Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  Long story short, I planned an awesome award trip to Africa (Victoria Falls, South Africa, and Madagascar) for August 2020, but due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, we decided to cancel the trip and try again next year.  I planned / booked this award trip in October 2019 and part of the award booking process involved transferring 77,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points to my Air Canada Aeroplan account.  I recently wrote about my Anatomy and Timeline of a Cancelled American Airlines Award Ticket, so I decided I would write something similar for my experience cancelling 2 Air Canada Aeroplan award tickets.

I used the awesome Juicy Miles award search tool to search for award flights and booked these 2 award flights:

1. San Francisco to Toronto, Canada (SFO-YYZ) in Air Canada economy class for 12,500 Air Canada Aeroplan miles + 72.00 CAD (~$52.86)
2. Antananarivo, Madagascar to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Chicago (TNR-ADD-ORD) in Ethiopian Airlines business class for 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan miles + 132.40 CAD (~$97.21)

I also used 78,000 Avianca LifeMiles to book Toronto, Canada to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (YYZ-ADD-VFA) in Ethiopian Airlines business class and paid South African Airways flights (using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points and Citi ThankYou Points) from Livingstone, Zambia to Johannesburg, South Africa to Antananarivo, Madagascar (LVI-JNB-TNR).  I will keep you posted on those flight cancellation processes.

On June 17, I decided to cancel both Air Canada Aeroplan award tickets and cancelled the first award ticket (SFO-YYZ).  The refund confirmation screen showed that I would get back 12,500 miles + 72.00 CAD (~$52.86).  There was no fee to cancel this award ticket.

I then cancelled the second award ticket (TNR-ADD-ORD).  The refund confirmation screen showed that I would get back 75,000 miles, but did not show the amount of taxes/fees that would get refunded.  Like above, there was no fee to cancel this award ticket.

2 days later on June 19, I received the cancellation email for my first award ticket (SFO-YYZ).

In the above cancellation email, there was a PDF showing the details of the refund.  I received 12,500 miles back in my account along with a refund of 72.00 CAD (~$52.86).

An hour later on June 19, I received the cancellation email for my second award ticket (TNR-ADD-ORD).

In the above cancellation email, there was also a PDF showing the details of the refund.  I received 75,000 miles back in my account along with a refund of 132.40 CAD (~$97.21).

I logged into my Air Canada Aeroplan account and saw that both mileage refunds posted to my account on June 19.

The next day on June 20, both Air Canada refunds posted to my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card.

All in all, between cancelling my award tickets on June 17, getting the miles back in my account on June 19, and getting the refund of taxes/fees on June 20, the entire process was very quick and easy.  I wish all other airlines had as simple and quick refunds for cancelling award tickets.  I don’t have any immediate plans to use the 88,034 Air Canada Aeroplan miles, but hopefully I will use them for travel next year.  If you have any questions about the cancellation process, please leave a comment below.  Have a great weekend everyone!