Buying Air Canada Aeroplan points

[kangarooflyer88]

Just playing around with the search engine; does anyone know why NRT-SGN-MEL prices at 90k while ICN-SGN-MEL comes in at 60k?

In theory they should be the same since they are both between 5001-7000 miles:


So if NRT-SGN-MEL is coming up as 90000 points that would imply that Aeroplan is calculating that routing as being a 7001+ mile journey for some reason. Could you share the detailed itinerary Aeroplan is listing as a 90K redemption?

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yeah, it would have to be NH connecting to Bamboo… anything with a connection would prolly tip it over the 7000 band.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Yeah, it would have to be NH connecting to Bamboo… anything with a connection would prolly tip it over the 7000 band.

Well GCMap is showing it shouldn't cross that 7000 mile boundary if the exact routing of NRT > SGN > MEL is taken. That being said, if any of the flights takes a technical stop somewhere then yeah that could push it over the bounds. And by technical stop I am referring to the practice of some airlines to stopover at an intermediary point to refuel/pick up passengers whilst everyone is onboard.

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well GCMap is showing it shouldn't cross that 7000 mile boundary if the exact routing of NRT > SGN > MEL is taken. That being said, if any of the flights takes a technical stop somewhere then yeah that could push it over the bounds. And by technical stop I am referring to the practice of some airlines to stopover at an intermediary point to refuel/pick up passengers whilst everyone is onboard.

-RooFlyer88

Technical stops won’t count as mileage. QF1 via singapore is calculated as the simple distance SYD-LHR.

I’m thinking it could have been a combination SGN-MEL… maybe via SIN or something?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Technical stops won’t count as mileage. QF1 via singapore is calculated as the simple distance SYD-LHR.

I’m thinking it could have been a combination SGN-MEL… maybe via SIN or something?

Without seeing the exact itinerary it would be difficult to determine what the cause of the hike in mileage pricing was.

-RooFlyer88

 

[Mattg]

Aeroplan's mileage calculations seem to be a bit out at times, and not in the customer's favour. That is probably the reason.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Aeroplan's mileage calculations seem to be a bit out at times, and not in the customer's favour. That is probably the reason.

I did a quick search, the options via ICN priced correctly at 60k, other options with extra stops in places such as SIN priced correctly at 90k

 

[kangarooflyer88]

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):

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!

As an alternative, if you do get pushed into that upper bracket of 7,001+ miles why not make the most of it by adding on a stopover in Melbourne instead for an extra 5000 points? From there you can fly pretty much anywhere in the region in business class be it on Virgin Australia or Air New Zealand (i.e. you can make your way over to Auckland in J at a later date!)

-RooFlyer88

 

[MEL_Traveller]

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!

As an alternative, if you do get pushed into that upper bracket of 7,001+ miles why not make the most of it by adding on a stopover in Melbourne instead for an extra 5000 points? From there you can fly pretty much anywhere in the region in business class be it on Virgin Australia or Air New Zealand (i.e. you can make your way over to Auckland in J at a later date!)

-RooFlyer88

It depends on the routing routing. if you have multiple stops in addition to ho chi Minh city then it's going to bump you over the 7000 mileage band

 

[PatMcrotch]

Gday guys

The route is NRT-HAN-MEL all Bamboo..90k.

Also found NRT-SGN-MEL all Bamboo for 90k.

Must be just over the 7000 eh?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Gday guys

The route is NRT-HAN-MEL all Bamboo.

So that would push it just over the 7,000 mile limit:


Here's the current Aeroplan Award chart for travel within the Pacific region:



-RooFlyer88

 

[PatMcrotch]

So that would push it just over the 7,000 mile limit:
View attachment 312788

Here's the current Aeroplan Award chart for travel within the Pacific region:

View attachment 312789

-RooFlyer88

haha....So unlucky.

Travelling in Japan ATM and don't really feel like going to Korea but it's 30k difference...hmmmm

 

[kangarooflyer88]

haha....So unlucky.

Travelling in Japan ATM and don't really feel like going to Korea but it's 30k difference !

What date are you looking to travel? There might be some itineraries at the 60K point amount depending on which airport you take off from (i.e. Haneda instead of Narita) or if you travel a day before/after.

Alternatively, at the 90K level you can travel pretty much anywhere within the Pacific region (including pretty much anywhere in Australia or New Zealand) since you've now crossed that 7000 mile threshold. For instance, you could book something like Tokyo to Melbourne with a stopover of say a month, then fly onwards to Perth or Auckland for 95,000 points (90,000 for the redemption + 5,000 point fee for using the stopover feature of Aeroplan).

 

[PatMcrotch]

What date are you looking to travel? There might be some itineraries at the 60K point amount depending on which airport you take off from (i.e. Haneda instead of Narita) or if you travel a day before/after.

Alternatively, at the 90K level you can travel pretty much anywhere within the Pacific region (including pretty much anywhere in Australia or New Zealand) since you've now crossed that 7000 mile threshold. For instance, you could book something like Tokyo to Melbourne with a stopover of say a month, then fly onwards to Perth or Auckland for 95,000 points (90,000 for the redemption + 5,000 point fee for using the stopover feature of Aeroplan).

View attachment 312790

I'm trying to get 4 seats from Japan to AUS mid-late January. This route seems like one of the only options. HND-SYD seems to have dried up somewhat although I did see 4 seats on Jan 3.

Thanks for the stopover idea, I'll give that some more thought.

 

[jgm]

I've just managed to change a convoluted routing. We (+1 & I) had a positioning flight MEL-BKK in Y with Lifemiles points, and 2 x J BKK-IST-YVR-YXC with TK & AC. This was 2 days from BKK to YVR with just under 8 hours at IST, and an overnight stay at YVR. The new booking is 2 x J MEL-SYD-YVR-YXC with VA & AC leaving a day later and arriving at YXC a day earlier.

Cost was around CA$150 each with a refund of 5000 points. I called at 23:00 AEDST and got straight through. The transaction was completed in under 20 minutes.

Now I only have to find a better return route which is currently YXC-YVR-ICN-BKK-SIN-MEL with the BKK-SIN-MEL portion in Y on separate tickets.

 

[PatMcrotch]

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!

-RooFlyer88

Yes it seems like HND-SGN-MEL is the only available route that will price at 60k when routing Tokyo-Vietnam-Aus but hard to get the flights to match up for my dates.

I might be able to build in a stopover in SGN for 65k.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Yes it seems like HND-SGN-MEL is the only available route that will price at 60k when routing Tokyo-Vietnam-Aus but hard to get the flights to match up for my dates.

I might be able to build in a stopover in SGN for 65k.

The real challenge in my mind are the 4 passengers bit. I'm guessing there's no chance you can split up the party to take separate flights?

 

[PatMcrotch]

The real challenge in my mind are the 4 passengers bit. I'm guessing there's no chance you can split up the party to take separate flights?

Agreed, that is the challenge

Can't really split up as I am taking the In-laws back to Oz and they don't speak any English at all.

There is actually some good availability for 4 seats for HND-SGN on NH (jan 16,17,18)
But SGN-MEL on Bamboo is not available until Feb 11,12,13 etc. If I can get them a bit closer we could do a short stopover in SGN.
Will have to wait and see.

 

[NDiddy]

I've just managed to change a convoluted routing. We (+1 & I) had a positioning flight MEL-BKK in Y with Lifemiles points, and 2 x J BKK-IST-YVR-YXC with TK & AC. This was 2 days from BKK to YVR with just under 8 hours at IST, and an overnight stay at YVR. The new booking is 2 x J MEL-SYD-YVR-YXC with VA & AC leaving a day later and arriving at YXC a day earlier.

Cost was around CA$150 each with a refund of 5000 points. I called at 23:00 AEDST and got straight through. The transaction was completed in under 20 minutes.

Now I only have to find a better return route which is currently YXC-YVR-ICN-BKK-SIN-MEL with the BKK-SIN-MEL portion in Y on separate tickets.

Great outcome how far out is this booking?

 

[jgm]

Great outcome how far out is this booking?

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.