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Air Canada's Aeroplan has quietly added a new facility to its website, and you can now change award bookings online. The move significantly improves the previous method, where you first had to cancel your booking. Then, you needed to wait for your points to be redeposited in your account and any taxes, fees, and surcharges refunded to your credit card. After this, you could make a fresh new award booking.
The new feature allows you to change the date of your award, route, and fare class. You can even change from an economy booking to a business-class award. Here's how the new feature to change your Aeroplan award online works.
How to Change Your Aeroplan Award
Everything starts from the My Bookings page, so you first need to head over and log in if prompted, then you can retrieve your booking. For instance, we are changing the date on an upcoming award flight from Tokyo Narita (NRT) to Qingdao, China (TAO).
Once your booking is retrieved, click the “Change Flight” button.
Now, you can perform a new search. You can search for new dates and arrival destinations, and there is a check box if you want to search from a new departure airport.
In our case, we searched for a new date (August 15, 2023), and we were in luck. We found availability on ANA from 12,500 points plus $74 CAD in taxes and fees. The exact amount you will be charged, taking into account the price difference between the awards, is displayed on the final review page.
The review page presents you with your final cost breakdown. Here, you can compare your original award pricing and the new fare pricing. In our case, our new fare was 20¢ CAD cheaper, which will be refunded.
Once you complete your payment, you are issued your new tickets, and your changes are complete.
Beware Aeroplan Change Fees
Remember that even though it is now incredibly easy to change your Aeroplan award online, you will still need to pay the standard $100 CAD (~$75 USD) award change fee. In our case above, it costs $200 CAD (~$150 USD) to change two awards from Tokyo to Qingdao.
Remember, every time you change your award, you increase its cost and reduce its value. This can quickly erode any value in booking with points, especially on shorter, cheaper routes. For instance, if you change an award twice on a route that typically has a $200 cash price, this devastates the award value. In that case, you were better off booking cash and saving your points since you've now spent the same amount of money in the end.
Related: The 47 Airlines You Can Book Using Aeroplan Points
Our Take
We always welcome news of more options to use, change, or make award bookings — especially when these make the process simpler for travelers. Searching for a new award while keeping your old booking and then seamlessly changing over offers peace of mind.
The new functionality to change Aeroplan award bookings online eliminates the waiting period for refunds of your points and cash. Now, there is no risk that award space will disappear in the time before you make your new booking.
One thing to be aware of is that you still should avoid changing awards unnecessarily. You will pay a change fee every time you do so, and those costs can soon add up, so watch out!
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