Aeroplan (Air Canada) is now selling points

[MEL_Traveller]

But I don’t book tickets a year in advance! I have no idea what I’ll be doing then, or where I’ll be. So having to book Sq now for Oct23 doesn’t work. When I’ve tried to book SQ, even three to four months in advance there’s been little or no saver availability. Aeroplan on the other hand works, for me at least, with availability give or take for the week in which I want to travel.

 

[Duffa]

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

I got paid flights for $5080 to Milan with Oman Air. Only $500 more and no uncertainty about redemptions.
Having said that, I think I will bite on this offer too. Keep all options open!

 

[levelnine]

But I don’t book tickets a year in advance!

Indeed. Everyone is different. That's exactly when I plan travel.

If you are retired or a freelancer, *A can work okay because they tend to release some last minute seats.

For anyone with a regular job, it's not really an option.

But if you are that flexible, you can also take advantage of sales/cheap fares, which reduces the utility of award seats.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

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

I guess my issue is with broad generalizations like that. Aeroplan, like Avios, Singapore or even Qantas can be exceptional value when you can find award availability that works. The fact that you can point to a week where SQ has a ton of availability ex-SYD to LHR is amazing and certainly if you have the SQ miles and intend on travelling to the UK, can really make a lot of sense. Some folks travel alone and have a ton of flexibility on their schedule. Others travel with their SO, a child maybe, and can only travel on certain dates. Some travel domestically others focus on long haul international travel to Europe.

What matters at the end of the day is you do your homework and see what options make the most sense when booking travel. Sometimes Aeroplan will be the best option, other times it won't be. It costs nothing (other than time) to spend some time on the Air Canada or Singapore or Qantas website to do this research and determine where the numbers work out in your favour (i.e. substantially cheaper to buy Aeroplan miles versus paying a cash fare). I would argue for some on this forum, the present can really make sense. Then again, everyone has different travel needs!

-RooFlyer88

 

[levelnine]

The fact that you can point to a week where SQ has a ton of availability ex-SYD to LHR is amazing and certainly if you have the SQ miles and intend on travelling to the UK, can really make a lot of sense. Some folks travel alone and have a ton of flexibility on their schedule. Others travel with their SO, a child maybe, and can only travel on certain dates. Some travel domestically others focus on long haul international travel to Europe.

There's no way Aeroplan can compete with SQ in terms of availability into and out of Australia.

SQ has more flights into and out of Australia than all the other Star Alliance carriers combined, especially when you consider that NZ basically never releases award seats and United rarely does.

And it is a complete myth that SQ is only available at the end of the calendar.

You could find me 1 seat for the entire month of August for 1 person on Aeroplan.

There's whole weeks in August with seats for 2 people on SQ either at saver or advantage levels:

 

[luxury-lizard]

You are of course correct re SQ and their FF program BUT you cannot purchase SQ miles at a reasonable price where you can on AC. For those who can accumulate literally millions of SQ points through credit card spend or (in more recent times) VA points that's great. I do both (ie buy AC and accumulate SQ).

I find AC points most useful on routes which SQ don't serve - like Mauritius (on Air Mauritius ex PER) and the Seychelles (on EY). Pre-Covid it was difficult but not impossible to find award seats on AC non-stop to YVR and between Canada and Europe at saver rates; alas, these just aren't available.

BTW - I'm sitting the current AC points sale out.

 

[levelnine]

You are of course correct re SQ and their FF program BUT you cannot purchase SQ miles at a reasonable price where you can on AC.

While I'd never buy either Aeroplan or Velocity points, I do note that you can buy Velocity points for 1.4c per point currently.

That makes SYD-LHR about $1946+$472 one way on SQ.

So for those who aren't able to attain sufficient points through credit cards, it comes down to whether you want to spend ~$4K for 4-5 sector flights SYD-LHR-SYD (noting that you might be forced to fly what is essentially premium economy on some legs (eg VA to DPS)) or ~$5K for 2 sector flights SYD-LHR-SYD on SQ.

Different strokes for different folks.

As I said, I'm not denying there are excellent options with Aeroplan. The 5,000 point stopover provides unbeatable value for Australia-Europe-US trips.

But it simply isn't true that there is good availability into/out of Australia. The only programs that have good availability at the moment are SQ and QR (through Avios where you can beat out VA & QF frequent flyers). There's also fairly respectable availability on EY.

Everything else is basically a scrap heap, which I sincerely hope changes soon though doubt it will.

 

[Lewis]

Hi All
Is it worth Buying Bouns Aeroplan points when on sale to purchasing normal business class seats with points with its Star Alliance airline partners like Singapore Airlines?

Cheers
Lewis

 

[levelnine]

Is it worth Buying Bouns Aeroplan points when on sale to purchasing normal business class seats with points with its Star Alliance airline partners like Singapore Airlines?

You cannot redeem Aeroplan points on Singapore Airlines for their long-haul business class seats. Singapore Airlines do not make those seats available to Aeroplan.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi All
Is it worth Buying Bouns Aeroplan points when on sale to purchasing normal business class seats with points with its Star Alliance airline partners like Singapore Airlines?

Cheers
Lewis

While SQ doesn’t make its long haul premium cabins available to any star alliance airlines you can redeem aeroplan for SQ regional routes, If you live in PER, DRW or CNS - or are willing to connect using Virgin through those cities - you can fly SQ. And onwards to select cities in Asia as well operated by narrow body and regional aircraft.

A return from Australia to SE Asia using VA/SQ will set you back 90k points for the return, compared to 137k using krisflyer miles. That may offset the extra stop required.

 

[Lewis]

Hi
Do you know if I could use Aeroplan points to book this trip please?
Cns to Akl – Auckland
And
Akl to Cook Islands – Samoa Apia

 

[levelnine]

Do you know if I could use Aeroplan points to book this trip please?
Cns to Akl – Auckland
And
Akl to Cook Islands – Samoa Apia

If you are looking for a specific route on a specific date in a specific class, Aeroplan is not the program for you.

But to answer your question, yes it can be booked.

To give you an idea of your options, here are your shortest flights for October 2023:

 

[aaa99]

Has anyone used an Australian credit card to purchase Aeroplan points? Tried on a 28degrees card and it keeps giving card error on the points.com portal

 

[luxury-lizard]

Has anyone used an Australian credit card to purchase Aeroplan points? Tried on a 28degrees card and it keeps giving card error on the points.com portal

Yes I've used AmEx with no issues. Sometimes these sites don't like overseas postal addresses (Particularly postcode)

 

[aaa99]

Ok. I will try with a US postal address. Prefer to use the 28deg to avoid foreign currency fee

 

[mel-world]

Has anyone used an Australian credit card to purchase Aeroplan points? Tried on a 28degrees card and it keeps giving card error on the points.com portal

I've used my 28deg card without issue to buy points. I think I had to do a 2nd verification with MCard to approve the purchase but no problems beyond that.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Has anyone used an Australian credit card to purchase Aeroplan points? Tried on a 28degrees card and it keeps giving card error on the points.com portal

Yes I've used AmEx with no issues. Sometimes these sites don't like overseas postal addresses (Particularly postcode)

I have used my Canadian AmEx (with my Australian address to dodge paying sales tax) and had no issues. Perhaps it's due to it being an AmEx which I find tends to be less sensitive to purchase I make.

-RooFlyer88

 

[aaa99]

Thanks for the tips, finally managed to buy it and got an email confirmation of purchase. However, the points havent credited yet. Does it usually take a while?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Thanks for the tips, finally managed to buy it and got an email confirmation of purchase. However, the points havent credited yet. Does it usually take a while?

Should be instant (or near instant). You may need to logout of your Aeroplan account and login again to see them appear.

-RooFlyer88

 

[aaa99]

For some reason, it took about 24 hours, but it has deposited. And straightway booked Bamboo airways MEL-SYD-SGN for Christmas eve. The SYD-SGN sector still has 2 J reward seats if anyone is looking.

On a side note, is it not possible to select seats with Bamboo airways?