Aeroplan (Air Canada) is now selling points

[Notyourbag]

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.

Same for me. 105% from 80K.
I only have 1 Aeroplan point in my account and have never purchased before so maybe thats why.
Still deciding to buy or not (or buy Avios instead)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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.

I can’t find business class to europe on any other airline for $4166 + $350 tax!

 

[levelnine]

I can’t find business class to europe on any other airline for $4166 + $350 tax!

But:
- If you buy these points, you have to deal with difficult award availability (there's a bit on EY, but not a lot else).
- You can get something for a broadly similar price if you do a reward ticket to Asia + paid fare from there.
- This cost makes it uneconomical to use them for economy travel if you decide you want to do that for any reason — you are essentially locked in to finding J availability to make good use of these points.

So they can still be a good deal, but they come with a few caveats.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But:
- If you buy these points, you have to deal with difficult award availability (there's a bit on EY, but not a lot else).
- You can get something for a broadly similar price if you do a reward ticket to Asia + paid fare from there.
- This cost makes it uneconomical to use them for economy travel if you decide you want to do that for any reason — you are essentially locked in to finding J availability to make good use of these points.

So they can still be a good deal, but they come with a few caveats.

There’s EY; VA/SQ/*A/Gulf Air options via DRW/PER/DPS/SIN/BKK; TG/*A/EY options via Thailand, and there’s now Bamboo Airways.

I wouldn’t use the points for economy, but Aeroplan is the one program I will buy speculatively in.

Reward ticket to Asia is still going to have to be via Aeroplan, or maybe SQ, as QFFF has limited or no options. Plus you then have an overnight or lengthy layover on separate tickets… which is fine if you want a stopover

 

[levelnine]

There’s EK; VA/SQ/*A/Gulf Air options via DRW/PER/DPS/SIN/BKK; TG/*A/EY options via Thailand, and there’s now Bamboo Airways.

Have you checked availability on those carriers? No EK, no VA, no SQ, no TG, etc etc etc.

To give just one example, for the entire month of October 2023 from SYD to LHR in J for 2x pax at the saver level, there are two carriers with availability: AI (no thanks) and EY. It is actually far worse if you go closer in.

To add a few more data points, there's absolutely 0 availability from PER to LHR. The only stuff from DRW to LHR involves 3 sectors, meaning it is 4 sectors to Europe from anywhere else in Australia, which means it is now worse than the Asia stopover option.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Have you checked availability on those carriers? No EK, no VA, no SQ, no TG, etc etc etc.

To give just one example, for the entire month of October 2023 from SYD to LHR in J for 2x pax at the saver level, there are two carriers with availability: AI (no thanks) and EY. It is actually far worse if you go closer in.

To add a few more data points, there's absolutely 0 availability from PER to LHR. The only stuff from DRW to LHR involves 3 sectors, meaning it is 4 sectors to Europe from anywhere else in Australia, which means it is now worse than the Asia stopover option.

My typing error… I meant EY or course rather than EK! (corrected in my post now).

The trick to many of these is to break the journey when searching… this might mean needing to call in to book the ticket. I have found availability on all of those carriers, on all of those routes! Have booked four of them in the last couple of months.

For example MEL or SYD to SIN might bring up VA to DPS, followed by SQ to SIN. Or maybe use VA to DRW, connecting to SQ from there. Once in SIN there are options to Europe. TG has been showing on some flights close-in… J to BKK, and then onwards from BKK can search of EY, GF etc.

I know AI may not appeal to some, but I have flown them countless times and the bed is flat, the champagne is cold, and the food is tasty. The service ranges from average to fine or good. Lounge in DEL is ok. $4200 on AI, or $9000 on QR? Given I sleep the majority of flights, it’s neither here nor there and any extra benefits the $4800 get me on QR are pretty much lost.

Just doing some checking now and agree it could be a four sector journey to the UK… but for October VA had availability for the dates I looked at SYD-DPS. From DPS SQ and Bamboo had options to LGW, and there were also options on SQ/EY to LHR. These were for two pax.

 

[levelnine]

The trick to many of these is to break the journey when searching

In which case, we are back to one of my original points. You are basically recreating the Asia stopover method (points to Asia + paid to Europe).

There's nothing direct SIN - Europe, so we're talking about something like MEL-DPS-SIN-BAH-FRA. If that suits you, completely fine. But I think at a certain point, the value proposition starts to become quite weak.

Also, for the month of October 2023 (just using because you'd hope that has some of the best availability apart from last minute releases that don't suit anyone with limited last minute flexibility), there's not a single day that Bamboo Airway's Australia to Vietnam flights line up with their Vietnam to LGW flights, so you'd need a stopover in Vietnam.

As I said, it can still be worth purchasing Aeroplan miles. The one stop EY flights to Europe are fantastic value, for example. But you often have to work hard to get attractive options.

 

[jase05]

Have you checked availability on those carriers? No EK, no VA, no SQ, no TG, etc etc etc.

To give just one example, for the entire month of October 2023 from SYD to LHR in J for 2x pax at the saver level, there are two carriers with availability: AI (no thanks) and EY. It is actually far worse if you go closer in.

To add a few more data points, there's absolutely 0 availability from PER to LHR. The only stuff from DRW to LHR involves 3 sectors, meaning it is 4 sectors to Europe from anywhere else in Australia, which means it is now worse than the Asia stopover option.

I wonder if Aeropoints shows the same award availability as VA.
Have seen some availability SYD-SIN and good availability BNE-SIN and even some BNE-SIN-LHR in October

 

[jase05]

In which case, we are back to one of my original points. You are basically recreating the Asia stopover method (points to Asia + paid to Europe).

There's nothing direct SIN - Europe, so we're talking about something like MEL-DPS-SIN-BAH-FRA. If that suits you, completely fine. But I think at a certain point, the value proposition starts to become quite weak.

Also, for the month of October 2023 (just using because you'd hope that has some of the best availability apart from last minute releases that don't suit anyone with limited last minute flexibility), there's not a single day that Bamboo Airway's Australia to Vietnam flights line up with their Vietnam to LGW flights, so you'd need a stopover in Vietnam.

As I said, it can still be worth purchasing Aeroplan miles. The one stop EY flights to Europe are fantastic value, for example. But you often have to work hard to get attractive options.

First 2 weeks in October there is availability pretty much every day on SQ with VA points.
I thought that Aeropoints showed the same availability as VA so this surprises me that no availability showing

 

[MEL_Traveller]

First 2 weeks in October there is availability pretty much every day on SQ with VA points.
I thought that Aeropoints showed the same availability as VA so this surprises me that no availability showing

Aeroplan is the same as all star alliance airlines in that access to SQ’s ‘premium’ long haul product is restricted, or not allowed. You can fly regional… so PER/DRW/CNS are options, with VA connecting to those ports if necessary.

VA’s special arrangements with SQ allow access to SQ business class premium cabins long haul.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

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.

Visited the buy points site and saw my bonus was 105% (it's targeted based on the user). Somewhat surprising I didn't get the top offer given the stack of points I bought earlier. Then again, maybe they saw the redemptions I made using the points and realized I'm not their valued customer

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.

Which is certainly decent value. However, the real bang for the buck is making Europe the stopover point and then continuing on to North America. At which point, I would challenge you to find a cash fare that comes anywhere close of this. Also realize too that taxes & fees are very minimal given Aeroplan doesn't pass on fuel surcharges.

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

Key with North America is to avoid flying Air Canada on the award ticket. In particular flying on Air Canada as part of an award means the pricing is dynamic meaning the price will often be much higher than the stated price. This isn't such a big deal given United is a partner of Aeroplan. Second, when booking stopovers, the rules aren't as generous when there is an AC segment involved (basically you are restricted to whatever routing rules an equivalent cash fare would have meaning circuitous routings via Europe to North America are usually off the table). Again, not a big deal given the many partners Aeroplan has.

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.

I think it really depends where you are heading and what the cash fare cost is. A one-way business class ticket on Aeroplan is 110,000 miles which would cost you ~$2,090 + taxes (say $2,300) one-way flying a carrier like Etihad or roughly $4,600 return. I'd argue you would have a tough time finding a similar fare to Europe in business class. The real sweet spot for me, however, is between Pacific and North America where trips up to 11,000 miles are just 87,500 miles in business class. For instance, you can fly Singapore to Toronto (with a stopover in Zurich) for 92,500 miles in business class since the distance travelled is 10,450 miles (just under that 11,000 mile limit). Not a bad deal!

Still deciding to buy or not (or buy Avios instead)

What really matters in my mind is if you have a trip to book in mind and whether the program has availability on the dates you want to travel. When the 100% promotion landed back in July, I knew there was a trip I needed to book far in the future and was able to find business saver award availability to the places I needed to go so I pulled the trigger. Avios can be a points currency too, especially for short haul flights which tend to be priced really cheap (i.e. SYD > HBA for 6,000 Avios in QF Y). The key though is not to stockpile the points but to actually have a plan to use them and for the acquisition cost to be less than the cost of alternatives (i.e. buying the cash fare)

But:
- If you buy these points, you have to deal with difficult award availability (there's a bit on EY, but not a lot else).

I think the idea is to have some trips in mind (with corresponding dates that have award availability) and make the booking. I will also point out that the stopover feature can essentially force Aeroplan to give you the award since you can use the stopover rule to force a routing that has business availability.

- You can get something for a broadly similar price if you do a reward ticket to Asia + paid fare from there.

That's also another use of said points is to book positioning flights to take advantage of fare sales ex-certain countries.

- This cost makes it uneconomical to use them for economy travel if you decide you want to do that for any reason — you are essentially locked in to finding J availability to make good use of these points.

That's true for most frequent flyer programs though. Can you name for me a single frequent flyer program that prices their economy award considerably less than their BusinessFirst award?

So they can still be a good deal, but they come with a few caveats.

Absolutely! It rarely makes sense to buy these speculatively. If you have some specific bookings in mind, and can find partner award availability, a strong argument can be made for buying the miles.

My typing error… I meant EY or course rather than EK! (corrected in my post now).

This may not be an error in a little bit given the partnership Air Canada is building with EK. Certainly if EK becomes an Aeroplan award partner, this could represent excellent value for members indeed!

The trick to many of these is to break the journey when searching… this might mean needing to call in to book the ticket. I have found availability on all of those carriers, on all of those routes! Have booked four of them in the last couple of months.

I think the key is to use United's award search tool since they present you a monthly calendar that shows you on which dates you can find partner business award saver availability! Remember too that since United and Air Canada are part of the same airline alliance (and also have Virgin Australia as an award partner) what you find on United's search will roughly correspond with Air Canada's.

For example MEL or SYD to SIN might bring up VA to DPS, followed by SQ to SIN. Or maybe use VA to DRW, connecting to SQ from there. Once in SIN there are options to Europe. TG has been showing on some flights close-in… J to BKK, and then onwards from BKK can search of EY, GF etc.

I think the key to think about are which Star Alliance carriers serve Australia. My understanding is Singapore, ANA, Asiana, Thai, Air India and EVA Air are the key ones. This suggests that stopovers in SIN, TYO, ICN, BKK, DEL/BOM and TPE may be warranted to make business award availability appear. And for many spending that extra day or two in Asia ain't a bad consolation prize either!

I know AI may not appeal to some, but I have flown them countless times and the bed is flat, the champagne is cold, and the food is tasty. The service ranges from average to fine or good. Lounge in DEL is ok. $4200 on AI, or $9000 on QR? Given I sleep the majority of flights, it’s neither here nor there and any extra benefits the $4800 get me on QR are pretty much lost.

I haven't flown AI or been to India but have spoken to those who have. What I will say is that it may not be everyone's rose. Some people cannot stand Indian food and for those who struggle with airports may find the likes of DEL or BKK to be all too much for them. At the same time, I would argue that Air India doesn't hold a candle to Etihad or Singapore.

-RooFlyer88

 

[jase05]

Aeroplan is the same as all star alliance airlines in that access to SQ’s ‘premium’ long haul product is restricted, or not allowed. You can fly regional… so PER/DRW/CNS are options, with VA connecting to those ports if necessary.

VA’s special arrangements with SQ allow access to SQ business class premium cabins long haul.

Ah, right you are.
So if you are interested in flying SQ to the EU you are probably best of purchasing VA points as a return trip BNE-SIN-LHR would cost approximately $4k with the current 40% sale and has great availability

 

[levelnine]

That's true for most frequent flyer programs though. Can you name for me a single frequent flyer program that prices their economy award considerably less than their BusinessFirst award?

My point was buying points at 1.9c per point rules out economy class redemptions — you have to fly business class to make them a good value proposition.

As for the rest, what I'll say is J saver award availability into and out of Australia is pretty terrible on *A at the moment (just like it is with oneworld).

You can't use SQ. UA has almost nothing. I'm also seeing very little on the other Asian carriers. If you're happy to work with that lack of availability (eg by starting outside of Australia or by being prepared to book at the very last minute), it could be good value. But I really don't see much value in buying speculatively at a price that I think is quite high.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

My point was buying points at 1.9c per point rules out economy class redemptions — you have to fly business class to make them a good value proposition.

Completely agree, but again I would argue that's not the point of accruing miles. It's all about travelling in luxury for bargain basement prices.

As for the rest, what I'll say is J saver award availability into and out of Australia is pretty terrible on *A at the moment (just like it is with oneworld).

But the nice thing about Aeroplan is they have a number of non-Star alliance partners that offer business from Australia to elsewhere in the world including Etihad, Bamboo Airways, Virgin Australia, Gulf Air, etc. Combine that with the stop over feature and you can manufacture partner availability when you need it. For instance, whilst you may not be able to find award availability from Sydney to Frankfurt on Singapore or ANA, you can often find availability from Sydney to Singapore or Tokyo on one day, and then onward award availability to Frankfurt a couple days later. It's not as easy as do simple one-way award searches with airlines and again you'll be on the hook for hotels at the stopover. But if you want to see a new country enroute and have some flexibility on timing and routing it can be a real boon.

You can't use SQ. UA has almost nothing. I'm also seeing very little on the other Asian carriers. If you're happy to work with that lack of availability (eg by starting outside of Australia or by being prepared to book at the very last minute), it could be good value. But I really don't see much value in buying speculatively at a price that I think is quite high.

This has not been my experience at all. There's plenty of business availability from major Australian cities to Europe and North America. In fact I'd challenge anyone to name a destination and date and not be able to find business award availability one way or another.

-RooFlyer88

 

[levelnine]

This has not been my experience at all. There's plenty of business availability from major Australian cities to Europe and North America. In fact I'd challenge anyone to name a destination and date and not be able to find business award availability one way or another.

I'll happily take you up on that challenge.

And let's begin with your claim that 'you can often find availability from Sydney to Singapore or Tokyo on one day, and then onward award availability to Frankfurt a couple days later.'.

Let's go to the end of the calendar where there's hopefully best availability: September and October 2023.

Can you get 2x pax to SIN in either of those months?

Can you get 2x pax to TYO in either of those months?

To save anyone waiting, here are the results.

For Tokyo, the very shortest options are a few 21 hour flights via SGN:

Or three sector flights via BNE & TPE:


For SIN, it is at best a 12 hour flight via CNS, but most are 16+ hours:


Everyone is different, but there is nothing that I'd consider acceptable if you're trying to get to Europe where you still have another 15-20 hours of travel using this award:




But if you have all the time in the world and don't mind lots of flights, there are options.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I'll happily take you up on that challenge.

And let's begin with your claim that 'you can often find availability from Sydney to Singapore or Tokyo on one day, and then onward award availability to Frankfurt a couple days later.'.

Let's go to the end of the calendar where there's hopefully best availability: September and October 2023.

The best availability wouldn't be in September and October next year since most airlines don't release award availability out that far. Indeed the sweet spots now are between June and August when most airlines have released partner awards and there is still some laying around. To give you some concrete examples of the kinds of partner business awards you can find to Tokyo and S'pore during those times here's what a casual search on Aeroplan found:



For Singapore there are quite a few including Bamboo if you want to try a circuitous routing. However, there's also a more direct routing with Virgin/Singapore via CNS that involves just a 2 hour 20 minute layover at CNS. And I would go so far as to argue that connecting at CNS for an international flight will be much better than the zoo that is SYD T1:


I can list plenty more examples of business partner award availability. Is it as simple as typing origin and destination into Google Flights or Expedia? No. But often the things where you find the most value aren't found by the most direct means.

-RooFlyer88

 

[levelnine]

I can list plenty more examples of business partner award availability. Is it as simple as typing origin and destination into Google Flights or Expedia? No. But often the things where you find the most value aren't found by the most direct means.

I'm not being a pedant for the sake of it, but simply to show how difficult it is.

Your first option failed my challenge. It is one seat. And just in case anyone thinks I'm being disingenuous. This is the entirety of the direct J class availability for the month of July (the so-called sweet spot):



3 days for the whole month. 1 seat each day.

For the month of August (another sweet spot), there is a single direct seat for the entire month:


And the other flights via CNS are identical to the ones I found above. As I said in that post, a 14 hour two-stop flight simply to get from SYD to SIN is far from great.

You'd be better off buying Velocity points (either directly or through credit card bonuses) and redeeming on direct SQ flights.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Your first option failed my challenge. It is one seat. And just in case anyone thinks I'm being disingenuous. This is the entirety of the direct J class availability for the month of July (the so-called sweet spot):

View attachment 307562

At least there are a couple of options to get to Japan direct! Is it as ideal as having 2 seats everyday for the month in J? Absolutely not, but the point is there is still some availability there. And of course we can look at connecting flights, which depending on your preferences and desired routing may not necessarily be a bad thing.

And the other flights via CNS are identical to the ones I found above. As I said in that post, a 14 hour two-stop flight simply to get from SYD to SIN is far from great.

Technically the flight I posted to S'pore was a one stop 12 hour, 20 minute trip from SYD. Is it as ideal as flying direct from SYD? Maybe not, but it is still a possibility (and one that has a number of seats available).

You'd be better off buying Velocity points (either directly or through credit card bonuses) and redeeming on direct SQ flights.

For SQ specifically provided they have better availability? Perhaps. But I think if you look at some of the destinations people want to go to such as Europe, having the number of partners Air Canada has certainly opens up a number of options to get to Europe from Australia.

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Maybe it is a case that 1 seat is much easier. But only a couple weeks ago I booked 2 x seats for friends of mine MEL-DPS (where they wanted to stopover anyway for five days) followed by DPS-SIN-AUH-BCN. While that’s one more stop that absolutely necessary, they couldn’t get anywhere near the price with paid fares.

Even if it takes 12 hours to get to Singapore instead of 8 non-stop… it’s still working out at around $250 per person an hour in savings!

VA might be an option, but saver availability on SQ is pretty hard too.

 

[levelnine]

VA might be an option, but saver availability on SQ is pretty hard too.

That's laughable.

There is availability for 6 adults in business class on multiple days on Singapore on one-stop flights SYD-LHR:



I think there's no contest when it comes to convenient award availability out of Australia. SQ is the clear winner.

Sure Aeroplan will occasionally work, but if you want no fuss options it is a pretty terrible choice in Australia. And so I'd say you need to be in a very small category of persons to make buying Aeroplan miles work well for you. There aren't many people that would want to do something like MEL-DPS-SIN-AUH-BCN to get to Europe, even in J.

And none of this is to say I think the program is terrible. I will be transferring my Chase/Amex USA points to take advantage of their amazing deals on EY to Europe, which beat SQ for value, but I think its utility is no where near as high as many of the bloggers and other fans make it out to be.