Questions and Answers

Hi Ben and fellow readers,

Yesterday and today I’ve been trying to redeem one J award using Aeroplan miles from AMS-YVR in June 2016, using LX on AMS-ZRH-YUL (and AC on YUL-YVR) to avoid the scam charges when flying AC and LH. According to Lifemiles’ and United’s sites the following dates are available: 16th, 23rd and 29th.
However, on Aeroplan’s site only AC longhaul shows up for those dates, while in the past LX flights would match those found on UA, and were bookable online.

This begs the following questions:
1. Is it a new AP policy to block non-AC/LH-long-haul awards online?;
2. Will a call centre agent be able to see and book the LX flights (or when feeded) c.q. it depends on the agent?

Thanks for your feedback,
Jeff

Jeff, if UA and Lifemiles can both see the space the Aeroplan agent should be able to see it. I would definitely try to call (and request that they waive any phone booking charges).

Also, have you tried building your itinerary as a multi city trip? Sometimes that will work better where a direct query will not.

Thanks for your input, Gaurav!

I tried the multi-city option, but the itinerary did not qualify.

Interestingly, while ZRH-YUL-YVR does give the LX choice, adding AMS-ZRH to the itinerary results in longhaul AC metal only.

I’ll give the call center a try to see if they can be of help.

When I book aeroplan I try to check for each segment one at a time. If it does not show up as a one way I check it as a round trip. Ex: ams-zrh-ams instead of just ams-zrh. Normally the flights should show up.

Note the flight numbers you want down. Do this for every segment and then call into the call centre. It’s a little longer but in my experience it works the majority of the time

Feeding the flight numbers to a willing call centre agent is the key.
Thanks, Cal!