How to earn Aeroplan points in Australia?

B

Bjet

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It is difficult for me to find information how to earn Aeroplan points as we are not in Canada and don't fly much to Canada. I do not want to lose my whole points because I have not use it for long time and will expire soon. I am not interested in credit cards. I know about buy points but I haven't got time to do that or have to save money.

Can you please give me a hint or anyone knows how to earn Aeroplan points in Australia when we are not flying? For example I can go to the starbucks to buy coffee and earn Aeroplan points.
 
Marriott is a transfer partner to Aeroplan and you can transfer Amex Membership Rewards to Marriott. The rate isn't very good though there was a recent Amex to Marriott transfer bonus

There is also an Aeroplan estore

The Starbucks and Uber links seem to only apply to purchases in Canada/North America respectively
 
True - I remember few years ago, the miles would be expired every 4 years.... but now 18-month is too short!
 
If you fly with Virgin Australia, you can credit the points to Aeroplan. The number of points you can earn would of course depend on fare class and the like. A lite fare would attract 25% of mileage flown in points whereas a Choice fare would attract 50% mileage flown on points and business anywhere from 125%-150% of mileage flown. Further details here. Something simply like Sydney to Brizzie on one of those $69 lite sale fares Virgin always seems to run should do the trick. Aside from Virgin, obviously if you fly Air New Zealand across the Tasman to New Zealand, you could earn anywhere from 70% to 125% of mileage flown in Aeroplan points. One thing to watch out for when booking these tickets is to check the fare code: the one character that tells you what type of fare you are booked into. For instance, booking into a Y fare in Economy will attract more points than an Economy fare booked into the M class.

Aside from earning points with the airlines you can also do the opposite, use your points on Aeroplan to book a short haul flight with Virgin Australia or Air New Zealand. For instance a flight from the Gold Coast to Adelaide on Virgin is just 8,000 miles in economy.

Hope that helps.

-RooFlyer88
 
Anyone know how to transfer Amex Australia points to Aeroplan? Can with US amex but seems not with Australian Amex. US Amex transfer is 1:1.
 
TheRealTMA said:
Anyone know how to transfer Amex Australia points to Aeroplan? Can with US amex but seems not with Australian Amex. US Amex transfer is 1:1.
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Only via Marriott in Australia but you lose a fair bit on the way (there was a transfer bonus last year so may repeat)
 
TheRealTMA said:
Anyone know how to transfer Amex Australia points to Aeroplan? Can with US amex but seems not with Australian Amex. US Amex transfer is 1:1.
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I think I can comment on this as I was in a similar situation as you having held a Canadian AmEx and a UK AmEx card. Before I left the UK for good I called up AmEx and had my membership rewards transfer over which transfers at the prevailing rate (I think it was something like 1 UK AmEx MR = 1.67 AmEx CAD MR back in 2019). The current exchange rate is 1 AUD = 0.69 USD so that means you would probably get .69 US AmEx MR points per AU point which by the way is actually more favourable than had you transferred over to any of the airline partners here in Australia (as the transfer rate in AU I think is always 2:1 whereas in the US it's typically 1:1).

If you could ever get a hold of a Canadian AmEx card you'd get even more value on account of the fact that you can transfer 1:1 Canadian AmEx points to Aeroplan and the exchange rate to AUD is more favourable at 1 AUD = 0.92 CAD.
 
kangarooflyer88 said:
I think I can comment on this as I was in a similar situation as you having held a Canadian AmEx and a UK AmEx card. Before I left the UK for good I called up AmEx and had my membership rewards transfer over which transfers at the prevailing rate (I think it was something like 1 UK AmEx MR = 1.67 AmEx CAD MR back in 2019). The current exchange rate is 1 AUD = 0.69 USD so that means you would probably get .69 US AmEx MR points per AU point which by the way is actually more favourable than had you transferred over to any of the airline partners here in Australia (as the transfer rate in AU I think is always 2:1 whereas in the US it's typically 1:1).

If you could ever get a hold of a Canadian AmEx card you'd get even more value on account of the fact that you can transfer 1:1 Canadian AmEx points to Aeroplan and the exchange rate to AUD is more favourable at 1 AUD = 0.92 CAD.
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Getting a Canadian Amex card is probably too difficult. Do you know (difficult I know), is it possible to transfer my Amex points from my Australia card to a different Canadian person with a Canadian Amex card?
 
TheRealTMA said:
Getting a Canadian Amex card is probably too difficult. Do you know (difficult I know), is it possible to transfer my Amex points from my Australia card to a different Canadian person with a Canadian Amex card?
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Unsure on that one. You would need to contact AmEx for that. Even if you can though, it's unclear if that person could then take their AmEx MR points and transfer them to an Aeroplan account not in their name. I will also point out that there are some benefits to holding a US AmEx account over a Canadian one. In particular they have a better selection of points earning cards and if you opt for the Platinum card there are way more credits you can use to offset the $700 annual fee.

-RooFlyer88
 
kangarooflyer88 said:
Unsure on that one. You would need to contact AmEx for that. Even if you can though, it's unclear if that person could then take their AmEx MR points and transfer them to an Aeroplan account not in their name. I will also point out that there are some benefits to holding a US AmEx account over a Canadian one. In particular they have a better selection of points earning cards and if you opt for the Platinum card there are way more credits you can use to offset the $700 annual fee.

-RooFlyer88
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Actually what I'm trying to do is get a return flight BNE - YOW for my niece in September. Have hundreds of thousands of point in many CC and airline programs but none allow me to use them for that trip. Of course! :(

EK and AC have a new tie up but nothing's available for those flights.

Sigh..
 
TheRealTMA said:
Actually what I'm trying to do is get a return flight BNE - YOW for my niece in September. Have hundreds of thousands of point in many CC and airline programs but none allow me to use them for that trip. Of course! :(

EK and AC have a new tie up but nothing's available for those flights.

Sigh..
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Would you mind sharing the specific itinerary where you are finding availability on Aeroplan? The reason I ask is it might be possible to book it through one of the various AU partners like KrisFlyer or Virgin.

-RooFlyer88
 
kangarooflyer88 said:
Would you mind sharing the specific itinerary where you are finding availability on Aeroplan? The reason I ask is it might be possible to book it through one of the various AU partners like KrisFlyer or Virgin.

-RooFlyer88
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Ta. Simple. Looking for Canada BNE-YVR-YOW. Probably just end up buying the flights through my Amex using travel credit. (Don't have Star Alliance for Kris Flyer or Virgin points.)
 
blacksultan said:
You can transfer from Aus Amex to us Amex once per year .
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And for further clarity here you need to call them up on the phone to make the transfer. To my knowledge, this cannot be done online. They will ask some security questions but overall is fairly straightforward.
 
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Further to Matt’s article today, while Emirates doesn’t have fuel surcharges, the difference in points is perhaps roughly equivalent to the fuel surcharge. Give or take.
 

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