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Home » aeroplan » Not a Glitch! Aeroplan Premium Cabin Awards on Sale
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Not a Glitch! Aeroplan Premium Cabin Awards on Sale

Matthew December 6, 2011 3 Comments

Last Friday I reported that Aeroplan, Air Canada’s mileage program, was pricing out business class awards at economy class prices and first class awards at business class prices. I speculated that some sort of IT glitch was behind the “sale” and encouraged you to book now and ask questions later. Four days later the “sale” is still on and it appears I was mistaken: the “glitch” is actually a deliberate yet unpublished fare sale.

This morning I received the following comment in the post from Valerie, with an Aeroplan e-mail address:

Hi Matthew, I am the social media community manager at Aeroplan. I wanted to let you know that Aeroplan is offering special mileage levels to select travel regions/destinations for a limited period of time. Members may book these flight reward tickets online or thru the contact center (booking fees apply). This sale is not a website glitch and this offer could end at any time.

I am having trouble understanding why Aeroplan would do this, but nevertheless those of you who have taken advantage of this great deal need not worry about Aeroplan coming after more miles in the future.

Need help booking your award? Let us know.

This really is a nice marketing ploy–this softens the blow of the fuel surcharges and with the “sale” lasting for an unknown duration, I bet a lot of you are burning your miles now (I certainly would if I collected Aeroplan points).

No matter what Aeroplan says, I am fairly certain the fuel surcharge money is going to Air Canada (the ticketing carrier) rather than Lufthansa or other Star Alliance members operating the award flights. If true, that essentially makes booking these discounted Aeroplan awards analogous to “cash + points” redemption options on bmi and British Airways, where you spend less miles but have to fork over cash for the award ticket.

Could this all just be a ploy to make people think they are getting a good deal while Aeroplan is laughing all the way to the bank with their new fuel surcharge cash cow? It is something to think about…

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About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120 countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying international relations, American government, and later obtaining a law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House. His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles. Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the direction and coordination of company travel.

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3 Comments

  1. lelee Reply
    December 6, 2011 at 1:47 am

    I bet it started as an IT glitch, that they could not fix. With the bad PR they generated with higher mileages and YQs, they took advantage of the situation and honoured the bookings until whenever it gets fixed. If it was a legit promo, why didnt they announce it ?

  2. Gary Reply
    December 6, 2011 at 1:55 am

    My ‘bet’ is that this really is an IT issue that they just didn’t have an immediate fix for but are working to solve. I haven’t spoken to anyone at Aeroplan on this, so truly just a guess, but I really doubt this is an unannounced flash sale. 😛

  3. 076753k Reply
    December 7, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    I cashed in! YHZ-BOS AC (Y) BOS-FRA LH (J) (17hour stop) – SIN (10 day stop) LH (J)- SIN-FRA LH (J) – FRA -JFK SQ (J), EWR-YHZ CON (Y)! I have never flown trans atlantic in J, or on an A380 so its a reallll treat! I wouldn’t have found out about this if it wasn’t for FT

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