A new feature has appeared on some Aeroplan bookings, which allows you to make self-serve changes online instead of phoning the Aeroplan Contact Centre.
While the feature is currently being tested in beta mode and isn’t available across all bookings, it’s a very welcome development for anyone who has faced long hold times to make an amendment to a booking.
Aeroplan Testing Online Changes to Bookings
As of this morning, a limited-scope, online test feature has been made available on some Aeroplan bookings. With the feature, members are able to make changes to a booking online instead of through the Aeroplan Contact Centre by phone.
It’s important to note that this feature is in beta testing mode, and won’t be available on all bookings or to all members at the moment.
Previously, members had to call the Aeroplan Contact Centre to make any changes to a booking. This sometimes results in long hold times, which can be frustrating when you want to make a simple (or complex) change to a booking.
With this test phase, you may now see a “Change flight” option when you access a flight reward on your “My Bookings” page. If you do, you’ll be able to complete a change online without having to phone the Contact Centre.
It’s worth noting that members have been able to cancel awards online for quite some time now, and that this test feature only affects the ability to make changes to bookings.
How to Change Aeroplan Bookings Online
You must be signed in to your Aeroplan account in order for the feature to appear; however, with the feature still in testing mode, it won’t necessarily appear on all bookings.
Once you’ve signed in, navigate to the “My Bookings” page, which shows a list of all your active bookings.
After selecting “View booking”, look at the row of buttons at the top of the page. If you see “Change flight” in bold print, it’s available for your booking.
If it’s not available, the “Change flight” button will be greyed out, and it will look like this:
It’s worth noting that you need to be signed in to the account that made the booking in order to make any changes. If you’re signed in to a different account at this stage, you’ll be asked to sign in to the original account.
Next, you’ll see a menu for various changes that you can make. Select the flight(s) that you’d like to make changes to, and then enter the departure city, arrival city, and dates. Then, select “Find new flights” to proceed.
The next page displays a list of available flights, as well as the applicable costs. This screen largely mirrors that of a standard Aeroplan search result, except for the banner at the top, which states that the difference in cost will be displayed on the “Review trip and pay” page.
It’s important to note that the prices listed on this page are the total cost, and don’t reflect the amount of points you originally paid for your flight.
After selecting a flight and fare class, you’ll be taken to a summary page, which displays the difference in points (if any), as well as the change fees you’ll need to pay (if any). If you agree to everything, simply click “I accept, purchase”, and the changes will be processed.
The entire process only takes a few minutes, and can likely be done in less time than it takes to go through the automated series of questions that you get when you call the Aeroplan Contact Centre.
As a reminder, Aeroplan change fees are per person, per direction, and differ depending on the original fare you purchased.
In addition to any difference in points, you’ll pay $100 (CAD) plus taxes to change a booking in Economy (Standard), Premium Economy (Lowest), Business Class (Lowest), or First (Lowest).
You’ll only pay the difference in points (if any) for Economy (Flex), Economy (Latitude), Premium Economy (Flexible), Business Class (Flexible), and First (Flexible) fares.
For example, if you booked a one-way Economy (Standard) fare for 10,000 points per person and want to change it to a flight that costs 12,000 points per person, you’ll need to pay a total of $200 (CAD) plus taxes for the change fees, as well as an additional 4,000 Aeroplan points total.
On the other hand, if you originally booked a one-way Economy (Flex) fare for 15,000 points per person and want to change it to a flight that costs 20,000 points per person, you’ll only need to pay an additional 10,000 points total, since there’s no change fee charged for this fare.
Super Elites benefit from waived change and cancellation fees for all fare classes on Aeroplan bookings.
A Very Welcome Development
Indeed, this is a very positive development for Aeroplan members, even if it’s in a testing phase and has yet to be fully implemented.
One of the sticking points for making changes to Aeroplan bookings has been occasional long wait times for the Aeroplan Contact Centre, which is sometimes so busy that it doesn’t accept inbound calls.
While members with Aeroplan Elite Status benefit from being placed in a priority queue, there are still instances of members having to wait on hold, which can be very frustrating.
It’s worth noting that this feature has been available online for cash bookings for some time now, and there are usually also self-serve options available in the event of a schedule change or cancellation.
Once this feature officially rolls out upon the completion of the testing phase, Aeroplan members will benefit from being able to make amendments to bookings as they wish.
This is the next iteration of online tools that Aeroplan has rolled out, which recently included the ability to make bookings with stopovers online and to pre-select meals on certain flights, amongst others.
Conclusion
Aeroplan is testing a self-serve change feature for select bookings. If available, members are able to make a change to a booking online, without having to call the Aeroplan Contact Centre.
The feature isn’t available on all Aeroplan bookings, so if you don’t see the button available, you’ll still need to phone in to make changes.
This is a welcome development and improvement to Aeroplan, and it will be great to see it fully implemented in the future.