Aeroplan has recently implemented the ability for customers to pay their taxes and fees on a flight award using Aeroplan points. You can, therefore, get an award entirely using points with a $0 co-pay. Sounds great, right? Except for two things: (1) the value is absolutely horrible, and; (2) there may be possible tax implications.
This looks like a glitch, as Turkish is releasing at least 8 Business Class seats for most summer dates, from now until the end of August for award bookings. This availability will not last long, so if you’re looking for summer travel, BOOK NOW!
As a family, we were supposed to fly Ottawa-Montreal-Zürich-Nice, where I had managed to get an amazing five award seats in Swiss business class during a surprising release of availability.
With my award booking service, I get to deal with Aeroplan a lot. And when I mean a lot, I mean, I make hundreds of calls a month to Aeroplan. Most of their agents are competent (their supervisors, surprisingly, less so). However, sometimes you get an absolute delight, who is wildly special. I mean absolutely, terrifyingly, wildly, special. For this story, let’s call her Olga (a pseudonym).
Aeroplan award tickets are generally refundable. However, Aeroplan has a pesky term that states
Unused and valid flight rewards may be refunded and miles reinstated up to 22 days before the scheduled date of departure. A C$90.00 fee plus taxes per ticket will apply. This fee is non-refundable.
Several months ago, my award booking service, Awarding Canada, was covered on CBC’s The National. Today, a news article on CBC, Aeroplan says ‘blackouts are gone’ — but what about those fuel surcharges?, quotes Aeroplan as taking issue with me. The article notes:
