Aeroplan charged me a change fee that I believe was unconscionable.
I am heading to Germany for Christmas this year with my family. We booked tickets via Aeroplan on Turkish Airlines months before the diplomatic spat that has effectively barred U.S. citizens from entering Turkey. That’s a problem because we have a stopover in Istanbul.
> Read More: Turkey Eliminates U.S. Tourist Visas, Barring Entry for Most U.S. Citizens
It has been over a month since the diplomatic row began and I figured it would be solved by now, but it persists. While my wife, traveling with a German passport, is okay, my son and I will be denied entry into Turkey under current rules. That forced me to modify our tickets.
While it is plausible that the diplomatic crisis will be resolved before my travel date in mid-December, I figured it was not wise simply to hope for the best. Instead, I began searching for alternate award space.
I found Air New Zealand business class award space via London, which seemed like an ideal alternate to flying on Turkish Airlines. To be clear, I had no desire to change routing. I have not yet reviewed Turkish Airlines 777-3oo Business Class on this blog and was looking forward to doing so. But it would have been quite problematic to be denied boarding in Los Angeles or be forced to spend 36 hours in the Turkish Airlines Lounge in Istanbul.
Aeroplan Plays Hardball
I phoned Aeroplan and explained the situation to agent, stressing that the change was was necessitated by the inability of U.S. citizens to travel to Turkey.
The agent refused to waive the change fee, stating it was not Aeroplan’s problem that Turkey and the United States are experiencing diplomatic issues.
I asked what would happen if I left my reservation intact and was denied boarding in Los Angeles.
The agent had no answer, but insisted that she could not waive the change fee. She did not even offer to look into shortening my connection so I could connect immediately to Germany. (That would have been ideal solution, but there was no award space available…I had already checked)
So I paid the 100CAD/ticket change fee. The change has been made.
But I don’t think Aeroplan should have charged me for the change. I don’t think my change was voluntary in so far as the current itinerary is invalid.
CONCLUSION
Aeroplan is the loyalty program that charges you 30CAD for a telephone booking when the website is broken. I find its ticketing and change fees unethical in the unbending way they are applied. Agents are not empowered to waive any fees at Aeroplan and unfortunately supervisors also (seem) to have their hands tied. It is not a nice way to do business. It’s just one more reason I’ll be happy to see Air Canada take back its loyalty program in 2020. Let’s hope that Air Canada will be a bit more benevolent about changes beyond the passenger’s control.
What a disgrace of customer service. I thought that US citizens with previously issued visas could still enter enter Turkey? If you just in “transit” in Turkey catching another flight to another country does that mean you are entering Turkey? BTW, if your wife has a German passport I would highly recommend you get your son a German passport asap. It is much easier when they are little than when they get older. I have a EU passport myself and got for my kids but it has been an ordeal to get it for my wife. Two years and counting and still no response. 🙁
Transit is still fine…there just wasn’t any “transit” space on my travel date.
Paperwork is already in place to get Augustine a German passport.
You should apply for yourself as well. It may take years to get but one day it will come. 🙂
It is my understanding that a limited number of visas are being processed daily for U.S. passport holders but you have to apply in person at a Turkish consulate or the embassy in DC. I’m in a similar position myself and will try this soon.
I have paid hundreds of dollars in these change fees over the years, its one thing I hate about aeroplan. They don’t care what the circumstances are, they just want their money. I had no idea that Air New Zealand flies LAX-LHR. That would be a unique route to review and I would actually prefer it over a Turkish Airlines review. By the way you had a small typo “I have not yet reviewed Turkish Airlines 777-3oo Business Class on this blog and was looking forwarding to doing so”. I assume you meant looking forward to doing so.
I have a review of LAX-LHR on Air New Zealand linked in my post above. I took the flight last November.
Did you try the always popular HUCA, seems to help in many situations.
Nope, only one award seat left on the NZ flight. Did not want to risk it.
what do the terms and conditions say? As a lawyer, I thought you always rely on contractual agreements, not courtesy of airlines. Or at least, you would discuss the issue from legal point of view in your blog…Or unless you conveniently use contracts for yourself…
The T&C’s do not address this–
https://www.aeroplan.com/terms_and_conditions.do
He did discuss from a legal point of view… do you not know the terms? And the point of contracts is literally to use them for your convenience. If you can get out of them for your benefit, you do.
I’m torn. Aeroplan should have waived the fee as a courtesy but it was a voluntary change.
I actually had a little spat with United this morning about fees. I called to book a Plan B from scratch and the guy said there was a phone booking fee and I could do it online. I explained that I could not and he reiterated his point. I then said “customers cannot book XN space and waitlist for I themselves” and he said “where did you get that information?” Needless to say I hung up on him.
Moral of the story is the guy was a real butthead but he was justified in charging the fee. Perhaps if you HUCAed a few times you would have gotten a different answer.
I think had the US Govt made the rule no landing even in Turkey there should have been a waiver. But Matt had a choice one I wouldnt have done myself and that was to remain airside in IST till the connecting flight. Otherwise pay up as he did, then again AP isnt owned by AC any longer and isnt a US company
I know people say this all the time, but I feel like this is the trade off I get for having Skymiles and flying Delta. I maintained Platinum Medallion with them for years, but this past year dropped down to a general member. I was dreaddddddding the customer service interactions, but to my surprise found they’re just as accommodating as they were when I had status. I’ve booked tickets in wrong directions (lol), messed up dates (drunk booking tickets at 12:10am for the wrong day), etc… and every time they proactively offer to waive the change fee. So, for customer service like that I get miles that are worth less ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have a positive Aeroplan story that I’ll put up to play devil’s advocate. I needed to cancel an award ticket around 3 days before, which you can’t do (this was under the old fee structure, when cancelation was only possible up to 2 weeks prior to travel). The agent played hardball for a little, but she eventually agreed to change the date on the ticket to sometime in the future and then cancel it – I had to pay both a change fee and the cancelation fee, but at least the old fees weren’t that bad. (The two fees together were still less than the single cancel/change fee on United or Delta.) I’m not saying this invalidates anyone else’s experience, but at least it’s good to know that some agents do try to help.
I don’t know that I’d characterize it as “unethical”, since the fee was disclosed, existed at the time you made the booking, and is applied consistently among all passengers. It IS, however, atrocious customer service on the part of Aeroplan. Stuff like this and the phone booking fee are why I don’t do business with them.
The changes you made to your reservation are voluntary and the charge is fair. Aeroplan doesn’t owe you the courtesy of a waiver as they are a coalition loyalty program that buys seats from airline and is likely also expected to compensate the airline in case of a change. Besides, you’re exploiting the power of your blog for petty penny which is disappointing.
I disagree. Thanks for your opinion.
There’s also the overriding factor of encouraging goodwill and loyalty. Yes, they want to make profit, but is it worth it to make $100 now if it directly causes him to make fewer bookings through them in the future?
Shortsightedness is the downfall of many a “strict” operation.
Aeroplan agents are a mixed bag – the good ones will try their best to find ways around policy, but the bad ones are surly and lazy.
Also: hit the BC call center if you can. Apparently the Montreal-based agents are a whole lot worse.
I had to change my flight to one day later due to a lost passport. Aeroplan was very helpful and no mention of any change fee. It was in the middle of my trip so not sure if that makes a difference.