a second thread on this issue?

And its the sneaky, under-hand, surreptitious, quiet and conniving way that this is implemented that makes it all the worse. No announcement, no warning.

Thats it folks! Take it or leave it!

If its true, (and its certainly getting momentum now), its no surprise to me.

Eventually these "loyalty" programmes are going to be so devalued, they will be become not worth the bother at all.

For it to be a loyalty programme it would actually have to encourage loyalty, which clearly it doesn't with all of the negative changes within the last year alone.

I agree with you Santander. This new bad news as well as the LMU scandal which makes E-UG's a waste as well as higher fees than a year ago -- next...
drum roll... really BAD 2012 choices for the AP loyalty program.

NEGATIVE is an understatement. Glad we have flyertalk.com to see what AP and AC does NOT offer anymore. Bring on the competition!

I had been saving up for a RTW in F with my wife, but the prior "enhancement" put a stop to that. Not a big deal I thought, we'll deal with J or Y (we're used to it). Now with fuel surcharges on *A partners, it's just not worth it. Aeroplan is bordering on what the kids might call "craptacular".

Just yesterday I did a dummy booking for YYZ-PRG-SIN-YYZ in May. Total was $300 or so for Y. Today it's $729 (including a $529.60 fuel surcharge). The same combination of flights can be had on Travelocity for $2304. That gives my Aeroplan miles a value of just over 2%. Total rubbish!

I'd like to know what a mini-RTW costs in fuel surcharges now. I've been saving up for half a year to take a mini-RTW in F for 175K two years from now. I can't see what AE will price the surcharges at since online of course it says "not enough miles to book." Will this still be affordable with the new YQ? If it's like 1 or 2K that's doable, but if it's like a $600 surcharge per segment, 5 long-hauls or so will be $3000, so that'd be really out of my (student) budget...

Could anyone try a dummy booking if they have (near) 175K miles?

Well, you know how difficult it is to look a few threads down on the first page before posting... ;)

In OP's defense, he/she does have 'blond' in the handle...

There are still partners which have escaped this (but for how long who knows)
If one is savvy enough - you can still probably avoid YQ.
99.999% of people will get robbed though.

Usually YQs are in the range of $200-$400 per longhaul segment - so yes, it will add up.

Nooooooooooooooo

I spent so much time saving for a trip to Japan. Then the tsunami happened and the nuclear stuff, and I postponed booking the trip. I was going to book it in December when I found out about my 2012 work travel schedule. This totally blows. I swear, if it's true then I am cancelling my aeroplan Amex (1.5% cashback card I had was better) and am going back to flying the cheapest airline I can find (often out of Buffalo). Sucks :(

Definately as it's a major development.

Agreed! Back to booking the lowest fare for me :td:

So, why didn't you start a third one then? :D