Aeroplan (Air Canada) is now selling points

[NDiddy]

3 weeks. I've been watching Aus - Canada flights for quite a while, and have seen quite a bit of availability at 100k or fewer points for J opening up a few weeks out recently. I've also seen them available with LifeMiles close in, but that doesn't include the internal flights in each country.

Likewise I managed to snag a YVR-BNE flight for my FIL and now working on the return in Feb <fingers crossed>

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Likewise I managed to snag a YVR-BNE flight for my FIL and now working on the return in Feb <fingers crossed>

One strategy that may work is forcing Aeroplan to give you a J seat by coming up with stopovers that have J availability as opposed to looking for "direct" flights to BNE. This is what I did flying from LAX back to Australia where I couldn't find a single J award on the dates I wanted to travel. However, I did find J from LA to Seoul then J a couple days later from Seoul to Sydney on Asiana.

The relevant layover points for Australia for Asia-Pacific crossing are:

• Tahiti (PPT)
• Tokyo (HND/NRT)
• Seoul (ICN)
• Taipei (TPE)
• Singapore (SIN)
• Auckland (AKL)

The relevant layover points for Australia for a A&P crossing are:

• Most European Cities

From there once you stopover in your European gateway you'd then connect on a Middle East carrier like Emirates or Etihad, or potentially an Asian carrier.

One key thing to keep in mind is the MPM (maximum permitted mile) rule: when flying partner airlines exclusively, no routing involving a stopover can exceed more than double the miles flown compared to a nonstop routing from origin to destination. In other words 14,702 is the most you can fly with that given origin and destination. As an aside, this is precisely why origins and destinations to East coast North America are quite attractive since the MPM is close to 20,000 miles which lets you loop around to any point of the world.

Now you probably noticed I emphasized flying partner airlines exclusively. So what happens if you include a segment operated by Air Canada? Well it turns out that two things happen. First the pricing is no longer fixed to the amounts stated in the award chart but can fluctuate greatly (i.e. 400K mile awards to BNE in J on AC). Second, the routing rules aren't based on MPM anymore but instead IATA market rules (i.e. the rules you would normally get had you bought a cash ticket with Air Canada). These rules are both opaque and more importantly often ban such circuitous routings that may find these hidden "J" seats.

-RooFlyer88

 

[gda380]

Hey guys, I am a newbie here. Am I right to assume the easiest way to get a lot of aeroplane points is to buy them right? Currently the promotion is only 20% discount and I think I have seen better offers in the past. I was excited to find out that MEL-SIN only cost 45k + taxes in J (Bamboo + SQ) when Velocity costs 67k to fly direct with SQ (I guess I need to factor in that VA is much easier to earn in Aus).

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Hey guys, I am a newbie here. Am I right to assume the easiest way to get a lot of aeroplane points is to buy them right? Currently the promotion is only 20% discount and I think I have seen better offers in the past. I was excited to find out that MEL-SIN only cost 45k + taxes in J (Bamboo + SQ) when Velocity costs 67k to fly direct with SQ (I guess I need to factor in that VA is much easier to earn in Aus).

Are you based in Australia? If so, then it can be a little more tricky to earn Aeroplan points. There is a Star Alliance credit card from HSBC that lets you accrue Aeroplan points at a rate of 0.8 points per $ spent on the card. In addition, this card will enable you to earn Star Alliance Gold elite status with Aeroplan after spending $4,000 within the first 90 days of opening the card. This would provide you with additional checked bags, lounge access, priority everything to name but a few items when travelling on any Star Alliance airline (e.g., United, Singapore, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, etc.) Aside from credit cards there are a number of partner airlines in the region that let you accrue flights to Aeroplan. In particular, Virgin Australia where you'll earn 50% of miles flown as Aeroplan points when booking a Choice fare (or 100% on Flex, 125%-150% in business).

If you're outside of Australia, there are better credit card offers. For instance, Aeroplan is a transfer partner for Canadian and US American Express cards which transfer over at a 1 to 1 rate.

In general the best time to buy Aeroplan points is when they have bonus points offers in the 80%+ range. I've done this a number of times now and have managed to fly Sydney to Toronto return in business class for roughly $3000 CAD all-in. The key when buying any points is to ensure you have an award booking with availability ready to book once the miles are transferred over (and ideally a backup option should that one disappear).

-RooFlyer88

 

[gda380]

Are you based in Australia? If so, then it can be a little more tricky to earn Aeroplan points. There is a Star Alliance credit card from HSBC that lets you accrue Aeroplan points at a rate of 0.8 points per $ spent on the card. In addition, this card will enable you to earn Star Alliance Gold elite status with Aeroplan after spending $4,000 within the first 90 days of opening the card. This would provide you with additional checked bags, lounge access, priority everything to name but a few items when travelling on any Star Alliance airline (e.g., United, Singapore, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, etc.) Aside from credit cards there are a number of partner airlines in the region that let you accrue flights to Aeroplan. In particular, Virgin Australia where you'll earn 50% of miles flown as Aeroplan points when booking a Choice fare (or 100% on Flex, 125%-150% in business).

If you're outside of Australia, there are better credit card offers. For instance, Aeroplan is a transfer partner for Canadian and US American Express cards which transfer over at a 1 to 1 rate.

In general the best time to buy Aeroplan points is when they have bonus points offers in the 80%+ range. I've done this a number of times now and have managed to fly Sydney to Toronto return in business class for roughly $3000 CAD all-in. The key when buying any points is to ensure you have an award booking with availability ready to book once the miles are transferred over (and ideally a backup option should that one disappear).

-RooFlyer88

Thank you @kangarooflyer88. Sorry yes I am based in Australia. Appreciate the comprehensive response.

 

[jgm]

The other big advantage in purchasing Aeroplan points in Australia, is that they're priced in CA$, which is usually very close to parity with A$. Most other FF schemes with bonus purchases are in US$ € or GBP. As the pricing per point always seems to be in the 3 to 4c (£, €, US$, CA$), it makes the exchange rate a significant factor in the purchase price,

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The other big advantage in purchasing Aeroplan points in Australia, is that they're priced in CA$, which is usually very close to parity with A$. Most other FF schemes with bonus purchases are in US$ € or GBP. As the pricing per point always seems to be in the 3 to 4c (£, €, US$, CA$), it makes the exchange rate a significant factor in the purchase price,

Yes, true. It was starting to get pricy earlier this year when the exchange rate was CAD0.88 to the aussie. But it’s now back around .092.

 

[Mattg]

I'm not sure how they managed to get NRT > SGN > MEL to price out at 90K in J - I was able to find HND > SGN > MEL at 60K in J on a random date (May 16):
View attachment 312783
That being said, if I was them (and I'm not them by the way), I'd try to force a routing where you fly ANA from Tokyo down to Sydney then connect onwards from there to Melbourne with Virgin since Virgin is a partner of Aeroplan and generally makes business class available too! I'd much rather be stranded in Sydney than Saigon!

If HND-SYD-MEL had availability, Aeroplan would offer it.

Not sure about your argument that Virgin is a partner of Aeroplan - so are ANA and Bamboo Airways.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

If HND-SYD-MEL had availability, Aeroplan would offer it.

Not necessarily. Sometimes Aeroplan's computers can't build the routing you have in mind and you need to force the routing by way of a multi city trip. Aeroplan also won't generally suggest insane routings either like flying to North America from Australia through Europe. Lastly the addition of a stop over means you can scoop up availability when one sector is available (i.e. TYO > SGN) stopover then pick up availability when the other sector becomes available (SGN > MEL)

Not sure about your argument that Virgin is a partner of Aeroplan - so are ANA and Bamboo Airways.

I think the point that Virgin Australia is a partner needs highlighting since many folks will assume that Aeroplan award tickets only work for Star Alliance partners.

-RooFlyer88

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Unsure @PatMcrotch if you booked the inbound flight from Tokyo to Narita for your party of 4 but thought I'd point out that NH has released 4 seats in J between HND and SYD on the 27th of January:

 

[NDiddy]

One strategy that may work is forcing Aeroplan to give you a J seat by coming up with stopovers that have J availability as opposed to looking for "direct" flights to BNE. This is what I did flying from LAX back to Australia where I couldn't find a single J award on the dates I wanted to travel. However, I did find J from LA to Seoul then J a couple days later from Seoul to Sydney on Asiana.

The relevant layover points for Australia for Asia-Pacific crossing are:

• Tahiti (PPT)
• Tokyo (HND/NRT)
• Seoul (ICN)
• Taipei (TPE)
• Singapore (SIN)
• Auckland (AKL)

The relevant layover points for Australia for a A&P crossing are:

• Most European Cities

From there once you stopover in your European gateway you'd then connect on a Middle East carrier like Emirates or Etihad, or potentially an Asian carrier.

One key thing to keep in mind is the MPM (maximum permitted mile) rule: when flying partner airlines exclusively, no routing involving a stopover can exceed more than double the miles flown compared to a nonstop routing from origin to destination. In other words 14,702 is the most you can fly with that given origin and destination. As an aside, this is precisely why origins and destinations to East coast North America are quite attractive since the MPM is close to 20,000 miles which lets you loop around to any point of the world.

Now you probably noticed I emphasized flying partner airlines exclusively. So what happens if you include a segment operated by Air Canada? Well it turns out that two things happen. First the pricing is no longer fixed to the amounts stated in the award chart but can fluctuate greatly (i.e. 400K mile awards to BNE in J on AC). Second, the routing rules aren't based on MPM anymore but instead IATA market rules (i.e. the rules you would normally get had you bought a cash ticket with Air Canada). These rules are both opaque and more importantly often ban such circuitous routings that may find these hidden "J" seats.

-RooFlyer88

Hi @kangarooflyer88 - Thanks so much for the detailed post. Just so I'm reading this correctly, once you find the relevant available legs to get to your destination do you then contact the call centre to help them stich it for you in one ticket or do you multi-city the legs using the online search?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Hi @kangarooflyer88 - Thanks so much for the detailed post. Just so I'm reading this correctly, once you find the relevant available legs to get to your destination do you then contact the call centre to help them stich it for you in one ticket or do you multi-city the legs using the online search?

Generally there shouldn't be a need to call the Aeroplan call centre to make the booking as this can be done online by selecting the Multi-city/Stopover option, entering your origin and final destination for segment one, then clicking add stop over 1 and entering in your stopover city (desired length of stay at stopover city):


Aeroplan will then spit back results that include a stopover option. In the case, Aeroplan is suggesting flying ANA J to HND followed by Swiss J to ZRH then 14 days later flying Swiss business to YUL:

Note: the connection in Tokyo results in an airport change to NRT, however there is a 7 hour layover to facilitate that connection.

-RooFlyer88

 

[NDiddy]

Generally there shouldn't be a need to call the Aeroplan call centre to make the booking as this can be done online by selecting the Multi-city/Stopover option, entering your origin and final destination for segment one, then clicking add stop over 1 and entering in your stopover city (desired length of stay at stopover city):
View attachment 313957

Aeroplan will then spit back results that include a stopover option. In the case, Aeroplan is suggesting flying ANA J to HND followed by Swiss J to ZRH then 14 days later flying Swiss business to YUL:
View attachment 313958
Note: the connection in Tokyo results in an airport change to NRT, however there is a 7 hour layover to facilitate that connection.

-RooFlyer88

Too easy - many thanks again - time to start playing around for late Feb/early March. Need to get the FIL to YYC or near enough to it without going through the USA.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Too easy - many thanks again - time to start playing around for late Feb/early March. Need to get the FIL to YYC or near enough to it without going through the USA.

The big issue I see is having too many segments with Air Canada resulting in a high dynamic price award. Playing around a bit with the tool, I was able to find an itinerary that has a 1 day stopover in Dubai and an 18 hour connection in London (changing from Gatwick to Heathrow):

Everything is in J aside from the short DXB > LGW flight on EK (which is in Y). No doubt playing around with dates a bit further will find a flight that is more amenable.

-RooFlyer88

 

[kangarooflyer88]

One other thought to keep in mind is that sometimes it might make sense to hold off on booking to the last minute. Case in point I see a number of dates at the end of this month now where one can fly AC J from BNE to YYC (connecting in YVR) for peanuts:

 

[NDiddy]

One other thought to keep in mind is that sometimes it might make sense to hold off on booking to the last minute. Case in point I see a number of dates at the end of this month now where one can fly AC J from BNE to YYC (connecting in YVR) for peanuts:

View attachment 313961

Thanks again @kangarooflyer88 I'm leaning towards the waiting as well. This is how we managed to snag the flight from YVR into BNE and hoping for the same to occur on the return. I'll have some back up options including a cash ticket if need be.

The FIL's getting on in age a bit so I dont know how he'd go with multi city and multi stopover plus airport changes but I love the itin you proposed a couple of posts earlier. What prompted you to look in the reverse direction for flights? Most of the stopovers in Asia and the islands were not coming up with much.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Thanks again @kangarooflyer88 I'm leaning towards the waiting as well. This is how we managed to snag the flight from YVR into BNE and hoping for the same to occur on the return. I'll have some back up options including a cash ticket if need be.

If history is any guide, BNE > YVR business saver availability should appear in a few weeks given how light the demand is between the two cities (in contrast to SYD > YVR where AC is running twice daily flights and manages to fill up both flights). In any event, I've placed business saver award alerts on ExpertFlyer for the period between February 20 and March 10 for you in case seats should appear.

The other possibility to consider as well is a routing via other cities in the region. In particular, AC and NZ operates AKL > YVR service so there's always some opportunity that availability could appear there at which point it should be trivial to find availability on Aeroplan across the ditch to AKL from BNE.

The FIL's getting on in age a bit so I dont know how he'd go with multi city and multi stopover plus airport changes but I love the itin you proposed a couple of posts earlier.

Completely understand. Not everyone wants to bend themselves into a pretzel just to say that they flew J.

What prompted you to look in the reverse direction for flights?

I know it seems completely counterintuitive to fly via the Middle East/Europe to North America but often it provides the absolute best availability. The reason being is Aeroplan has more partners going towards Europe than they do the opposite direction. In particular, direct routings from Australia would mean flying one of United, Air New Zealand or Air Canada for the long haul. Well Air New Zealand tends to be stingy on releasing J awards, Air Canada uses dynamic pricing which sometimes means eye popping prices in J and United has been limiting its business saver availability in recent months (it used to be a given for instance that you could fly BNE > SFO in J). Contrast that with Middle East and Europe: you've got Emirates, Etihad, Gulf Air, Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels, Croatian, Austrian, Air India, LOT Polish, EgyptAir, Ethiopian, etc. That's quite a few more options. At the same time, Emirates has been quite generous in releasing business seats to Aeroplan (likely due to the partnership with them just launching). The only downside to this approach is you will pay more in points (120,000 versus 80,000 for a more direct routing). On the other hand you do get a "free" trip to Europe for the price flying airlines that likely are a cut above Air Canada (i.e. Singapore, Emirates).

Most of the stopovers in Asia and the islands were not coming up with much.

Key thing for Asia is to identify where the strong hubs are for your origin. In the case of BNE, that would be TPE since BNE is a hub for partner Eva Air and again, that route tends to suffer light demand meaning you could often find quite a bit of business availability. The other thing to consider too is any city you select as a stopover will tell you what to expect for the next segment. For instance, if I were to set Singapore as my stopover point for a trip to Canada, it's going to be tricky to find a way to Canada. Why? Because no airline operates nonstop service between Singapore and Canada. At best I could maybe find Singapore or United service to the US and connect that way but those routes tend to be very popular. Tokyo or Seoul can be good options (the latter of which I'm using to get back to Australia from North America later this year) since there are a number of airlines that can get you to Canada from those stopover points. Ditto for Taipei now that I think about it, partner Eva flies to Canada out of Taipei.

-RooFlyer88

 

[PatMcrotch]

Unsure @PatMcrotch if you booked the inbound flight from Tokyo to Narita for your party of 4 but thought I'd point out that NH has released 4 seats in J between HND and SYD on the 27th of January:

View attachment 313945

Yeah I got an alert Yesterday and booked it, it was still showing 4 seats available after I booked!?

Jan 22 was also showing 4 seats a few days back which is good to see.

I was hoping for a night flight but I read it's only $100 to change on Aeroplan so this is good insurance and the pressure is off now . In-laws are wrapped

 

[NDiddy]

In any event, I've placed business saver award alerts on ExpertFlyer for the period between February 20 and March 10 for you in case seats should appear.

@kangarooflyer88 I can't thank you enough for your help, guidance anc advice. This community continues to blow me away - I'll keep trying but yes if anything comes up please do let me know.

Your explanation on the EU routing totally makes sense and actually gives me a few ideas for the FIL for future trips.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Yeah I got an alert Yesterday and booked it, it was still showing 4 seats available after I booked!?

It's not showing that anymore

I was hoping for a night flight but I read it's only $100 to change on Aeroplan so this is good insurance and the pressure is off now . In-laws are wrapped

It seems like NH added extra capacity between TYO and SYD for the month of January with a morning flight and an evening flight. Obviously the evening flight is more popular for business travellers and also for people who don't like to wake up in the early morning hours to board a long haul flight. Also 5 PM and later at ANA Tokyo lounges is happy hour with a sushi bar. That being said, you have to deal with the cards you are dealt sometimes. 4 passengers in business class long haul is a huge ask and as you pointed out, in the interim if you find a better routing with 4 seats available you can always switch it over. I'm unsure how long the layover you've got in Sydney is, but if it's a long layover you might be able to coax the Virgin reps on arrival to put you on an earlier flight (no guarantees though).

@kangarooflyer88 I can't thank you enough for your help, guidance anc advice. This community continues to blow me away - I'll keep trying but yes if anything comes up please do let me know.

Not a problem! Everything I learned about flights and award ticketing I learned either on this forum or FlyerTalk.

Your explanation on the EU routing totally makes sense and actually gives me a few ideas for the FIL for future trips.

Award travel changes your entire perspective on how to do travel. Before I knew about this "hack", I would simply be looking for the most direct routings from point A to point B, or whatever was the cheapest cash fare. But now thanks to the flexible award rules offered by Aeroplan, Qantas and others, I really take a moment to ponder about what new experiences I can get with the miles accumulated. Why bother with a simple North American trip when I can add on Europe for peanuts? Even if I'm travelling to Europe, why not stop in the Seychelles on the way over for a few extra points? Or if I'm heading to North America, why not spend a few nights in Fiji or Tahiti?

-RooFlyer88