Aeroplan (Air Canada) is now selling points

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for this post. It must be the most helpful post I've ever read since doing points hacking. Just wondering how far in advance did you have to line this all up? I might try and just emulate what you did. However couldn't see any J awards on EY out of Melbourne at the moment. There's quite a bit from Abu Dhabi to Europe. I'm based in New Zealand. I'm looking around April/may next year. I've already got the flights via AS through US. So I'm looking more for the homeward journey from EUR back to NZ in mid to late June.

There can be a bit of an issue finding ‘though’ flights on Etihad. Maybe when the booking window opens? For other travel that might be closer in you might be lucky finding something right the way through, but I have been booking via either Bali or Singapre. Bali is reasonably easy to get to on Virgin, in business class. From there you can take your pick of onward connections… I’m doing a couple of Bali-Singapore-AUH-Europes. I have a stopover in bali.

You can also fly Singapore airlines out of PER, DRW or CNS. Use virgin to fly to those gateways. Once in Singapore pick up Etihad or any one of the other partners such as Gulf Air or Oman Air.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Thanks for this post. It must be the most helpful post I've ever read since doing points hacking. Just wondering how far in advance did you have to line this all up?

This trip was booked back in July.

I might try and just emulate what you did. However couldn't see any J awards on EY out of Melbourne at the moment. There's quite a bit from Abu Dhabi to Europe. I'm based in New Zealand.

I'd try searching for a ticket based on where you are and playing with the dates and potentially the destination. Some destinations are easier than others to fly to based on availability. I'd also challenge you to consider the direction of travel you are flying. Yes, in my case flying to North America via Europe worked out quite nicely for what I had in mind, but it shouldn't stop you from flying in the other direction (i.e. via North America to Europe). For instance, there is a business class award from Auckland to San Francisco on the 12th of May I believe with United.

I'm leaving nz around April/may next year. I've already got the flights via AS through US. So I'm looking more for the homeward journey from EUR back to NZ in mid to late June.

A possibility to consider is something like Europe to New Zealand via Asia. You may not be able to find EY availability, but you may find availability with Thai, ANA, Asiana or even Singapore, plus you get to visit Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, etc. for free! All I'm saying is there's no point ruling out a weekend stopover in Bali if it only costs you 5,000 points more and unlocks additional availability!

-RooFlyer88

 

[Ecco]

This trip was booked back in July.

I'd try searching for a ticket based on where you are and playing with the dates and potentially the destination. Some destinations are easier than others to fly to based on availability. I'd also challenge you to consider the direction of travel you are flying. Yes, in my case flying to North America via Europe worked out quite nicely for what I had in mind, but it shouldn't stop you from flying in the other direction (i.e. via North America to Europe). For instance, there is a business class award from Auckland to San Francisco on the 12th of May I believe with United.

A possibility to consider is something like Europe to New Zealand via Asia. You may not be able to find EY availability, but you may find availability with Thai, ANA, Asiana or even Singapore, plus you get to visit Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, etc. for free! All I'm saying is there's no point ruling out a weekend stopover in Bali if it only costs you 5,000 points more and unlocks additional availability!

-RooFlyer88

Many thanks K/roo88. Do you mean searching sector by sector?
I used AS to go on J, AKL-NAN-LAX-JFK for 55k, then JFK-HEL-LHR for 70k. With stopovers in LAX, JFK and HEL.
I think I’ll keep those in place as I read AS may devalue and don’t want to be left with AS miles. I’m going off AS. Some of their award chart is too inflexible or too expensive.
I’ll have to buy some aeroplan miles. Hopefully another sale comes up. As you say it’s a matter of being flexible.
Will be an interesting exercise…
I’m about to read the routing rules on the link you posted.
Many thanks once again for sharing.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Many thanks K/roo88. Do you mean searching sector by sector?
I used AS to go on J, AKL-NAN-LAX-JFK for 55k, then JFK-HEL-LHR for 70k. With stopovers in LAX, JFK and HEL.
I think I’ll keep those in place as I read AS may devalue and don’t want to be left with AS miles. I’m going off AS. Some of their award chart is too inflexible or too expensive.
I’ll have to buy some aeroplan miles. Hopefully another sale comes up. As you say it’s a matter of being flexible.
Will be an interesting exercise…
I’m about to read the routing rules on the link you posted.
Many thanks once again for sharing.

In my example you would need to look at sectors… so for example, SYD-DPS… and this will bring up options on Virgin… either direct or via any of their gateways like MEL, BNE or OOL. The second search would be DPS-your destination. This should bring up plenty of options.

You can then either try to book it yourself, using the stopover function on aeroplan, where you would enter:

SYD-your final destination, with the stopover port listed as DPS.

This may or may not bring up the results of your earlier searches. If yes, good. If not, call aeroplan and they’ll do it manually.

The agent may ‘tut’ and say the routing isn’t valid, or will be two awards, but just ask them to enter the flights and see what the system gives back. It’s always been at the correct pricing with a 5000 point stopover.

Of course if you don’t want a stopover that’s fine, you can call Aeroplan and do a SYD-DPS-xx_-YYY all in one go as transits.

 

[Ecco]

In my example you would need to look at sectors… so for example, SYD-DPS… and this will bring up options on Virgin… either direct or via any of their gateways like MEL, BNE or OOL. The second search would be DPS-your destination. This should bring up plenty of options.

You can then either try to book it yourself, using the stopover function on aeroplan, where you would enter:

SYD-your final destination, with the stopover port listed as DPS.

This may or may not bring up the results of your earlier searches. If yes, good. If not, call aeroplan and they’ll do it manually.

The agent may ‘tut’ and say the routing isn’t valid, or will be two awards, but just ask them to enter the flights and see what the system gives back. It’s always been at the correct pricing with a 5000 point stopover.

Of course if you don’t want a stopover that’s fine, you can call Aeroplan and do a SYD-DPS-xx_-YYY all in one go as transits.

Thanks for this MEL. Just read the routing rules. Wow those aeroplan call centre people have to be quite highly skilled to do some of these bookings.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for this MEL. Just read the routing rules. Wow those aeroplan call centre people have to be quite highly skilled to do some of these bookings.

Not really The rules are all automatically applied by the booking system. Essentially they’re fairly straightforward…

If there are Air Canada flights for any part of the trip you have to follow the fare rules as if you’d purchased a paid ticket.

If it’s only partner airlines the main rule is that your routing can’t exceed double the non-stop distance between any city pairs. There’s a few others like backtracking and stuff, but as long as it’s sort of in a line you’ll be ok.

The slight complexity comes with working out why the computer might say ‘no’ in a particular case.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Thanks for this MEL. Just read the routing rules. Wow those aeroplan call centre people have to be quite highly skilled to do some of these bookings.

Yes that is an issue if you called in. Some weren't aware of the stopover rules, others didn't understand how the routing rules applied for stopovers. It took me 3 or 4 agents before I found someone who got it. That being said, it appears that you can now book these stopovers online via the Air Canada website, simply select the Multicity/stopover option. Simply enter the origin and final destination, then click the little link below to add the stopover city and desired number of days to stay in stopover. Note: the feature is in beta I believe so may not be as powerful as the tools the agents have but would save you the agony of dealing with agents.

If there are Air Canada flights for any part of the trip you have to follow the fare rules as if you’d purchased a paid ticket.

This is why you should avoid flying Air Canada on an award booking if you can. I mean look, if you find AC34 to Vancouver and some AC flight to LAX for 75,000 miles, then by all means book it. But I've had itineraries that wouldn't price out because there was a single tiny segment that involved Air Canada (i.e. YUL > YYZ). Besides, you'll get a better quality business class with the partners than with Air Canada itself!

If it’s only partner airlines the main rule is that your routing can’t exceed double the non-stop distance between any city pairs. There’s a few others like backtracking and stuff, but as long as it’s sort of in a line you’ll be ok.

Full rules can be found here.

The slight complexity comes with working out why the computer might say ‘no’ in a particular case.

Those complexities can literally be down to miles. When I booked SYD to YYZ (via ZRH) I had problems piecing together the ZRH > YYZ part. Initially I wanted to book ZRH > ORD on Swiss, connecting with ORD > YYZ on United. Unfortunately that did not work. However, booking ZRH to YYZ (via LIS) did work!

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes that is an issue if you called in. Some weren't aware of the stopover rules, others didn't understand how the routing rules applied for stopovers. It took me 3 or 4 agents before I found someone who got it. That being said, it appears that you can now book these stopovers online via the Air Canada website, simply select the Multicity/stopover option. Simply enter the origin and final destination, then click the little link below to add the stopover city and desired number of days to stay in stopover. Note: the feature is in beta I believe so may not be as powerful as the tools the agents have but would save you the agony of dealing with agents.

The rules are embedded in the system. I’ve had a few agents reluctant to start a booking because they didn’t think an itinerary would be valid, or didn’t understand how the stopovers worked. I just asked them to plug it all in and see what price came up. Each time the correct price came up and the agent was like ‘oh, good for you!’ I don’t believe regular agents can override the system rules when booking.

There are some further refinements in the routing rules for partner awards that have been highlighted on other forums. For example the distance limitations (double distance) may be applied between two middle cities in an itinerary, and if you exceed the double distance between those cities the entire itinerary will fail irrespective of whether the end-to-end is under double.

 

[Ecco]

Interesting discussion. I’ve certainly learnt a lot about aeroplan in the last couple of days. Might try generating some bookings with stopovers online. Just weighing up options. Its definitely advantageous if you want a few stopovers to try aeroplan. I guess the key to it is also getting the aeroplan miles on special.

I could also go EUR-Oceania on AA advantage for 75k miles, but no stopovers, if I have enough amex rewards. Do AA still have their sales? I’ve lost track post covid. Usd Exchange rate is killing that option, for NZers at least!

I did read some adverse reviews of EY on TripAdvisor so wonder what the experience is like now!! I realise people seem to be posting reviews on that site if they’ve had a bad experience more… Anyway thanks for all your help and feedback. I will have a busy time researching the options.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Interesting discussion. I’ve certainly learnt a lot about aeroplan in the last couple of days. Might try generating some bookings with stopovers online. Just weighing up options. Its definitely advantageous if you want a few stopovers to try aeroplan. I guess the key to it is also getting the aeroplan miles on special.

I could also go EUR-Oceania on AA advantage for 75k miles, but no stopovers, if I have enough amex rewards. Do AA still have their sales? I’ve lost track post covid. Usd Exchange rate is killing that option, for NZers at least!

I did read some adverse reviews of EY on TripAdvisor so wonder what the experience is like now!! I realise people seem to be posting reviews on that site if they’ve had a bad experience more… Anyway thanks for all your help and feedback. I will have a busy time researching the options.

AA can have some restrictive routing rules and permitted carrier combinations, and fuel surcharges.

AA still has sales. Here’s a link to one from January… not sure when the latest one was though: Buy AAdvantage miles with up to 50% bonus (look at me linking to PointHack already! )

Etihad is just fine. I flew home from europe with them a couple months ago and they were good. The bed was excellent. Airport at AUH is a bit of a dump though.

 

[Kenm traveler]

Speaking of error messages, I have attempted 3 times to join Areoplan. Each time I get a message in a red rectangle box saying sorry something went wrong. I have given my Australian address and given an Australian phone number. All these things are ticked, but when I hit the submit button, the circle starts turning but before long I get the error message. I'm not sure what else I can do. I have clicked on and read the privacy policy.

 

[CJEMNMAC]

Speaking of error messages, I have attempted 3 times to join Areoplan. Each time I get a message in a red rectangle box saying sorry something went wrong. I have given my Australian address and given an Australian phone number. All these things are ticked, but when I hit the submit button, the circle starts turning but before long I get the error message. I'm not sure what else I can do. I have clicked on and read the privacy policy.

Try logging in under private browsing ( or incognito ) on your internet browser

I had similar issue and only private browsing worked for me

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Etihad is just fine. I flew home from europe with them a couple months ago and they were good. The bed was excellent. Airport at AUH is a bit of a dump though.

A bit off topic but thought I’d ask since I have an Aeroplan award ticket that involves flying Etihad via AUH to Europe. How does the connection process at AUH work? Do you just step off the plane and are dumped into the departures lounge? Do you need to clear security or immigration? Is baggage checked thru? I ask as I’ve got a 2 hour layover there and also only have about 5 months left on my passport then. TIMATIC says connections are fine despite the validity on passport but obviously avoiding immigration would be ideal

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

A bit off topic but thought I’d ask since I have an Aeroplan award ticket that involves flying Etihad via AUH to Europe. How does the connection process at AUH work? Do you just step off the plane and are dumped into the departures lounge? Do you need to clear security or immigration? Is baggage checked thru? I ask as I’ve got a 2 hour layover there and also only have about 5 months left on my passport then. TIMATIC says connections are fine despite the validity on passport but obviously avoiding immigration would be ideal

-RooFlyer88

Basically off one plane, through security, and into the terminal for departure. No need to clear immigration.

We arrived at the old terminal I think, and left from the new one. Or perhaps it was v.v. Both the terminals were pretty dire… hot and crowded (landed at 7am I think and left at 10 or whatever). If I transferred to the ‘new’ terminal then it was in need of updating already!

The business class lounge was still in covid mode, so barely any food, and what was there was pre-packaged. That has probably all changed now. But the shower room was unairconditioned, meaning 35 degrees in the bathroom and shower suites. As soon as you got out the shower you were wet again

If you are arriving in F and continuing in the highest cabin available I think I read EY allows you into their F lounge. I suspect that might be a step up.

The major downside of EY was the transit in AUH. Food on board sounds fancy, but is probably about ‘average’. Nothing to complain about, good cafeteria style offering. The crew were excellent… and the seat itself very comfortable for sleeping and super long.

 

[jase05]

Basically off one plane, through security, and into the terminal for departure. No need to clear immigration.

We arrived at the old terminal I think, and left from the new one. Or perhaps it was v.v. Both the terminals were pretty dire… hot and crowded (landed at 7am I think and left at 10 or whatever). If I transferred to the ‘new’ terminal then it was in need of updating already!

The business class lounge was still in covid mode, so barely any food, and what was there was pre-packaged. That has probably all changed now. But the shower room was unairconditioned, meaning 35 degrees in the bathroom and shower suites. As soon as you got out the shower you were wet again

If you are arriving in F and continuing in the highest cabin available I think I read EY allows you into their F lounge. I suspect that might be a step up.

The major downside of EY was the transit in AUH. Food on board sounds fancy, but is probably about ‘average’. Nothing to complain about, good cafeteria style offering. The crew were excellent… and the seat itself very comfortable for sleeping and super long.

2 recent flights on EY and J and found the food and service absolutely superb.
As a VA Platinum we had access to the F lounge and it was its usually high quality. Food and beverages were excellent and service was sensational. Only a handful of passengers in there and no kids!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Basically off one plane, through security, and into the terminal for departure. No need to clear immigration.

Good to see it's a straightforward transfer.

The business class lounge was still in covid mode, so barely any food, and what was there was pre-packaged. That has probably all changed now. But the shower room was unairconditioned, meaning 35 degrees in the bathroom and shower suites. As soon as you got out the shower you were wet again

My layover in AUH is relatively short (about 2 hours). Hopefully between my flying EY J and holding an AmEx Platinum card I can find a suitable lounge with shower, food and the like. I reckon there's no arrival lounge at my destination airport (ZRH?)

The major downside of EY was the transit in AUH. Food on board sounds fancy, but is probably about ‘average’. Nothing to complain about, good cafeteria style offering. The crew were excellent… and the seat itself very comfortable for sleeping and super long.

So basically it's just like flying United Polaris?

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Good to see it's a straightforward transfer.

My layover in AUH is relatively short (about 2 hours). Hopefully between my flying EY J and holding an AmEx Platinum card I can find a suitable lounge with shower, food and the like. I reckon there's no arrival lounge at my destination airport (ZRH?)

So basically it's just like flying United Polaris?

-RooFlyer88

The EY lounge had showers… just they weren’t air conditioned! Pretty close to defeated the purpose of having a shower

The food is tasty. It’s not gourmet. They had a couple of interesting dishes created for Ramadan.

 

[seritonin]

Buy Air Canada Aeroplan Points With A Mystery Bonus

Air Canada Aeroplan is offering a bonus on purchased Aeroplan points. Is this an offer you should consider taking advantage of?

onemileatatime.com

Great 115% bonus on purchase. Will definitely bite.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The offers are tailored. I got a max bonus if 110%, but at 90000 miles, not 100k as per Lucky’s offer.

I just did the math and a return to europe, before taxes would come to $4166 business class. My points will cost AUD 1.89 cents each.

Return to Thailand would be $1701. SYD-TYO $2186

 

[levelnine]

I got a 105% bonus from 80K miles.

At $AUD0.019 per point, you really need to extract maximum value out of the Aeroplan chart & sweet spots (eg 5K stopover) to make it worth it imo — it isn't exactly what I'd call a cheap per point cost.