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Following on from the news that Air Canada’s offer to Aimia for Aeroplan was accepted, rumour has it that fuel surcharges will be scrapped on the new programme. Ridiculously high Aeroplan fuel surcharges have notoriously devalued rewards, so if these rumours are true, it will be great news for members.

It’s only a rumour at this stage, but a reliable source has mooted that Aeroplan fuel surcharges are to be scrapped when Air Canada takes control of the loyalty scheme. Currently, Air Canada fuel surcharges for members using awards can skyrocket the price of what would have been a cheap flight. In some cases, they can exceed $1,000.

As an example, a business class round trip to London from New York (via Toronto) will cost an Aeroplan member 110,000 miles. In addition to this, they’ll be expected to part with more then $1,200 CAD (that’s around $970 US). These Aeroplan fuel surcharges massively contribute to the fact that many members earn but don’t spend their points.

If the switch to Aeroplan 2.0 does indeed scrap these excessive costs, it will spur more redemptions and bring the programme in line with many of the US loyalty schemes.

Are Air Canada fuel surcharges avoidable?

For a long time, there have been workarounds to these charges, namely by using a partner airline. There are around 20 airlines in the Star Alliance which do not have any surcharges imposed, including United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air China and Aegean. Cathay Pacific, LOT Polish and Thai Airways all offer low or limited fuel surcharges on their flights.

The downside of this is that finding an airline which doesn’t require an arm and a leg to fly can be something of an arduous task. Often the low or no charge airlines don’t fly anywhere near where you actually want to go, which can mean piecing an itinerary together bit by bit. This can make your trip a lot longer and more complicated than it needs to be.

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Issues can also arise when you go over your maximum permitted mileage values, or when you run into glitches with married segments. Added to this, if you’re flying past your desired destination in order to save on fuel surcharges, you may go into a different points zone, and end up parting with significantly more points than you anticipated.

Let’s face it; if Air Canada do scrap fuel surcharges on Aeroplan, it would make everyone’s life a whole lot easier.

But will Air Canada devalue Aeroplan?

Members with accounts balances to spend will be starting to panic that a devaluation is afoot. After all, the Air Canada Aeroplan deal came with $1.9bn of liability in unclaimed miles, so you’ve got to assume the consortium is just a tad worried about that. Even miniscule tweaks to the redemption charts could see a massive saving for Air Canada, so let’s not rule out devaluation at this time.

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For now, your miles are safe. You can earn and burn as much as you like until the current agreement with Aimia comes to an end. This is scheduled for June 29th, 2020, at which point Air Canada will formally take control of the programme. What we know for now is that any existing miles will not expire when Aeroplan switches over to Aeroplan 2.0. Whether they will still be worth as much remains to be seen.