Air Canada Privacy Policy
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Our Privacy Policies

Last update: 9 September 2022

This Privacy Policy provides you with important information about how Air Canada handles your personal information. Your privacy is important to us, and safeguarding your privacy is fundamental to our business.

Whether you are using our website, mobile application, other online platforms or contact centres, this policy applies.

We encourage you to periodically review this policy, as we may update it from time to time. Updates will be posted on our website and we will take reasonable steps to alert customers to any significant changes before they take effect.

This policy may be supplemented by other consents you provide, and by any terms and conditions that you agree to as part of your purchase or participation in any other Air Canada products, services, promotions, contests or events.

Privacy Policy topics

This policy applies to personal information.  Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual, such as your home address, telephone number, email address, and details about your transactions with Air Canada and method of payment.

This policy does not apply to anonymous information – which is any information that does not include an individual’s name, contact information or any other information that could reasonably be expected to identify the individual.

We collect personal information when you interact with us, for example:

  • When you contact us, we collect information about that interaction, such as when and why you contacted us.
  • When you browse our website or other online platforms, including third party websites that are co-branded with Air Canada, we collect information including your internet protocol address, device type and browsing activity – for more information please see our Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.
  • If you are an Air Canada VIP or Aeroplan Super Elite Member and use our concierge agent, we collect personal information you share with our concierge agent to provide personalized concierge service.   

We collect personal information when you book travel with us, for example:

  • If you are booking travel, we collect personal information that you provide to us to
    • complete the transaction,
    • ensure we can contact you as necessary,
    • assess your fare eligibility, such as discounts for infants and children, and
    • enable us to verify your identity for legal and security purposes.

The personal information we collect for these purposes includes the following: name, address, telephone number, email address, payment card number and expiry date, passport or other government-issued identification information, date of birth. We also request your gender to assist in estimating the aircraft's total load and as an additional identifier. If a third party is booking your travel, see Third Party Bookings (below).

  • If you’ve booked travel on another airline, and part of your itinerary is on Air Canada (a code share or interline ticket), we collect information from that airline to permit your travel with us.
  • If you make any requests for special assistance – for a wheelchair, on-board oxygen, a meal preference, or an unaccompanied minor, for example – we collect the information needed to accommodate your request. This may include relevant medical information, and will be apparent to you at the time of collection. If a third party is booking your travel, see Third Party Bookings (below).

We collect personal information when you travel with us, for example:

  • To grant you access to Maple Leaf lounges,
  • To complete your duty-free purchases,
  • To return delayed baggage to you,
  • To facilitate our lost and found service, if you left your belongings on a flight or at the airport

We collect personal information reasonably needed to fulfill our business purposes, like the purposes discussed in part 3 “Why do we use and share your personal information?”.

If you are an Aeroplan Member, we also collect information about your activity in that program – see part 4 “Additional collection, use and disclosure of Aeroplan Member personal information”).

If you are an Aeroplan Member, we also collect information to deliver, promote and develop our Aeroplan Elite Status program

Aeroplan Members who fly with Air Canada and Star Alliance airlines automatically participate in Air Canada’s Aeroplan Elite Status program, which provides status holders with travel-related benefits such as free checked bags, cabin upgrades and lounge access.

Air Canada will collect from Aeroplan your basic account information, such as your email address, mailing address, phone number, gender, date of birth, and the date and method of your enrollment in Aeroplan.

Air Canada will use this information to deliver, promote and develop the Aeroplan Elite Status program and to provide certain services to Aeroplan Elite Status participants. These include:

  • ensuring that the Aeroplan number you provide with your booking is valid
  • providing you better customer service and ensuring that we can contact you about your flight, e.g., during disruptions
  • as possible, identifying any flight booking for which you have not provided your Aeroplan number, to ensure that you receive:
    • Aeroplan Elite Status credit and Aeroplan points for that flight, and
    • any travel-related benefits to which you are entitled under your Aeroplan Elite Status tier or your Aeroplan co-branded credit card

Third Party Bookings, Changes and Enquiries

If another person, including a family member, friend, or work colleague, seeks to book travel on your behalf, that person will be asked to provide us with the same personal information that we would normally collect from you directly to complete your booking.

We consider that person to have your consent and authorization to provide us with your personal information for relevant purposes described in this policy – unless and until we are advised otherwise. 

Also, if the person who booked your travel or who otherwise has your full name and booking reference contacts us and seeks information on your booking or wishes to make changes to it, we will disclose your booking information – including whether you boarded a flight – and allow that person to make changes, as we will conclude that you have given them your consent for this. If you do not want an individual to be able to obtain information on or make changes to your booking, you should not share your booking reference with them.

When you book through a travel agent, we consider that agent to have your consent to disclose to us the same information you would provide yourself. Collection, use and disclosure of your personal information by the agent is subject to the privacy policy of the agent.

We use and share your personal information to respond to your requests or complete your transactions – including to:

  • Communicate with you, such as to advise you of changes to your bookings or respond to your questions
  • Complete your bookings and fulfil your requests for our products and services, including requests for special assistance or meals, which may be provided by third party catering services or ground handlers If your travel includes a transfer to another airline, we will share relevant personal information to facilitate that transfer, including date of birth (to support fare eligibility and identity verification) and any requests for special assistance (so the receiving airline can accommodate those requests as possible)
  • We may share your information with third party business partners such as travel agencies, or car rental companies or hotels you have booked through us
  • If you are the holder of Aeroplan Elite Status, we share your Aeroplan number, name and status with applicable partner airlines, including all Star Alliance member airlines, so you receive your benefits in the event of travel.

We also use and share your personal information to better serve you – including to:

  • Manage and improve your travel, for example, to optimize family seating
  • Administer our websites, mobile applications and online platforms, and make them easier for you to use, such as by pre-populating forms with your contact information or other applicable personal information
  • Address customer service matters, including travel reservations and questions you may have about your bookings
  • Monitor and maintain the quality of our operations, such as monitoring or recording telephone discussions with our representatives for quality assurance purposes

We also use and share your personal information to improve our products and services and to provide you with relevant offers – through:

  • Analysis to better understand your preferences, needs, and interests
  • Marketing of relevant travel opportunities, benefits, products and services that are most likely to be of interest to you. This includes serving you advertisements on other websites (for more information, see the aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy) and sharing identifying information – for example, your hashed email address – with social media providers to make relevant offers to you on their platforms.

We also use and share your personal information to address our business and legal needs – including to:

  • Ensure the safety and security of our operations
  • Fulfil legal requirements for example, all airlines, including Air Canada, are required by security laws in Canada, the U.S. and several other countries to give border control agencies access to passenger data when you may fly into or over a country – accordingly, any information we hold about you and your travel arrangements may be disclosed to customs and immigration authorities of any country in your itinerary
  • Protect our business or legal interests, such as to investigate, detect or prevent fraud or harm to our systems
  • Measure the success or effectiveness of Air Canada offers, promotions, benefits contents, products and services
  • Generate de-identified information for further analysis, such as to identify trends about our customers as a whole, including to support decisions about improvements to our products, services or operations
  • Fulfil other purposes to which you may consent, or as permitted or required by applicable law

If you are an Aeroplan Member, we also use and share your personal information as part of that program – see part 4 “Additional collection, use and disclosure of Aeroplan Member personal information”).

Air Canada for Business

If you make your booking through the Air Canada for Business loyalty program, your employer, travel arranger, and other parties may be able to access certain information with respect to your bookings and make changes to it. For more information on the Air Canada for Business loyalty program, please consult the Air Canada for Business Frequently Asked Questions.

Transfers to Our Service Providers

We may transfer your personal information to service providers who support us with various functions including reservations and ground handling, information security, data storage, research, customer relations, payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, IT, customer service, and marketing. These service providers process personal information on our behalf for our purposes only, and must agree to certain privacy obligations in their contracts with us. These include complying with privacy laws, safeguarding the personal information, and only processing that information under our direction for permitted purposes.

Sharing between Air Canada and Aeroplan

We want you to travel more and travel better. 

To maximize the value of your Aeroplan Membership to you, and to serve you better, we collaborate extensively with Aeroplan.  Part of this collaboration involves sharing relevant personal information between Air Canada and Aeroplan.

We may receive personal information from Aeroplan to support program administration and engagement

  • When you redeem points for an Air Canada product or service, Aeroplan provides us with your name and contact information.
  • To enable us to better tailor our offers to you and to provide you with more opportunities to earn points and receive rewards, Aeroplan provides us with information about your interests, preferences and purchasing patterns.

We may receive personal information from Aeroplan to make it easier for you to book a flight

  • When you contact us to book a flight and provide your Aeroplan number, we are provided with information about your flight preferences that you store in your Aeroplan profile, like seating preference and choice of meal, and other information required to hold a flight booking.

We may share your personal information with Aeroplan when you interact with us 

  • When you make purchases with us, we provide information about the transaction to Aeroplan – such as transaction date, dates of travel, price, destination, products purchased (such as ticket type, checked bag, advance seat selection), and any other information you provided as part of that transaction.
  • When you receive our emails, we may share information with Aeroplan about how you engage with us, such as whether and when you open our emails – for more details, please see the aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.
  • When you visit or use our website or mobile application, we may share information about that visit or use with Aeroplan, such as the webpages you viewed, search queries, frequency of visits, time spent on the site or application, and location information (e.g. to identify where you will depart when you start the booking process) – for more details, please see the terms and conditions of our website or mobile application, and the aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.
  • When you interact with our social media pages and contests, we may share information about those interactions with Aeroplan.

Like us, Aeroplan uses that information to better tailor offers to you – giving you more opportunities to earn points and to receive rewards.

For more information on how Aeroplan handles personal information, see Aeroplan’s privacy policy.

Aeroplan Credit Cardholders

This section of the privacy policy only applies to Aeroplan Members who have been issued Aeroplan credit cards

Aeroplan and Air Canada have partnered with financial institutions to issue Aeroplan credit cards.  These credit cards afford members more opportunities to earn Aeroplan points for everyday activities, as well as a range of other travel rewards and benefits.

As Aeroplan is the Air Canada loyalty program, Air Canada will have access to your Aeroplan credit card information, including transactions.  Air Canada uses that personal information to better tailor travel-related offers to you – giving you more opportunities to earn points and to receive rewards.

We only use this personal information to better tailor travel-related offers to you, and (if de-identified) to improve our products, services and operations – all with a view to maximizing the value of our products and services to you. 

We do not use information about your credit card activity for other purposes, or disclose it, without your express consent or as permitted or required by law. 

For more information about Aeroplan credit cards and privacy, review your cardholder documents and your financial institution’s privacy policy.

For more information on how Aeroplan handles this credit card information, see Aeroplan’s privacy policy.

 

Changing Communications Preferences

You can modify your communications preferences by

  • clicking the “Modify Preferences” link on our website,
  • using the unsubscribe mechanism in any SMS text or email marketing communications,
  • contacting the Air Canada Contact Centre (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”), or
  • if you’re an Aeroplan Member, by logging into your Aeroplan account and adjusting your communications preferences.

As permitted by law, some unsubscribe requests may take up to 10 business days to complete (e.g., if a campaign is underway, you may still receive marketing messages shortly after you unsubscribe).

If you withdraw your consent to receive these electronic marketing communications, you will continue to receive service communications, such as those related to your bookings or other purchases and flight information.

Changing Browser or Device Settings 

We use cookies, scripts, pixels, local storage, and other tracking technologies on our website, mobile application and other online platforms to help administer them, to improve your experience, and to improve the program.

For more information on how we use these technologies, including how you may manage certain of these technologies, see the aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.

Other Data Handling Choices

If you wish to withdraw from other collections, uses or disclosures of your personal information by Air Canada, please contact us (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”).

We generally store personal information at our offices in Toronto and Montreal, and at our data centres in Canada and the United States.

Some of our service providers access, use or store your personal information outside of your province or territory, or outside of Canada. The laws of those other places will then apply to that information, including laws that may permit or require disclosing that information to government, courts and law enforcement.

If you would like more information about our policies and practices regarding processing of personal information outside of Canada, please contact our Privacy Office directly (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”).

Air Canada maintains appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your personal information. These safeguards are intended to prevent the loss, theft or unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification or destruction of your personal information. For example:

  • your personal information is subject to restricted access
  • electronic data is protected by technological means, such as firewalls, access controls, encryption and pseudonymization (de-identification of information with pseudonyms). We use multi-factor authentication for members/customers using our Single Sign On authentication process to access Aeroplan and Air Canada applications with a unique username and password.
  • we sensitize our personnel to the importance of safeguarding personal information from loss, theft or unauthorized access, use or disclosure

As many of our interactions with you are online or via email, we rely on you to take reasonable steps to safeguard your personal information. For example:

  • we expect you to use unique passwords for your accounts with us, and to safeguard those passwords so that they are not used without your permission
  • you should not provide us with an email account with us that you share with another person – if you do, then any email messages (including password resets) sent to that email account would be accessible to that other person

Also, when you book travel, you receive a confirmation number or passenger name record (PNR) for the reservation. The PNR number or information should not be shared as it may give others access to your travel itinerary and other personal information.

Like most companies, we cannot guarantee that security safeguards are always effective or that online communications are always secure.  A breach of security safeguards can result in the risk of identity theft, for example. In these cases, we act promptly to mitigate the risks and to inform you where there is a real risk of significant harm, or as otherwise required by law.

We keep your personal information for as long as it is needed to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or a longer period if permitted or required by law.  When no longer needed, personal information is destroyed, anonymized or disposed of using secure methods.  

Please note that if your personal information is collected by a third party, such as a hotel or car rental company, it will be kept in accordance with the privacy policies and records retention requirements of that third party.

You have the right to access and correct your personal information. 

You can make a formal access or correction request by contacting our Privacy Office (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”). In that case, we will respond to your access or correction request within a reasonable timeframe (but no later than 30 days from your request) pursuant to applicable laws.

If you demonstrate to us that your personal information in our records is inaccurate or incomplete, we will amend the personal information as required. Where appropriate, we will transmit the amended information to third parties having access to your personal information. 

It is your responsibility to provide and maintain accurate and complete information. 

Our Privacy Office is responsible for overseeing what we do with your information and for monitoring compliance with this policy and data protection laws. If you have concerns or further questions about how we handle your personal information, or wish to make a formal access or correction request, please contact us by writing to the Air Canada Privacy Office using the contact information below.  

Email:
[email protected]

Address:
Air Canada Privacy Office
Air Canada Centre
ZIP YUL 1276
7373 Côte-Vertu West
St. Laurent, Quebec H4Y 1H4
Telephone: (514) 422-6020
Facsimile: (514) 422-2641

Please note that we will need to take reasonable steps to validate your identity prior to disclosing any personal information via the above communications channels. 

Aeroplan Privacy Policy

Last update: 9 September 2022

This Privacy Policy provides you with important information about how Aeroplan Inc. handles your personal information. Your privacy is important to us, and safeguarding your privacy is fundamental to our business.

Important highlights

As a loyalty rewards and recognition program, Aeroplan uses personal information to maximize value for its members by personalizing opportunities to earn and redeem points. To that end, Aeroplan will:

  1. Collect and share personal information within the Air Canada group of companies for analytics and marketing. That information includes:
    • details about your purchases or redemptions within the group, including those made before you became a member
    • details about your browsing on group websites and mobile apps
    • insights into your interests, preferences and purchasing patterns
  2. Share limited information about you with other partners you’re already a customer of
  3. Collect details on your purchases from our eStore partners
  4. Apply to you insights gained about groups of members from trusted third parties
  5. Share Aeroplan credit card transaction data with Air Canada
  6. Share within the Air Canada group of companies personal insights based on Aeroplan credit card transaction data

Our program and your privacy

Aeroplan is a loyalty rewards and recognition program.

We are a subsidiary of Air Canada and are closely integrated with the business of Air Canada and its affiliate Touram Limited Partnership (Air Canada Vacations) (together, the “Air Canada Group”).

Aeroplan allows members to earn points through the purchase of products and services from the Air Canada Group, as well as from Aeroplan’s other partners, and to redeem those points for a variety of rewards. 

An essential part of Aeroplan is our data analytics and marketing activities.  As described in this policy, we use your personal information to maximize the value of your membership to you.  That means we analyze your behaviours related to the program – what products and services you purchase, for example – to better understand your interests and preferences. That way we can tailor the program to you, offering you the most personalized and relevant opportunities to earn points and redeem them for rewards. 

Another essential aspect of Aeroplan is our close relationship with other companies in the Air Canada Group. As described below, if you’re a member and interact with any company in the Group, your information is shared within the Group to offer to you the best possible travel-related opportunities and experiences.

To be an Aeroplan Member you must agree to the terms of this policy. Whether you are using our website, our mobile application or contact centers, this policy applies.

If you wish to withdraw your consent to our handling of your personal information (generally or only for certain purposes), then you may make choices discussed at part 5 “What are your choices when it comes to the handling of your personal information?”.

We encourage you to periodically review this policy, as we may update it from time to time (including updating the list of companies in the Air Canada Group). Updates will be posted on our website and we will take reasonable steps to alert members to any significant changes before they take effect.

This policy may be supplemented by other consents you provide, and by any terms and conditions that you agree to as part of your purchase or participation in any other Air Canada Group products, services, promotions, contests or events.

Privacy Policy topics

1.To what information does this policy apply?

This policy applies to personal information. Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual, such as an individual's home address, telephone number, email address, or activity in the Program.

This policy does not apply to anonymous information – which is any information that does not include an individual’s name, contact information or any other information that could reasonably be expected to identify the individual.

2.What personal information do we collect and when?

We collect personal information reasonably needed to fulfill our business purposes, like the purposes discussed in part 3 “Why do we use and share your personal information?”.

We collect personal information when you interact with us, for example:

  • When you enroll in Aeroplan, we collect information that you provide during the enrollment process.
  • When you contact us, we collect information about that interaction, such as when and why you contacted us.
  • When you redeem your points for a reward, we collect information about the reward and any additional information necessary to fulfil your redemption request.
  • When you browse our website, we collect information including your internet protocol address, device type and browsing activity – for more information please see the aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.

If you are an Aeroplan Member, we may collect personal information when you interact with any company in the Air Canada Group:

  • When you make purchases or redemptions with a company in the Air Canada Group, that company provides information about the transaction to us – such as transaction date, dates of travel, price, destination, products purchased (ticket type, checked bag, advance seat selection, hotel, cruise), and any other information you provided as part of that transaction.
  • When you receive any Air Canada Group emails, we may collect information about how you engage with us, such as whether and when you open our emails – for more details, please see aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.
  • When you visit or use any Air Canada Group website, mobile application, or any other Air Canada Group online platform, we may collect information such as the webpages you viewed, search queries, frequency of visits, time spent on the site or application, and location information (e.g. to identify where you will depart when you start the booking process) – for more details, please see the terms and conditions of the applicable website or mobile application, and aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.
  • When you interact with Air Canada Group social media pages and contests, we may collect or receive information about that interaction.

This collection can include information about past interactions – including those that occurred before you became an Aeroplan Member – so we can more quickly understand your preferences and tailor the program to you.

If you are an Aeroplan Member, we may collect personal information when you interact with our program partners – for example:

  • If you accumulate points or make a redemption, we receive a description of the transaction (including location information). We collect browsing data from websites co-branded with Aeroplan and, for purchases on non co-branded third-party websites accessed via our eStore, we also collect information about what product was purchased using cookies – for more information about our use of cookies see the aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.
  • If you are an Aeroplan Credit Cardholder, Aeroplan will receive information about you from the financial institution that issued you an Aeroplan credit card – including information about specific transactions made with the card. The transaction information may include: the merchant’s name, location, date and amount of purchase. This information-sharing is described in more detail in the cardholder documents provided with your Aeroplan credit card.
  • If you provide a separate consent to link a program partner’s loyalty or marketing program with your Aeroplan account, the program partner may share additional information with us as set out in that consent.

On occasion, we may acquire information about groups of people generally – not individual members – from trusted third parties. We apply those general insights to members to help us better understand their interests and preferences. For example, we may receive demographic information (average age, income, family size, etc.) about certain geographic areas.

On occasion, we may acquire information about groups of members – not individual members – from trusted third parties. We apply those general insights to members to help us better understand their interests and preferences. For example, we may receive insights into the frequency or popularity of credit card types (premium, cash-back, no-fee, etc.).

3.Why do we use and share your personal information?

We use and share your personal information to manage Aeroplan – including to:

  • Communicate with you, such as to advise you of changes to the program or respond to your questions
  • Administer our websites and mobile application, and make them easier for you to use, such as by pre-populating forms with your contact information or other applicable personal information
  • Address customer service matters, including reward travel reservations and questions you may have about your account
  • Monitor and maintain the quality of our operations, such as monitoring or recording telephone discussions with our representatives for quality assurance purposes.

We also use and share your personal information to maximize the value of your membership to you – including to:

  • Better understand your preferences, needs, and interests in order to develop and enhance offers, promotions, benefits, contests, products and services that are relevant to you
  • Send you offers about accumulation and redemption opportunities, benefits, products and services related to Aeroplan and our partners that are most likely to be of interest to you. This includes serving you advertisements on other websites (for more information, see aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy).

We personalize offers for certain segments of our membership based on member behavior, transactions, and other information collected by us, as described above. We consider trends in your accumulation and redemption of points across various sectors to determine which program partners, offers, promotions, benefits, contests, products and services are most relevant to you.

For example, members who frequently accumulate points on car rentals may be selected for special offers or promotions offering discounts or bonus points on car rentals. These offers are communicated in multiple ways (such as by email, mobile app, SMS/text messages and our website).

We also use and share your personal information to improve Aeroplan and address our business or legal needs – including to:

  • Measure the success or effectiveness of offers, promotions, benefits contents, products and services associated with Aeroplan
  • Generate de-identified information for further analysis, such as to identify trends about our members as a whole, including to support program growth or engagement
  • Protect our business or legal interests, such as to investigate, detect or prevent fraud or harm to our systems
  • Fulfil other purposes to which you may consent, or as permitted or required by applicable law.

4.With whom do we share your personal information?

We want you to travel more and travel better.

To maximize the value of your membership to you, and to serve you better, we collaborate extensively with other companies in the Air Canada Group. Part of this collaboration involves sharing relevant personal information with companies in the Air Canada Group, including our understanding of your interests, preferences and purchasing patterns. Companies in the Air Canada Group then use that personal information to better tailor their travel-related offers to you – giving you more opportunities to earn points and to receive rewards. Air Canada also uses relevant personal information to deliver, promote and develop its Aeroplan Elite Status program and to provide services to participants in that program, which is available exclusively to Aeroplan Members.

Sharing with program partners

Aeroplan is founded on sharing certain member personal information with program partners. Here, “program partners” means program partners that are not Air Canada affiliates (since we share information with Air Canada affiliates as set out under the previous heading).

  • We share your personal information with a program partner as necessary to fulfill a redemption transaction, such as your name, contact information and point balance – including when you use your Aeroplan credentials on a partner website or application.
  • We may share information about your activity in the program or general characteristics about you with any of our partners of which you are a customer, so that the partner can make relevant offers to you that allow for the accumulation or redemption of points, or otherwise provide a member-related benefit or privilege, or use it for other purposes permitted under its own privacy policy. For example, we may share your contact information, your program status, how long you have been a member, which region you live in, your age range, and that you had at least a certain number of transactions within a partner category in a period of time.
  • We may share your personal information with partners if it is necessary to address a customer service issue or as permitted by law (such as detecting or preventing fraud).
  • If you provide a separate consent to link a program partner’s loyalty or marketing program with your Aeroplan account, then we may share additional information with that program partner as set out in that consent.

If you are an Aeroplan Credit Cardholder, we will not share with our program partners the personal information that we receive from your financial institution (without your separate consent).

Program partners are contractually required to comply with privacy laws in collecting, using, disclosing, and safeguarding member personal information. Although we make reasonable efforts to ensure that our program partners respect your privacy, ultimately program partners control the personal information that we share with them, and they are responsible to you for their privacy practices. However, we would be interested in any concerns you have about the privacy practices of our program partners. You may share any concerns by emailing [email protected].

Sharing with social media platforms

We may share identifying information – for example, your hashed email address – with social media providers to make relevant offers to you on their platforms. Those offers allow for the accumulation or redemption of points, or otherwise provide a member-related benefit or privilege.

Sharing with and from credit card partners

Aeroplan has partnered with financial institutions to issue Aeroplan credit cards. These credit cards afford members more opportunities to earn points for everyday activities, as well as a range of other travel rewards and benefits. If you are logged into the Air Canada website or app and apply for an Aeroplan credit card with one of our financial institution partners, we will share relevant personal information with the financial institution to pre-populate the credit card application form and expedite the application process.

If you are an Aeroplan Credit Cardholder, then Aeroplan will share certain personal information with the financial institution that issued you that credit card – namely:

  • your general accumulation and redemption activity (such as your relative points balance and rate of accumulation and redemption, last contest participated in, and accumulation / redemption category (e.g., travel, merchandise))
  • information about your use of Aeroplan benefits and services associated with your Aeroplan credit card
  • your communication preferences and general characteristics (such as date of enrollment and age group).

Your financial institution may then use this personal information (along with its own information) for market analysis, and to make better offers to Aeroplan Members for the marketing and promotion of Aeroplan credit cards and other financial products.

As Aeroplan is the Air Canada loyalty program, Air Canada will have access to your Aeroplan credit card information, including transactions. With some card brands, other companies in the Air Canada Group will receive relevant insights from your credit card activity, such as your interest in certain travel experiences or your relative spending with certain travel operators, but they will not receive transaction-level data.

This information may only be used to enable companies in the Air Canada Group to market their products and services to you, and (if de-identified) to improve their products, services and operations – all with a view to maximizing the value of Aeroplan and Air Canada Group products and services to you. This information is never used for other purposes, or further disclosed, without your express consent or as permitted or required by law. See “Sharing within the Air Canada Group” above.

For more information about Aeroplan credit cards and privacy, review your cardholder documents and your financial institution’s privacy policy.

Transfers to our service providers

We may transfer your personal information to service providers who support us in carrying out the activities described in this policy. These service providers process personal information on our behalf for our purposes only and must agree to certain privacy obligations in their contracts with us. These include complying with privacy laws, safeguarding the personal information, and only processing that information under our direction for permitted purposes.

Other types of sharing

We may share your personal information with other third parties where necessary to fulfil other purposes to which you may consent, or as permitted or required by applicable law. For example, we may need to share personal information with law enforcement agencies for fraud investigations.

5.What are your choices when it comes to the handling of your personal information?

Changing communications preferences

You may modify your communication preferences (to receive or not to receive offers) by logging into your member account, or by contacting us. You may also opt out using the unsubscribe mechanism in any SMS text or email marketing communications.

As permitted by law, some unsubscribe requests may take up to 10 business days to complete (e.g., if a campaign is underway, you may still receive marketing messages shortly after you unsubscribe).

If you withdraw your consent to receive these electronic marketing communications, you will continue to receive administrative information related to your account or changes to our program.

Changing browser or device settings

We use cookies, tags, scripts, tracking pixels, and other tracking technologies on the websites and our mobile applications to help administer them, to improve your experience, and to improve the program.

For more information on how we use these technologies, including how you may block or delete certain of these technologies, see aircanada.com Cookies and Tracking Technologies Policy.

Changing program partner consents

If you have separately agreed to certain additional Aeroplan-related activities, you can terminate those activities and the associated collection and disclosure of your personal information. For example:

  • If you are an Aeroplan Credit Cardholder and you object to the sharing of your personal information by or with your financial institution, please contact your financial institution to discuss your options.
  • If you have previously given your consent to link your Aeroplan account with a program partner’s own loyalty or marketing program – and you no longer wish to consent to the information-sharing contemplated by that consent – you have the option of contacting Aeroplan or that program partner to withdraw that consent.

Opting out of sharing within the Air Canada group

If you are an Aeroplan Credit Cardholder whose card type permits the sharing of relevant insights from your credit card activity with other companies in the Air Canada group, you may opt out of that sharing by signing in to your Aeroplan account, navigating to “My profile”, and reviewing the “Manage my Aeroplan credit card sharing preferences” section.

Other data handling choices

If you wish to withdraw from other collections, uses or disclosures of your personal information by Aeroplan, please contact us (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”). Please note that we may be unable to accommodate a withdrawal from particular collections, uses and disclosures that are central to our program. In that case, your only option may be to terminate your membership in Aeroplan. 

6.Where do we keep your personal information?

We generally store, access and use personal information at our offices in Toronto and Montreal, and at our data centres in Canada and the United States.

Some of our service providers access, use or store your personal information outside of your province or territory, or outside of Canada. The laws of those other places will then apply to that information, including laws that may permit or require disclosing that information to government, courts and law enforcement. 

If you would like more information about our policies and practices regarding processing of personal information outside of Canada, please contact our Privacy Office directly, either by email or the postal address (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”).

7.How is your personal information protected? How long is it kept?

Each company in the Air Canada Group maintains appropriate organizational, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your personal information. These safeguards are intended to prevent the loss, theft or unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification or destruction of your personal information.  For example:

  • your personal information is subject to restricted access
  • electronic data is protected by technological means, such as firewalls, access controls, encryption and pseudonymization (de-identification of information with pseudonyms)
  • we use multi-factor authentication for Aeroplan members using our Single Sign-On to access Aeroplan and Air Canada applications with the same username and password
  • our personnel are trained on the importance of safeguarding personal information from loss, theft or unauthorized access, use or disclosure

As many of our interactions with you are online or via email, we rely on you to take reasonable steps to safeguard your personal information.  For example:

  • we expect you to use unique passwords for your accounts with us, and to safeguard those passwords so that they are not used without your permission
  • you should not provide us with an email account with us that you share with another person – if you do, then any email messages (including password resets) sent to that email account would be accessible to that other person.

Like most companies, we cannot guarantee that our security safeguards are always effective or that online communications are always secure. A breach of security safeguards can result in the risk of identity theft, for example. In these cases, we act promptly to mitigate the risks and to inform you where there is a real risk of significant harm, or as otherwise required by law.

We keep your personal information for as long as it is needed to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or a longer period if permitted or required by law.  When no longer needed, personal information is destroyed, anonymized or disposed of using secure methods.  

Please note that if your personal information is collected by a third party, such as a program partner, it will be kept in accordance with the privacy policies and records retention requirements of that third party.

8.How can you access or correct your personal information?

You have the right to access and correct your personal information. 

By logging into your member account, or by contacting Aeroplan Contact Centre (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”), you can view and edit your profile information, review your recent transaction history, and modify your communication preferences.

For any personal information that you cannot directly access or correct via these methods, you can make a formal access or correction request by contacting our Privacy Office  (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”).  In that case, we will respond to your access or correction request within a reasonable timeframe (but no later than 30 days from your request) pursuant to applicable laws.

If your personal information in our records is inaccurate or incomplete, we will amend the personal information as required. Where appropriate, we will transmit the amended information to third parties having access to your personal information. 

It is your responsibility to provide and maintain accurate and complete information. 

9.How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?

If this policy does not answer all of your questions, please contact one of our agents at the Aeroplan Contact Centre at:

1 800 361 5373
for Canada, United States and the Caribbean
(see our website for other available telephone numbers)

The Aeroplan Privacy Office is responsible for overseeing what we do with your information and for monitoring compliance with this policy and data protection laws. If you have concerns or further questions about how we handle your personal information, or wish to make a formal access or correction request, please contact us by writing to the Privacy Office using the contact information below.

Email:
[email protected]

Address:
Aeroplan Privacy Office
P.O. Box 23000
Station Pointe-Claire-Dorval
Pointe-Claire, QC H9Y 1K2

Please note that we will take reasonable steps as necessary to validate your identity prior to disclosing any personal information via the above communications channels.

10.Members in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom (UK) and Switzerland

  1. How does this policy apply to you?

    Because of differences in applicable law, this policy applies to members in the EEA, UK and Switzerland with certain exceptions. Specifically, the sections of this policy that describe the data practices below do not apply to you unless you separately consent to them:

    • The collection or sharing of your personal data from or with other companies in the Air Canada Group, for analytics and marketing purposes
    • The detailed analysis of your behaviour in the program to understand your interests and preferences, except more limited analysis that is in our legitimate interests, as explained below under part 10(ii) “What are the legal bases for processing my personal data?”
    • The collection of details about the specific items you purchase from our eStore partners
    • The application to you of insights gained about groups of members from trusted third parties
  2. What are the legal bases for processing your personal data?

    Aeroplan may legally process your personal data for the purposes described in this policy because:

    • It is necessary to perform our contract with you – for example, we will process:
      • your name and contact information to set up your account and to communicate with you about the program
      • information on your purchases or redemptions with partners to credit or debit your points balance
      • information needed to resolve any customer services issues
    • It is necessary for our legitimate interests – for example:
      • we de-identify information about your purchases and redemptions in the program for statistical or analytical purposes, for example, to understand the interests or preferences of segments of our members (not individual members) or to develop analytic models – this helps us with program strategy and development, member engagement, and service improvement
      • we use your general characteristics (such as your country of residence, age, gender and Aeroplan Elite Status) to send you more relevant offers
      • we use relevant personal data to ensure security and prevent fraud and to comply with laws outside of the EEA, UK and Switzerland
    • It is necessary to comply with laws in the EEA and/or UK and/or Switzerland — for example, to make disclosures to law enforcement
    • It is necessary for any other applicable legal basis

    Where no other legal basis applies, we will obtain your consent to process your personal data (for example, for the data practices described above at part 10(i) “How does this policy apply to me?”. That consent may be withdrawn at any time by contacting our Privacy Office (see part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”).

  3. What are your rights?

    In addition to the access and correction rights described in part 8 “How can you access or correct your personal information?”, you may be entitled to exercise the right to:

    • object to the processing of your personal data (for instance, where we base the processing on our legitimate interests, see part 10(ii) “What are the legal bases for processing my personal data?”), and we will stop processing your data. Except for processing related to direct marketing, we may resume processing if we can show legitimate grounds that override your rights.
    • request the restriction of processing of your personal data (for instance, if the data is not accurate and needs to be updated). This can also be done for data where the purposes of processing no longer apply, but you still need the data and do not want us to erase it.
    • request erasure of your personal data (for instance, if it’s no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, if you have withdrawn consent or there is no other legal basis for processing, or if you have objected to the processing and our legitimate interests do not override your rights). Certain data may not be erased if we have a requirement to retain it for legal purposes.
    • request portability of your own personal data (the transfer of information you have provided to us, to another controller, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format), if such a request is technically possible to complete.

    To exercise these rights, please contact the Privacy Office at the addresses provided in part 9 “How can you ask questions or raise concerns about privacy?”. We will respond to your request within 30 days, subject to any legal exceptions, and otherwise in accordance with the law.

    You also have the right to file a complaint with the data protection authority in your country.

  4. How is your data safeguarded?

    In addition to the safeguards described in part 7 “How is your personal information protected? How long is it kept?” and in part 4 “With whom do we share your personal information” in the section “Transfers to our Service Providers”, we use standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission for transfers of personal data to countries not considered by the Commission to provide adequate protection for data, unless there is another legal basis for such transfers.

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