Advice needed as may need to alter Aeroplan reward flight
 

I would appreciate any advice on this subject. We are scheduled to leave for Europe in a few days but may need to cancel due to an immediate family member requiring surgery which I need to be here for. We won't know a surgery date until Monday or Tuesday but if the surgery is scheduled while we were to be in Europe we won't take the trip. There are 2 of us flying premium economy. The outgoing flight was booked using hubby's aeroplan account, and the flights home using mine. We have no Aeroplan status. I believe I have to pay a change fee to change the flights before I can cancel them in order to get my aeroplan points back and any taxes refunded - is this correct? Can I be upfront with Aeroplan so they can help me find new flights (to later cancel as we won't be traveling to these destinations in the near future). Can I change the itinerary to a North American destination within the next year so that I won't be paying both the change and cancellation fees? I'd appreciate any experience with having gone through this process. Thanks.

Yes, if you tell them you want to change it to be 30 days out so you can then cancel, they'll know exactly what to do. One change fee and one refund fee per person, per ticket. So unfortunately because of how you booked it, you're looking at 4 of each, and without status, that may be $1000.

Thanks for your response. That's the figure I came up with too.

You can avoid a double change + redeposit fee if you and the same passenger will travel within a year of original booking... even if you don't know your desired fight date or even destination yet.

ask Aeroplan to cancel the segment, they will advise the ticket will stay open with no flights booked, and to call back and pay change fee when you have them rebook.

the entire route can be changed , but if your new one way flights cost less points, you will NOT get a refund of the price (eroplan miles) difference.

Thanks for this. If I understand you correctly, I would end up paying the change fees of $400 but not the $600 in cancellation fees if I book a different flight within a year. However, my miles would not be returned. Do you know if the difference in taxes be returned? Thanks again.

Remember that it's one year from original booking date not one year from flight date if you go that route.

Thanks for clarifying this. I booked 11 months + out so this is a no brainer for me if I need to cancel.

You can simply cancel your flights now free of charge. This will not give you any refund of miles and/or taxes.

Within 1 year of original booking date you can re-book your cancelled flight. At that time you'll be hit with $400 in charges. You'll also be charged any additional taxes/fees due, but will also get a refund for any taxes fees if the taxes/fees are lower. Keep in mind that the departure date of your re-booked flight needs to be within 1 year of booking date (i.e. you can't call up 11 months after booking date and ask for a flight 6 months in the future).

Should you want to cancel your flight, make sure your re-booked flight is at least 22 days in the future and then you can pay $600 to get the refund.

Another suggestion... I have no idea when your return trip is planned, but since you booked 2 one-ways, if your return trip is more than 22 days away you might want to simply cancel the return and get a refund now, and figure out what to do with your outbound later. That way you aren't paying for a change fee on the return.

Thanks for the info. We are inside of 22 days for both flights and because I originally booked the flights in August I really don't think I have any option but to fork over the $1000 to get our $1350 in taxes and our 150K AP miles back.

Another option (not that I recommend) is to just cancel them and let the miles expire. After the booking has expired (1 year after original booking date), you can call in and get the taxes refunded for no cost.

So if you forfeit the 150k miles, you can still recover the $1350.

Personally, I think 150k miles are worth more than $1000, so I'd pay that fee.

I don't know how close you are to Aeroplan Diamond status, but if you could somehow get it very quickly and cheaply, your total cost would be $420.

Thanks for helping me think through this situation - I appreciate the effort it helping me make an informed decision if I should have to cancel. Unfortunately I have no Aeroplan status at present. I think the 150K miles are worth the $1000 too.