The IT Nerd

Aeroplan announced today a partnership with Uber Canada that gives eligible Aeroplan credit cardholders access to unlimited $0 Delivery Fees on eligible food and grocery orders, ride discounts and additional perks with a free Uber Pass membership.  

The free Uber Pass membership is available to eligible Aeroplan credit cardholders for a period of three, six or twelve months depending on the card.

Aeroplan credit cardholders can save up to $120 in monthly membership costs and enjoy Uber Pass savings like unlimited $0 Delivery Fees and 5% savings off eligible restaurant orders over $15 on Uber Eats, and save on grocery orders through Cornershop over $40, where available. Cardholders will also unlock new Uber Rides perks each month with discounts available only to Passholders. To enjoy these benefits, Cardholders must activate their free membership by September 7, 2022.

Stay tuned for more things to come from Aeroplan and Uber later in 2021.  

How it works:

1. Simply open your Uber or Uber Eats App (or download it); 
2. Add your eligible Aeroplan credit card to your Uber account; 
3. Activate your free Uber Pass membership and use your Aeroplan credit card when paying for qualifying purchases (the same one used to activate your free membership).  

Participating Cards – Launching September 8, 2021

TD:

• TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum Card – 3 months free
• TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card – 6 months free
• TD Aeroplan Visa Business Card – 6 months free
• TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card – 12 months free

CIBC:

• CIBC Aeroplan Visa Card – 3 months free
• CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card – 6 months free
• CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business Card – 6 months free
• CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business Plus Card – 6 months free
• CIBC Aerogold Visa Card – 6 months free
• CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card – 12 months free

Participating Cards – Launching November 1, 2021

American Express:

• American Express Aeroplan Card – 6 months free
• American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card – 12 months free
• American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve Card – 12 months free

In the months of September and October 2021, American Express is extending eligible Aeroplan Cardmembers a special offer – spend $10 on a qualifying Uber Eats purchase each month and get a $10 statement credit, up to a maximum of $20 in statement credits. Terms apply.

For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com/uberpass.

Those who follow my Twitter account will likely have noticed that I have been less than thrilled with the quality of service provided by Air Canada today. I was supposed to do some consulting work in the UK this week, but those plans have been turned upside down thanks to a plane with an electrical fault of some sort that led to a cancellation. Now I get that stuff like this happens, but the way it was handled by Air Canada was absolutely a #fail to put it mildly. Let me walk you through the chronology of events:

• My flight was supposed to take off at 8:25 AM. But at 7:58 AM they delayed the flight by 30 minutes. Now, I was supposed to connect to a train via National Rail to my final destination, and I built a three hour buffer to make sure that if a delay happened, I would not miss my train.
• At 8:39 AM Air Canada announced a further delay with due to a “mechanical issue.”
• At 9:09 AM Air Canada started boarding the plane.
• At 9:23 AM they pushed us back from the gate. At this point, we have been delayed for just over an hour. But the “fun” was not over. They were unable to start the engines so they were forced to return to the gate and mechanics come on board to look at this electrical fault.
• After sitting on the plane for another hour, Air Canada empties the plane and tells passengers to get a voucher and come back in an hour for an update. Here’s what the line for the vouchers looked like:

• One hour later, the flight is cancelled and Air Canada sends passengers running to a customer service desk with only two people at it and over 200 people from the flight that was cancelled to deal with:

• About 30 minutes after I post that Tweet, a third person appears:

It took almost another hour to rebook at this desk. As it stands, I am on the 6:30 PM flight tonight which will land in London at roughly 6AM. But this forced me to rebook my train travel. Fortunately that was only 6.75 GBP. But it pushes back the amount of time that I have to work back by one day which isn’t good for yours truly or my client.

Now I will say this once again, I get that delays happen. But Air Canada could have done a much better job of dealing with this. They could have had more customer service agents to help us rebook. They could have perhaps done a better job ensuring the plane was working. Even the communication might have been better. Other airlines seem to do a much better job of this than Air Canada. So, after this experience combined with my experience with Air Canada the last time I flew to the UK, I likely will not be flying with them again. Delays happen. But it’s how you handle those delays as an airline that makes someone who has a delay want to fly with them again, or not fly with them again.

Here’s hoping that I get off the ground later tonight.