Aug 12, 2020, 12:02 am
Last edit by: Adam Smith
You must call in for stopovers, multi-city, or complicated routings, until the new booking system launches in 2021.
I hope others will significantly improve this wiki!
There are four zones: North America (inc Central), South America, Atlantic (including India and Western Russia), Pacific (inc Eastern Russia) and the chart is based which one you start from and which one you end up in, there's ten of these.
Cost is based on distance, which zone pair your flight is in, which class you are flying in.
Partner airlines (again) are a better deal because while Air Canada will calculate cost on a wide ranges but partner airlines are fixed to the bottom of the range.
YQ is eliminated. There's a 39 CAD fee for booking a ticket which contains a flight on a partner airline. Aside from this, there's no incentive any more to book a return flight it seems and every incentive not to.
Note: The partner booking fee is refundable, so it's basically a YQ, rather than a booking fee.
Most flights are devalued. However, the elimination of YQ sweetens this significantly. Within North America, a lot of flights became cheaper, YVR-HNL very significantly. YVR-TYO is much cheaper while YVR-AKL is a little cheaper.
A vastly more powerful booking system is promised for 2021.
There are a lot of new tricks to be learned. https://princeoftravel.com/blog/new-aeroplan-flight-rewards/ is a good start.
Information that is harder to find:
I hope others will significantly improve this wiki!
There are four zones: North America (inc Central), South America, Atlantic (including India and Western Russia), Pacific (inc Eastern Russia) and the chart is based which one you start from and which one you end up in, there's ten of these.
Cost is based on distance, which zone pair your flight is in, which class you are flying in.
Partner airlines (again) are a better deal because while Air Canada will calculate cost on a wide ranges but partner airlines are fixed to the bottom of the range.
YQ is eliminated. There's a 39 CAD fee for booking a ticket which contains a flight on a partner airline. Aside from this, there's no incentive any more to book a return flight it seems and every incentive not to.
Note: The partner booking fee is refundable, so it's basically a YQ, rather than a booking fee.
Most flights are devalued. However, the elimination of YQ sweetens this significantly. Within North America, a lot of flights became cheaper, YVR-HNL very significantly. YVR-TYO is much cheaper while YVR-AKL is a little cheaper.
A vastly more powerful booking system is promised for 2021.
There are a lot of new tricks to be learned. https://princeoftravel.com/blog/new-aeroplan-flight-rewards/ is a good start.
Information that is harder to find:
- SE IKK redemption from the old program can be changed ("within reason") without repricing. Dates, routings, no problem. Origin/destination should be fine. But nothing that would have required a repricing under the old program. This is from Mark Nasr in https://www.facebook.com/pointsmiles...44878252851420
- The "Activity" page only shows you the most recent ~48 transactions. See this post for information on how to get older data.
- A partial refund may not be possible (e.g. if you book RT and outbound flight is cancelled by you or AC, to delete the first flight segment, you have to cancel the entire ticket and rebook the inbound at a potentially higher fare. It seems supervisor can grant exceptions.)
2020 Air Canada Aeroplan Program
Mar 2, 2021, 2:53 pm
#1261
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Toronto, ON
Programs: AC 75K
Posts: 6,363
Unclear whether we are getting new membership cards this year. In past years I seem to recall there was a virtual card that could be downloaded to your phone.
AC agent couldn’t confirm any of this and didn’t know where to find a virtual card. I’ve searched around the website but no success. Would appreciate any advice about virtual cards.
AC agent couldn’t confirm any of this and didn’t know where to find a virtual card. I’ve searched around the website but no success. Would appreciate any advice about virtual cards.
Mar 2, 2021, 4:22 pm
#1262
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: AC 75k
Posts: 704
Unclear whether we are getting new membership cards this year. In past years I seem to recall there was a virtual card that could be downloaded to your phone.
AC agent couldn’t confirm any of this and didn’t know where to find a virtual card. I’ve searched around the website but no success. Would appreciate any advice about virtual cards.
AC agent couldn’t confirm any of this and didn’t know where to find a virtual card. I’ve searched around the website but no success. Would appreciate any advice about virtual cards.
But as stated above, I finally caved to the digital masters and almost exclusively use the digital card from the app on my phone now.
Mar 2, 2021, 4:22 pm
#1263
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
When I logged into website and then went thru to AE there was a card image (upper left corner) but no dates so I didn’t think that was the virtual card. Did you mean something different? I’ve seen this in Chrome and IOS.
Mar 2, 2021, 4:25 pm
#1264
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: AC 75k
Posts: 704
Download the app for your phone, it automatically populates a digital card.
Mar 2, 2021, 4:51 pm
#1265
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: YYZ
Programs: Ex-Bonvoyed, Hyatt, Hilton, BR, AC, AA
Posts: 1,298
You should be getting E50 cards and tags though, but as others have said the digital card is also available.
Mar 3, 2021, 10:07 am
#1266
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Canada
Programs: Aeroplan E50/MM, HH gold, Nat Exec Elite, Kimpton Karma
Posts: 2,354
Many thanks for the instructions. Lots of “clicking” around but I got it. Could certainly be easier if there were instructions or an obvious way to find it. Your help was most appreciated.
Mar 3, 2021, 12:36 pm
#1267
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: AC 75k
Posts: 704
Funny, the topic got me to pop onto the app and after almost 6 months of disuse, and a slight change to the layout with the new Aeroplan I had to hunt around a bit to find it too.
Just another reminder that AC interfaces and intuitive are oxymorons. How hard to add little "tap for official Digital card"?
Just another reminder that AC interfaces and intuitive are oxymorons. How hard to add little "tap for official Digital card"?
Mar 3, 2021, 1:43 pm
#1268
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: SFO/YYZ
Programs: AC 25K, AS MVP Gold, BA Bronze, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,472
On iOS you tap the Aeroplan tab at the bottom and the first thing you see is a card shape showing your status level, balance, etc. It has a QR icon indicating that if you tap it you’ll get the scannable code for the card.
Doesn’t seem particularly hidden or complicated being the very first and most prominent thing on the Aeroplan tab but maybe the UI differs on Android and that’s where folks are having issues? I saw iOS mentioned by someone earlier though. It’s pretty standard UI.
Doesn’t seem particularly hidden or complicated being the very first and most prominent thing on the Aeroplan tab but maybe the UI differs on Android and that’s where folks are having issues? I saw iOS mentioned by someone earlier though. It’s pretty standard UI.
Last edited by nexusCFX; Mar 3, 2021 at 1:48 pm
Mar 3, 2021, 2:10 pm
#1269
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: AC 75k
Posts: 704
Same on Android.
I missed it, looking for the tab that I thought used to bring it up and basically scrolled right by the card.
Many people, (more common my age and older) don't know what that symbol means. I only learned in the last couple years and my wife last year. It doesn't jump out to me instinctively like text does yet.
You could argue therefore it was user error, not poor design, but just suggesting that a line of text would help many users.
Note to mods: please move if more appropriate in app thread. Didn't realize we started drifting off topic.
I missed it, looking for the tab that I thought used to bring it up and basically scrolled right by the card.
Many people, (more common my age and older) don't know what that symbol means. I only learned in the last couple years and my wife last year. It doesn't jump out to me instinctively like text does yet.
You could argue therefore it was user error, not poor design, but just suggesting that a line of text would help many users.
Note to mods: please move if more appropriate in app thread. Didn't realize we started drifting off topic.
Mar 4, 2021, 4:23 am
#1270
Join Date: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,204
Funny, the topic got me to pop onto the app and after almost 6 months of disuse, and a slight change to the layout with the new Aeroplan I had to hunt around a bit to find it too.
Just another reminder that AC interfaces and intuitive are oxymorons. How hard to add little "tap for official Digital card"?
Just another reminder that AC interfaces and intuitive are oxymorons. How hard to add little "tap for official Digital card"?
Mar 12, 2021, 10:07 am
#1271
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: YYZ
Programs: SE100K, Bonvoy Ambassador, National Executive
Posts: 175
Just changed my reward ticket for early May as 2 J seats came available on YYZ-AUH on EY. Now when I check my booking i get a ticketing error is it worth a call or should I wait 24 hrs?
Mar 17, 2021, 11:37 pm
#1272
Join Date: Mar 2020
Programs: AC 75k
Posts: 704
Something interesting for me by my records. Do others see the same? The T&C for the card state that there is a 1k bonus for $5k spend. Looking at my last 5 months, it seems that this is a monthly assignment with no carryover even though the T+C don't specify it as a monthly benefit. I have looked and couldn't find a specific reference to monthly benefit. I have only seen bonus miles based on each month's balance and not on a cumulative value. I am sure that lawyers would happily debate this, but as far as I am concerned, my understanding of the contract means I will earn about 5000 SQM less than I expected based on the promise of 1000 SQM per 5000 dollar spend.
Mar 18, 2021, 7:12 am
#1273
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Vancouver
Programs: AC SE100K 1MM, FB Platinum, Bonvoy Platinum Elite, IHG Gold Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,605
Something interesting for me by my records. Do others see the same? The T&C for the card state that there is a 1k bonus for $5k spend. Looking at my last 5 months, it seems that this is a monthly assignment with no carryover even though the T+C don't specify it as a monthly benefit. I have looked and couldn't find a specific reference to monthly benefit. I have only seen bonus miles based on each month's balance and not on a cumulative value. I am sure that lawyers would happily debate this, but as far as I am concerned, my understanding of the contract means I will earn about 5000 SQM less than I expected based on the promise of 1000 SQM per 5000 dollar spend.
Mar 18, 2021, 9:17 am
#1274
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: AC SE 1MM
Posts: 344
Something interesting for me by my records. Do others see the same? The T&C for the card state that there is a 1k bonus for $5k spend. Looking at my last 5 months, it seems that this is a monthly assignment with no carryover even though the T+C don't specify it as a monthly benefit. I have looked and couldn't find a specific reference to monthly benefit. I have only seen bonus miles based on each month's balance and not on a cumulative value. I am sure that lawyers would happily debate this, but as far as I am concerned, my understanding of the contract means I will earn about 5000 SQM less than I expected based on the promise of 1000 SQM per 5000 dollar spend.
Mar 18, 2021, 9:37 am
#1275
Join Date: Jun 2010
Programs: AC SE 1MM
Posts: 344
Ok. I dug into my Amex a bit and I'm highly concerned. I looked more carefully at the end where it talks about Aeroplan and such and saw something about a limit of $10k?
I checked my Terms and Conditions for the Reserve and I see NOTHING about a limit...
I checked my Terms and Conditions for the Reserve and I see NOTHING about a limit...