Air Canada Flexible Pricing Switch
It appears one of our favorite booking loopholes closed. ToP team member Ben tried to pull off the Air Canada flexible pricing switch late last week and was told it wasn't possible any longer. It looks like it started being blocked late last summer / early fall from some reports I found on Reddit. It wasn't a heavily used loophole, but it could come in handy during the right situation. I'll go over exactly what this was, why it was useful and how to handle these types of bookings going forward.
Downgrading From Aeroplan Flex To Lowest Awards
One good thing that came from the pandemic was flexible cancellations for most airlines. That is especially true for award flights. One program that didn't seem to get the memo was Air Canada though. They still charged fees (up to $175 CAD) for cancellations unless you booked into their flexible awards. It was annoying to have to pay more to book partner awards with flexibility, but those in the know had a workaround.
Once your plans firmed up, and you knew that you would be taking the flight, you could call the Aeroplan call center and ask to be moved into the lowest award category. They would reprice the ticket as such, and you would get a refund in points. This worked even if there were no “lowest” awards available at the time of your call. That meant you could get the flexibility you craved, but still price into the cheapest award booking option possible down the road.
In a world where things can change on a dime, flexibility is key. It seems like most loyalty programs get this and have offered their members options that work for them. Aeroplan leaving this flexible pricing switch loophole open felt like a way for us to simply get what competitors openly offered. Even if it required more or a backdoor approach, it was nice to have. Aeroplan must have decided lock that backdoor up and throw away the key.
What Can You Do Now?
With Aeroplan shutting down the award downgrade loophole what is one to do now? Book a non flexible award and hope for the best? Start eating cancellation fees when things don't work out to get your miles back? Maybe. If I wasn't sure about the booking, but wanted to lock it in anyway, I would probably still go with the flexible award. That at least saves me money if I do need to cancel down the road, even if it does cost more miles.
Best case scenario is that there are still lowest awards available when your plans firm up. You could then cancel the flexible award and rebook the same flight at the lowest award price.
If there are no more lowest awards available you are now left at a crossroads. Do you want to potentially pay more than you need to, or do you want to gamble? Some will still go ahead and cancel the flexible award and hope that this brings the space back “in stock” on Aeroplan. You can then rebook at the lowest award level with the stash of miles you got from the cancellation. There is a risk that the award space never makes it back into the system of course. Because of that I would only go this route if you have a back up booking, or are ready to say goodbye to the flight forever. It appears that some partners do restock the award right away though, so it might be worth the gamble.
Air Canada Flexible Pricing Switch: ToP Thoughts
The Air Canada flexible pricing switch loophole closing may not be news to some, but I figured it was a niche enough need that many may not know it ended yet. If you had never heard of this one (you have obviously never been to a ToP Meet Up 😜) then it gives you some perspective of what could be possible when you deep dive into a program. This change takes away some value from the Aeroplan program for sure because of its lack of flexibility. This change would have me looking elsewhere to book that same partner award with a program that offers flexibility (oh, hi lifemiles).
Did you ever use the Aeroplan flexible pricing switch loophole? How big of a deal is this change for you? Let me know over in the ToP Facebook Group.
