canadiancow

My read is that you can still have a stopover on a North American itinerary.

montrealer

Colour me a bit cautious about the improvements on cancellations.

Yes, they are a benefit to the traveller whose plans change. But I fear the impact on availability, which is already very limited.

The new strategy for any member who sees a potentially desirable redemption (e.g. premium class availability long haul) is to grab it, and then spend the next 23 hours figuring out whether you can really fly it. So X1, I1, R1 and especially I2+ will be a state that will persist for a shorter time; they will be "checked out" library book style.

And for SE, the optimal strategy becomes to keep no miles in your account, to hold a portfolio of award tickets you might want to take, recycling them up to 2 hours before departure. (I recognize this is a bit extreme, since there are frictional and time costs.)

Historically, AP/AC have not been good at opening up additional reward availability from empty seats close to departure, and I've had a couple of experiences somewhat inconclusively leading me to believe that a cancelled/changed AP reservation down the line does not (ever? sometimes?) get returned to X or I inventory (or even N, R/P, ...) either. While not everyone will shift their behaviour towards the more optimal strategy above, I fear it won't take much to nudge availability lower overall.

So cynical, pre-coffee me concludes: AC gets to say 'look, we made x% of seats available for AP redemption', and then gets to sell them as J or Y when they get returned.

Angusgor

I'm confused about the wording for the new stopover rules. If I have a roundtrip ticket with Hong Kong as my turn-around-point does that mean I can no longer have Tokyo as a stopover?

CanadianMike

With the new rules, you can have 1x stopover (> 24 hours). So yes you could stopover in Tokyo.

Clipper801

Yes, you still may.
It used to be two stopovers, or one stopover and one open jaw.
Now either one stopover or one open jaw. It's more restrictive.
As an example in your case, in the past, your may book YYZ-TYO, stopover, TYO-HKG, stopover and turnaround HKG-YVR stopover at YVR and then YVR-YYZ. You may also do YYZ-TYO, stopover, TYO-HKG, stopover, open jaw PVG-YYZ. Both itineraries will no longer be valid after 1st September 2019.

I am disappointed with the short notice although Aeroplan does not have to give advance notice according to their T&C. Most of us probably expect status quo until mid 2020 when AC takes over.

Clipper801

Two of my dislikes about Aeroplan - one is that there is no surety the cancelled reward seat will be returned to inventory for others to book. The second one is the frustration to see more than a few empty seats when the door closes and yet Aeroplan refuses to release any redemption seat on that flight.
I am still not sure whether its AC or Aeroplan. One blames the other. AC asserts that they makes seats available in accordance with the contract with Aeroplan and Aeroplan would say no seat from AC. It's unlikely to get better with AC taking over Aeroplan next year.

Stranger

Angusgor

Thanks... The new rules makes it sounds now I only get a stopover if I'm NOT traveling within the same continent. So on the way to Hong Kong if I had a stopover in YVR or SFO it'd be ok but not in TYO. Am I reading it wrong?

172pilot

agjil

I really hope Mini-RTW trips with 2 stopovers and 1 open jaw will become available again after the "temporary" pause.
Due to realistic time constraints (aka limited vacation time), I can't book Mini-RTW trips too often, but the stopovers are what distinguishes Aeroplan from the dozens of other loyalty programs out there.
It's good to see change/cancellation fees getting waived for SEs, as well as free cancellations within 24 hours of booking.
Not having a 24 hour window to cancel Aeroplan tickets after booking was very very very annoying.

canadiancow

You will not pay a change fee because you're SE.

Clipper801

The way I read the new rule is either a stopover or an open jaw but not both.
If you stopover in TYO, you may not stopover again in YVR or SFO. You also may not open jaw to return from another city if you have already stopped over at TYO.

Clipper801

I have to disagree that redemption availability has improved but let's just leave it at that.

shuuy

I remember spending ~2 weeks researching the following mRTW ticket a number of years back in J.

SYD-YVR-YYC-YYZ-LGA[stopover]/JFK-WAW-AMS [open-jaw] ZRH-HKG-BKK-SYD

RIP

seadog83

Shame. I've been a member for about 15 years, and collected about 350k points, most of which during a 2011-2014 hitch I was living in Asia coming and going to Canada a few times a year. Managed to do one mini RTW in J in 2015, YHZ-SYD with stopovers/turnaround in CAI, SIN, SYD, truly a trip of a lifetime for someone who rarely flies J. I was slowly accumulating points to do another in the next couple years, since I"m only about 30k away. Sadly, given that I only fly 1-2x a year, only for pleasure on my own dime, and the atrocious reward rates for non premium fares, the points gathering has been slow. So, as has happened so often since about 2014 or so, I'll have to relegate myself to a slightly worse deal.

I do feel a little misled from the program I signed up for all those years ago. Must be nice to be able to unilaterally change the game's rules, explicitly to your net benefit, after the game has started.