whensomever

Hi,

Am currently in France, scheduled to fly home to Canada on March 21, trying to get out earlier as per the advice of the Canadian govt. Worried that commercial flights will be cancelled like they are to Italy.

Air Canada won't take calls, directs you to their website. I go to the website and it tells me I can't make changes online, that I have to contact Air Canada Reservations. When I look at the info for that, it says that because my ticket was booked with Aeroplan, I have to contact Aeroplan. I have been on hold with Aeroplan for hours, and the Aeroplan website won't even let me log in, just spins and spins (though not sure if I could even make changes if I were logged in).

Any help /advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,
whensomever

Stranger

Did you look at the other threads on the same topic?

Only advice: be patient and keep trying. At least you are on hold, it's not that they did not answer at all.

YWG-RO

If all else fails, go to CDG and buy a ticket home.

whensomever

A ticket from Paris to Toronto is currently $4000 one-way. So trying to avoid paying that full amount, can't really afford it...


Thanks for replying. Yes, the other threads seem to be about people trying to cancel imminent flights, or people whose flight got cancelled. I'm trying to change a booking, not cancel.

ABG

There are no economy class seats on AC out of Paris tomorrow Sunday 15 March.....i see one seat with AIr Transat via Montreal.
So if you don't get thru tonight you can try again for tomorrow to hopefully secure a seat for Monday
The only solution for you to get thru via the phone to Aeroplan

whensomever

Thanks for your reply, and thanks for checking.

ksm06

Buy a return and just throw away the return, should be cheaper than the one way. Maybe don’t put in your Aeroplan number or your typical credit card etc.

pewpew

Even better: Buy a round trip ticket, throw away the return, and ask for a refund of the residual taxes

whensomever

Smart, I never thought it would be cheaper, it definitely is. Thanks!

ride red

Schedule the return for a year from now. There might be a tiny 1% chance you'll want to go back next year.

canopus27

You don't need to throw away the return if AC cancels the return flight before you take it. In that case, surely a partial refund would be justified

arf04

Excellent advice. If you can get on hold, patience will pay off. A friend who is in India messaged me in the middle of the night last night as the AC online change tool was not working for him. He said he could not get through on the E35 line. I told him to get on Skype (which he didn’t have), to keep dialing until he got on hold and then wait it out. That’s what he did and he’s now booked for tomorrow. I don’t know how long he had to wait as I was traveling (by road) today and was not able to get info from him, but definitely persistence can pay off.

It’s a tough situation to be in for sure as everyone now wants to get home lest they get stuck somewhere, and then may others are calling in to make changes for flights further out which doesn’t help.

pitz

Would AP even have inventory for a change? Doubtful. Buy whatever revenue ticket you can get your hands on, document the details of your attempts to contact AP to cancel, and when you get back, send them a registered letter demanding a refund of your points as you were unable to reach them to do a proper cancellation. The crisis is very well documented publicly.

Travel on AP has always been very dicey if one needs to make a change because changes are subject to inventory and inventory is very limited.

whensomever

Good point! Fingers crossed. Still on hold... in the meantime, I booked a return for $2200 leaving on Monday. Significantly cheaper than the $3800 one-way. I'll cancel within 24 hours if I manage to get through to Aeroplan and it turns out to be cheaper to change my existing flight.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

Stranger

They do have some flights through FRA and MUC some days, which is why I suggest that the OP keeps trying. Not direct from CDG though.