Aeroplan safe as Air Canada files for bankruptcy Last Updated Tue, 01 Apr 2003 22:54:08 TORONTO - Air Canada has promised its customers that it's business as usual= =20 as the airline files for bankruptcy protection. Clients who are already=20 travelling or who have booked with the airline should not be expecting any= =20 changes =97 at least in the next couple of months. "Whatever you do, make= =20 sure that you pay with your credit card," warns Duncan Macintosh of=20 tripcentral.ca, a Hamilton-area travel company. Macintosh says credit card= =20 users are protected when a company doesn't follow through with a service or= =20 product. It's in the cardholder agreement. During the fallout from the=20 Canada 3000 bankruptcy in November 2000, just about all the customers who=20 paid with a credit card got their money back. Clients who didn't could be=20 waiting another six to eight months for compensation. Even then, refunds=20 aren't guaranteed. Macintosh says Aeroplan members should be safe. "The=20 airline's only asset is its customers," Macintosh told CBC News Online.=20 "Aeroplan is a gold mine. If it gets rid of that, it might as well roll up= =20 the red carpet." Rick Erickson, a Calgary airline analyst, agrees. He says Aeroplan is one=20 of the most viable parts of the company. "I don't think that any of the Aeroplan frequent flyer point holders are=20 going to take any kind of a haircut. They're too valuable to the airline as= =20 customers," says Erickson. Macintosh says he doesn't believe there will be= =20 trip disruptions. He says the carrier is depending on the "good will" of=20 its customers to keep it going. Other airline analysts say consumers=20 should make sure their flights are leaving at the time they booked it at.=20 They say Air Canada will have to re-schedule some routes and reduce=20 frequency on others. Further down the road, the carrier may pull out of=20 smaller destinations. Other airlines are expected to fill the=20 gap. Macintosh does have some predictions for future Aeroplan rewards and= =20 redemptions. "I think they will cut how you can earn your points and=20 they'll tighten up the redemption requirements=85make the points higher for= =20 getting to some destinations." Macintosh points out Aeroplan members can't= =20 collect points while flying economy with Singapore Airlines, an alliance=20 member. He expects that will be the case with discount flights. Written by CBC News Online staff *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week:http://www.ttsailing.org/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************