Aeroplan Travel Services
Reviews and Complaints

We needed to use some of my husbands aeroplan points before they expire. I booked a hertz car rental. Three days for 17, 500 points. However, I still needed to buy insurance as I wasn't using a credit card that normally covers it. Cost $105 for three days. If I had rented a car at Enterprise and used my credit card the total cost would have been $120.00. So I just spent 17, 500 poiints for $15 worth of car rental. Feel totally ripped off.

I bought tickets from the company www.aeroplan.ca. It was awful, ‘coz they provided one price on the website, but they took completely different from me. When I checked my account and found out about it, I immediately contacted the rep, who started to explain me what this sum included. The difference in prices was really large. They are dishonest and add some useless stuff to my ticket. I really don’t recommend this company, so please share this info and post comments.

I have been an Aeroplan member for almost 20 years. The program has really started to become poor the last 5 years or so.
I am a top-tier member (Super Elite) and fly over 100, 000 miles and almost 100 segments a year - I spend ALOT of time on a plane. My loyalty has been unwavering over the years. However, the program has really started to become poor. Its becoming increasingly difficult to obtain reward flights (even though they appear available on the site). This has been a problem for at least 3 years, so I'm not sure what game Aeroplan is playing but I'm tired of it. I will be switching my program to Mileage Plus or some other Star Alliance member but Air Canada will no longer get my business and Aeroplan can kiss my...

I wanted to buy ticket from the website www.aeroplan.ca. I have no idea why, but the website worked really slowly and the customer services ignored all my calls, messages and emails. I couldn’t open the page, so I couldn’t order the ticket. WTF? I was really furious that they ignored me and didn’t care about their customers. I wonder if there are people, who have the same problems and what have you done in such situation, please post comments.

I am an Aeroplan frequent flyer and used to love the program. In the recent years, it has steadily been working its way towards becomming a total scam.

I am Elite 35k and assumed I had access to the maple leaf lounges. Well guess what, I just flew from Montreal to Toronto which is a short flight and relatively cheap (hundreds of dollars) and had access to the domestic lounge BUT, then I flew to Lima, Peru and was told in a very degrading way by the lounge attendant that I was not allowed in the lounge having only 35k, that the attendance in the lounges was the highest they had seen and that they just couldnt let ANYBODY in. Anybody meaning anyone below the 50k elite status. I dont think I am in any way special having reached 35k but I sure think I deserve at least a little respect from a company to which I have been giving thousands of dollars year after year. But then, who care what I think, the attendance at the lounges and on the AC flights have reached records high. I just cant understand the principle, spend a few hundreds of dollars on a short-haul flight and get access to the lounge but spend thousands of dollars on an "oversea" flight and stay out of the lounge...just doenst make much sens to me.

I am a religious Air Canada Aeroplan collector. I go out of my way to use every mechanism I can to collect Aeroplan Miles. I recently used these valuable miles for booking a round trip ticket for my parents from Ottawa to Australia return using 160, 000 Aeroplan miles. Unfortunately, my father fell quite ill which resulted in my father having to return via an alternate ticket (via Air Canada) given that Aeroplan could not find me rescheduled flights that could be used. When I called Aeroplan asking them for a refund of half the
miles and corresponding taxes, they said that they will not do this but my parents can re-use the ticket on a future return trip from that zone area (i.e., Australia or nearby places). However, given my father's health, he will not be able to take long trips any further. Given this, the return tickets will not be used. Therefore, given how valuable these miles are and given that it takes tremendous effort and expenses to collect 80, 000 Aeroplan Miles, my complaint is that Air Canada should be willing to accommodate given our situation of not being able to use the return portion of the ticket on Medical Grounds. I even informed Air Canada of them not being able to travel prior to their return journey on an alternate ticket booked (which was also on Air Canada). This I am sure gave Air Canada an opportunity to fill the seats using alternate tickets sold.

I just spoke with Sandy from the Aeroplan contact center with general inquiries about how to collect miles after I have booked a ticket already and travelled. I recently found my Aeroplan membership and decided to collect miles.

The agent was not professional, sounded angry and rude, as if I shouldn't be calling in. I felt like I was attacked verbally when Sandy threatened to terminate the call, only when I told her to give me one minute to login to my Aeroplan account online and find the link she was telling me to click into.

I would definitely not recommend Aeroplan to friends and family, just for their way of attacking customers with insults and rudeness. There are many travel points companies out there. I really shouldn't need to feel attacked and insulted after calling them.

The Aeroplan rewards programs offers eUpgrade points which you can use to upgrade your seats. However, when I tried to use them on-line to upgrade my seats the request was denied. The reason was "The purchased fare class for this flight does not allow for upgrades". It's very disappointing to earn the status and the rewards and then be told that you're not allowed to reap the benefits.

#Privacy is currently being help up. The term #digitalholdupprivacystyle is what happens when companies like Aeroplan tell consumers they have no choice but to have all financial transactional information be sent to Aeroplan from their banks like TD Canada Trust, American Express and CIBC.

No opt-out and it is mandatory if you want to continue with the program but none of this information is required to run the program, It is just a free data grab by Aeroplan with the express permission of their participating Canadian Banks like: TD Canada Trust, American Express and CIBC.

Wonder if the Canadian Bankers Association has any policies regarding #digitalholdupprivacystyle by its members.

I agree with Lemon Daquise who says that there are no business class seats available to Europe. I struggled to obtain the necessary points to fly business class from Vancouver to Europe 10 months in advance. Since its such a long flight, this is the only way I could handle it, without having my knees up to my chin and trying to survive the extremely close quarters of economy class. The last time I checked, there was a business class seat on a flight returning to Vancouver on one day around midnight, which wouldn't have worked for me. Otherwise it was flying economy to Europe and business class for a short second leg in Europe, which would cost me business class points for the whole trip. The plan sucks. Not only do they charge merchants extra when you use an Aeroplan credit card, you get hit with expensive yearly fees, and you are at their mercy when it comes to claiming your flight rewards. I am ditching my Aeroplan card and my hopes in ever trying to claim rewards that are promised, but do not exist.

Had an Aeroplan card since 1990. Program use to be the only thing that got me to fly Air Canada despite pitifully customer service.
Just a bunch of pampered snivelling pukes work there. All over the hill so far you cant see their tail lights.
The program has degraded over the years with the same sorry assed excuses. But today I go to change a flight reservation made in July because the dumb ### at Air China that I was connecting with kept changing their schedule until I went from a 2 hour layover to 9 hours. A story for another post. So I go on Aeroplan find new flights to connect to my new itinerary. The flights I want are there. but because I already have a booking I have to wait to change the reservation through the Aeroplan customer service pukes.

So now I have my new flight but Aeroplan mysteriously has absolutely no classic awards available. Thousands of flights were listed on their site the night before but now they have everything blocked out and I mean into next year. Air Canada and their scamming cohorts at A|eroplan will never see a nickel more of my hard earned cash.

Stay away from these companies like they have the plague.

Am an avid Aeroplan points collector but am starting to wonder if they are worth the effort: I have enough points to fly in Business Class which I like to do on very long flights BUT seats from Vancouver to Europe are IMPOSSIBLE to get even 9 months ahead of departure. Am thinking that Aeroplan is listing rewards that they do not actually have! I have tried to find out more about allocation numbers but noone is answering me from Aeroplan or Air Canada.
Does anyone know how to get some attention to this matter?

... Unable to book flights, nothing available for weeks at a time, another instance one day layovers in toronto for a trip to east coast? Decided to forget canada, thought i'll try aircanada vacations so I could use my points, well, — not a chance, as well as 75000 of my hard-earned points aeroplan wanted thousands of dollars.. It actually cost less to book directly! When I called aeroplan to complain I too was told by a supervisor (Probably the same person another complainant spoke with) that I should have booked last year.. Sorry rachelle, not everyone has that luxury.
Judging by the internet, complaints about aeroplan don't appear to have decreased in over six years & it sounds like it is the same complaints over & over... I use my credit card on the premise that I am earning rewards that I can use at my discretion!..
I have requested cbc's marketplace investigate, & have filed a complaint with cibc... Please advise what action you have taken, or, if you feel that your complaint warrants looking into a class action lawsuit? I believe there is already one in place about aeroplan's expiry.

I booked a hotel reward for a specific date 1 week from the date of booking on Aeroplan's website. When the confirmation came through a few minutes after the booking I noticed that the date for the hotel booking was wrong and in fact were for the very day I was doing the booking. I presume this was a keystroke error on my behalf and so contacted Aeroplan immediately to make the change. When I reached an Aeroplan associate minutes after I received the confirmation I was flatly told that are no changes can be made within 48 hrs of the stay date regardless if a mistake was made in booking the reservation! I thought this to be ludicrous and tried to appeal to this associate's sense of reason that I should be able to change this reservation or return the points to my account because of this special circumstance. The Aeroplan associate said that she could do neither and the reservation is in place weather I use it or not! I asked to speak with someone else that can rule on this kind of situation and was told that there was no one available and that it would be a week before I would hear back from anyone. It has now been a week and half and no call from anyone at Aeroplan - although I did receive a questionnaire about my call on the quality of the service that was provided. I also wrote an e-mail letter to their VP of Member Services - Caroline Hagen which came back to me right after sending as her e-mail box is full!
It is sad that Aeroplan has gone this way. I can recall the early years of the program when they were more closely aligned to AC and service was a paramount consideration to them. I suspect that the executives and consultants managing the company now have created strategies and policy's that make it difficult to claim travel rewards, or make changes without sacrificing points. As a business consultant myself, I believe that the design of this company executing a loyalty program runs at odds with the main stakeholders associated with them (Visa and Air Canada). Having said that, Aeroplan's parent company Aimia continues to show good growth albeit at the expense of some Aeroplan members. Good luck to those other posters looking for satisfaction from this company.

Aeroplan took my accumulated miles claiming it was expired. They claimed they sent me an email advising it, which I have never ever received it. When I informed I had never received it, the agent said it was my problem, not theirs. Then the agent said if I could let them know date, time, departure / arrival airport, I might be able to get the miles back. So I tried. However, when I called back with such information, the other agent said she couldn't help me and I needed to provide them with the boarding pass and tick number. Hell, who would remember that after 6 months? When I told her what the other agent told me, she said then I should go talk to that person as if I can control who I talk to. I am very frustrated and determined not to take Air Canada again unless I absolutely have no other choice.

Aeroplan is the worst travel program imaginable. We used our CIBC Aerogold Visa for years - for the sole purpose of accumulating airline travel points. Over the last two years, every single time I have tried to book flights - usually months in advance to well known destinations - there are no available flights whatsover. Or if there are any (several days outside of our preferred dates) the travel times and amounts of stops are ridiculous, to the point where I would rather pay for the flight out of pocket than take those flights. I also tried to book a car recently using points - I wasn't even able to do that! even though there were loads of cars available to rent through normal channels from the same car rental company. Essentially I found I was unable to use my points for any flights that I wanted. As a result, I cancelled my credit card and have moved on to TD Visa Travel which allows you to use your points for any travel, on any airline, at any time you wish. Now all I need to do is figure out how to get rid of my Aeroplan points before they expire - another non-consumer friendly term of the Aeroplan program. Good riddance! Anyone considering signing up with Aeroplan - DON'T DO IT!

My husband & I were trying to book flights using our Aeroplan airmiles. The seats for aeroplan members are very limited. My husband asked the Aeroplan representative why direct flights and seats are so limited, and was told that "because Aeroplan haven't released all the seats yet". What? When your loyal customers saved all these air miles thinking they can redeem and book flights, and you are telling them that you're trying to hold some seats until later?! Like the other people complained...they have the worst time, and many stopovers available for aeroplan holders. What's the purpose of holding seats until later? Do they want aeroplan holders to book crappy seats and flights for now, and change later when better seats and time are available, so that they can also charge administrative fee for changing schedule? This is not fair. We are loyal to use the airline, but are not treated with priority. Can someone from Aeroplan respond to this?

Consistently unable to book flights using aeroplan miles, even when attempting to do so 8 months in advance. Also, unable to use pts to book hotel room in Toronto. Told they only have so many Aeroplan rooms available !? This company is clearly misleading the public and there should be recourse-other than the courts-to address this sort of deception.

Aeroplan removed 4000 points off my account for movie passes on Nov.4, 2010 and said they sent them to me. I never received them and contacted them they were supposed to be reissued to me in Feb. 2011. I still had not received anything from them so I phoned a gain on June 17, 2011 and was told that i would be rebimbursed the 4000 points by July 1, 2011 to date they have not been put back on my account. Could you please check this for me and have the points put back on. I think this is terrible service!

I have had success booking rewards travel for the past several years... decent connections and total travel times until this year. Latest attempt to book a rewards flight from Winnipeg to Honolulu takes me to Toronto, Washington, San Francisco then finally to Honolulu. What a complete joke! For the amount I spend on my aeroplan visa to get 80, 000 points to use rewards travel to Hawaii I can fly United Airlines to Honolulu with one connection for $865.00. Keep up the great work Air Canada/Aeroplan...other airlines can pick up the slack when you cease flying!