Aeroplan (Air Canada) is now selling points

[drmatte]

I wish I could understand this stuff. I bought AC points at a discount and used them for a SYD-YVR return. As I was 20k points short I made up the difference with cash. The total cost of this ticket, cost of points plus cash balance, was considerably greater than the cash cost of my wife's ticket. I would certainly never buy another AC point, on sale or otherwise.

Also sounds like you may have flown air Canada. Ironically generally the worst use for Aeroplan points.

 

[WilsonM]

I wish I could understand this stuff. I bought AC points at a discount and used them for a SYD-YVR return. As I was 20k points short I made up the difference with cash. The total cost of this ticket, cost of points plus cash balance, was considerably greater than the cash cost of my wife's ticket. I would certainly never buy another AC point, on sale or otherwise.

I assume you flew AC - on its own flights, AC uses dynamic pricing, rather than a fixed award chart like Qantas/Velocity, which makes it more difficult to get any value from using Aeroplan points.

Flying on partner airlines using Air Canada miles is generally a much better use of them, as the prices are fixed, allowing you to get more outsized value. However, there's less availability. It's all a balancing game.

I would note that buying points is generally not recommended except for specific redemptions i.e. looking up the exact flights you want prior to purchase. This should also tell you whether it's actually worth buying the points or not. Buying points speculatively is very risky, as you might not be able to use them or they could be devalued by the airline.

 

[jase05]

I wish I could understand this stuff. I bought AC points at a discount and used them for a SYD-YVR return. As I was 20k points short I made up the difference with cash. The total cost of this ticket, cost of points plus cash balance, was considerably greater than the cash cost of my wife's ticket. I would certainly never buy another AC point, on sale or otherwise.

I purchased some points on sale last year and recently used them for 2x J tickets
ADL-MEL-BKK-DEL-CDG on a mixture of VA, TG and UK and the price spent on points and fees were less than half price of what the flights would have cost me in cash. Would use again if the right sale or availability of flights suit me

 

[masco131]

I wish I could understand this stuff. I bought AC points at a discount and used them for a SYD-YVR return. As I was 20k points short I made up the difference with cash. The total cost of this ticket, cost of points plus cash balance, was considerably greater than the cash cost of my wife's ticket. I would certainly never buy another AC point, on sale or otherwise.

My little advice would be to try and master Qantas and Velocity program first before going into buying points as you can earn a lot of them in Australia for basically free and wont hurt if you make mistake. I would buy only AA, LATAM and AC points. I just redeemed AA points for a JAL F in Sept for less than 2500 aud from HND-SYD
Spend time learning about it and watch YouTube videos.
AC is good value on partner airlines and great value due to their 5000 points rule for stopover.
I hope this helps

 

[ThePointyEnd]

Also sounds like you may have flown air Canada. Ironically generally the worst use for Aeroplan points.

That's exactly what I did!! I live and learn - well occasionally that is.

 

[ThePointyEnd]

My little advice would be to try and master Qantas and Velocity program first before going into buying points as you can earn a lot of them in Australia for basically free and wont hurt if you make mistake. I would buy only AA, LATAM and AC points. I just redeemed AA points for a JAL F in Sept for less than 2500 aud from HND-SYD
Spend time learning about it and watch YouTube videos.
AC is good value on partner airlines and great value due to their 5000 points rule for stopover.
I hope this helps

Thanks for the advice.

 

[ThePointyEnd]

I purchased some points on sale last year and recently used them for 2x J tickets
ADL-MEL-BKK-DEL-CDG on a mixture of VA, TG and UK and the price spent on points and fees were less than half price of what the flights would have cost me in cash. Would use again if the right sale or availability of flights suit me

That is truly amazing. The key would seem to be not to use AC points on AC. Who would've known!!

 

[bernardblack]

I assume you flew AC - on its own flights, AC uses dynamic pricing, rather than a fixed award chart like Qantas/Velocity, which makes it more difficult to get any value from using Aeroplan points.

Flying on partner airlines using Air Canada miles is generally a much better use of them, as the prices are fixed, allowing you to get more outsized value. However, there's less availability. It's all a balancing game.

This is arguably true of many programs we all use, which have standard rates on partners accessing the limited award space and then broader options on the "home" airline at additional cost. Qantas does this for Qantas metal, and Velocity works like this even for some Virgin partners (notably Qatar) using the VA code.

It's just especially acute with Aeroplan because:

• it has a huge set of partner airlines
• it has very good rates and stopover options
• the Air Canada variable-cost options are really expensive (and AC's own product isn't that impressive IMHO)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That is truly amazing. The key would seem to be not to use AC points on AC. Who would've known!!

Aeroplan publishes its award charts. So you can see the lowest cost for each route.

 

[Lewis]

Your right, every time there's points on sale and I add up the cost of buying the points plus taxes and look at using them to buy flights they work out a lot more than paying cash CNS to BNE about $175 more

 

[MooTime]

Your right, every time there's points on sale and I add up the cost of buying the points plus taxes and look at using them to buy flights they work out a lot more than paying cash CNS to BNE about $175 more

Buying points is really only for international J cabin.
Only real value.

If you can spot & grab them of course.

 

[luxury-lizard]

IMO - the very best value for using AC points is Australia - Asia when most cities/routings are 45,000 one-way in business class (can go as highs 60,000 depending on destination/routing) - SQ flights are very available (compared to other programs). Domestic awards on Virgin are the worst value.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

IMO - the very best value for using AC points is Australia - Asia when most cities/routings are 45,000 one-way in business class (can go as highs 60,000 depending on destination/routing) - SQ flights are very available (compared to other programs). Domestic awards on Virgin are the worst value.

Can go as high as 90k for asia if you route via India! But yes, the 45k awards are good value. I’m using one of those soon (SQ) but coming back from KUL using one of the PR $800 fares one way in J.

 

[jase05]

but coming back from KUL using one of the PR $800 fares one way in J.

And for another $600 you can get a return trip!
PR have J return trips ex KUL for around $1400

 

[MEL_Traveller]

And for another $600 you can get a return trip!
PR have J return trips ex KUL for around $1400

Yes! But unfortunately my insurance doesn’t cover nested trips And of course I can’t usually commit to a return in a specified period.

 

[LA10]

Cancelling a 60k J Asia award today as QF released seats! Decided to do this as AC should offer me more flexibility on future trips.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Cancelling a 60k J Asia award today as QF released seats! Decided to do this as AC should offer me more flexibility on future trips.

hmmm, agree on the flexibility, but an expensive cancellation fee

 

[n0m@dd]

IMO - the very best value for using AC points is Australia - Asia when most cities/routings are 45,000 one-way in business class (can go as highs 60,000 depending on destination/routing) - SQ flights are very available (compared to other programs). Domestic awards on Virgin are the worst value.

hi, i'm looking to redeem 50k aeroplan points (earned from the hsbc star alliance credit card) and put in some dummy dates i.e. 29 march 2025 to 2 april 2025 for sydney to singapore economy return. for the outbound flight, it says 2 seats remaining and inbound flight, 4 seats remaining. this is unusual as this is a year out. i also checked singapore airlines krisflyer redemption for the same dates and it doesn't appear to be as limited as what is available on aeroplan. i also tried a different set of dates (same deal, outbound, 2 seats remaining and inbound, 4 seats remaining). any idea if the redemption flights available on aeroplan for sq limited vs what is available on krisflyer? quoting your text as you've indicated sq flights are very available.. just in case i'm missing something! thank you in advance.

 

[levelnine]

any idea if the redemption flights available on aeroplan for sq limited vs what is available on krisflyer?

Yes.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Expecting more than 2 award seats on any flight, even in Y, is very optimistic. If you are 4+ travelling you should considering splitting your party onto 2 flights. Also as @levelnine posted above - SQ availability to AC is not the same as to their own members (on a few occasions I have seen AC availability better than on KF !!)