Aeroplan (Air Canada) is now selling points

[MEL_Traveller]

Interesting. That would be a huge loss for Aeroplan, particularly for us in Australia, as it was a huge sweet spot with amazing availability to Europe and back.

but… SQ wide open sort of makes up for in terms of availability. I’d prefer the onboard seats and service of EY though

 

[Mattg]

There's another offer on now - this time a discount of 30-50%. Offer expires 17 June 2023.

 

[LostRedditor]

Searching for award flights using the Air Canada site makes me thankful for Qantas' multi city award search. I'm considering buying around ~600,000 points but I cannot find many availabilities for Aus to Europe. But then again, it takes so long to search when you can only search on one day at a time, maybe I'm just too impatient.

Wondering if purchasing BA points with subscription is better

 

[luxury-lizard]

@LostRedditor - the AC search is a bit painful - until recently it showed multiple days but if there is any availability (even Y) on the date you first enter it doesn't do this any more. There are some third party paid search tools which allow you to search multiple days (eg AwardNexus, Seats.aero).

Availability of *A award seats from Aus-Europe (using AC points) is not that bad - but generally you need to be looking out towards to end of the booking window (this is particularly due to SQ allowing AC redemptions for J seats).

 

[drmatte]

Searching for award flights using the Air Canada site makes me thankful for Qantas' multi city award search. I'm considering buying around ~600,000 points but I cannot find many availabilities for Aus to Europe. But then again, it takes so long to search when you can only search on one day at a time, maybe I'm just too impatient.

Wondering if purchasing BA points with subscription is better

Make sure you’re not trying to include a Virgin Australia domestic flight as the first part of your trip.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I find aeroplan pretty easy to search on! The daily views at the top of the screen are easy to navigate and load super quick… unlike the SQ or QF tools for example. And no mucking around with toggling between classic and points plus pay, or between operating airlines like SQ. All classes displayed in the one page.

 

[sydunipete]

Very interesting. I've been looking to fly AC for a while and have been pricing up a few itineraries for 2 in business class. Using the current points bonus I repriced them using reward seats. Here's what I found.

For a Canada domestic itinerary the cash price for my itinerary was $4460 AUD, if I buy the miles under the current offer, plus taxes, plus the value of the missed earning points the reward total is $3286 AUD. That's quite a saving. (I will miss out on VA SC's.)

For a long haul flight STO-NYC the cash price was $6267 on SK (most likely a A321) or $7110 on AC. If I do the same calculation with reward points it comes in at $7662. So not so good, however the AC booking site opens up a lot more *A options than are available for cash sale.

Definitely it's worth adding into the mix.

 

[sydunipete]

I get sucked in each time this comes up so I priced another itinerary I'm looking at. ARN-SYD//DPS-ARN, two people in business class.

Air Canada had some options available requiring an overnight stop in Dubai on SK/SQ/EK.

Buying the points (at 80% bonus), plus taxes, plus value of the miles I wouldn't earn comes to $14,010 aussie (plus overnight DXB hotel).

Purchasing a fare (TG/TK) comes to $12,144 aussie.

I'm sure there are some bargains to be had but do your homework, consider possible devaluation, interest on the money, less freedom of redemptions. But then again Air Canada redemptions can throw some interesting airlines into the mix that you wouldn't otherwise take.

 

[hossein_au]

Does anyone have experience in booking redemption seats in economy (using AC points, on TG metal), and then changing that to business if it opens up? Am I up to cancel the former and book the latter (attracting C$150 cancellation fee per passenger)?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I get sucked in each time this comes up so I priced another itinerary I'm looking at. ARN-SYD//DPS-ARN, two people in business class.

Air Canada had some options available requiring an overnight stop in Dubai on SK/SQ/EK.

Buying the points (at 80% bonus), plus taxes, plus value of the miles I wouldn't earn comes to $14,010 aussie (plus overnight DXB hotel).

Purchasing a fare (TG/TK) comes to $12,144 aussie.

I'm sure there are some bargains to be had but do your homework, consider possible devaluation, interest on the money, less freedom of redemptions. But then again Air Canada redemptions can throw some interesting airlines into the mix that you wouldn't otherwise take.

The expensive bit might be the EK sectors.

The mileage bands and prices not including EK should be 110k and 80k = 190k per passenger, or AUD3800 plus actual [minimal] taxes.

This is what i paid for my last, and upcoming tickets. Knowledge of routing options and airlines, finding the right booking windows, and flexibility of a day or two can help find those bargains.

I booked my next Europe trip around 6 months in advance and had wide open availability on SQ’s a380s to Europe ex AU, and luckily, coming back on EY.

Post automatically merged: Oct 19, 2023

Does anyone have experience in booking redemption seats in economy (using AC points, on TG metal), and then changing that to business if it opens up? Am I up to cancel the former and book the latter (attracting C$150 cancellation fee per passenger)?

Either that, or book the flex option for the extra points and not have to pay cancellation fees.

 

[ThePointyEnd]

Be a bit careful with AC. I had a good trip from SYD to YVR recently but the return trip via BNE was appalling. The meals were served on a plastic tray like Economy, with all the courses at once. Drinks offers were non-existent as crew were too busy chatting to each other to bother with passengers.

 

[sydunipete]

Be a bit careful with AC. I had a good trip from SYD to YVR recently but the return trip via BNE was appalling. The meals were served on a plastic tray like Economy, with all the courses at once. Drinks offers were non-existent as crew were too busy chatting to each other to bother with passengers.

Yes - I have an upcoming trip ARN-CPH-YYZ-LGA//PHL-YYZ-YQB//YUL-YVR//YVR-YYZ-CPH-ARN mostly with AC in business. After reading numerous horror stories I have my fingers crossed for my first Air Canada experience.

 

[Mattg]

Be a bit careful with AC. I had a good trip from SYD to YVR recently but the return trip via BNE was appalling. The meals were served on a plastic tray like Economy, with all the courses at once. Drinks offers were non-existent as crew were too busy chatting to each other to bother with passengers.

I flew YVR-BNE last week and had a good experience in AC J. The meals were fine and the service director was very friendly and responsive to requests. I guess it may be crew dependent?

 

[ThePointyEnd]

I flew YVR-BNE last week and had a good experience in AC J. The meals were fine and the service director was very friendly and responsive to requests. I guess it may be crew dependent?

From the point of view of service, I guess it would be service director dependent. But all the courses at once on a plastic tray? That's not Business Class IMO.

 

[Mattg]

From the point of view of service, I guess it would be service director dependent. But all the courses at once on a plastic tray? That's not Business Class IMO.

I agree that a plastic tray isn't great, but I didn't think it was an issue. It wasn't the same tray you'd get in Y. Although you may have had different catering on your flight.

FWIW the AC catering is better ex Australia than ex Canada.

 

[ThePointyEnd]

I agree that a plastic tray isn't great, but I didn't think it was an issue. It wasn't the same tray you'd get in Y. Although you may have had different catering on your flight.

FWIW the AC catering is better ex Australia than ex Canada.

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That's for sure, ex Oz was fine. It was more the 'all courses at once' which offended us. Maybe I'm just too picky!

 

[twiningb]

I flew the family LHR-YYZ (overnight) YYZ-DEN last year, in J, using Aeroplan points (mostly purchased). I thought the soft product was fine, and the widebody hard product was generally OK (reverse herringbone is fine for me in most instances I've experienced it). However, I don't think my particular seat was reclining all the way to flat? It was a daytime midhaul westbound flight and I was watching the TV screen, so I didn't bother raising it with the cabin crew, but was that just an outlier? Or is their J seat dodgy?

 

[Mattg]

I flew the family LHR-YYZ (overnight) YYZ-DEN last year, in J, using Aeroplan points (mostly purchased). I thought the soft product was fine, and the widebody hard product was generally OK (reverse herringbone is fine for me in most instances I've experienced it). However, I don't think my particular seat was reclining all the way to flat? It was a daytime midhaul westbound flight and I was watching the TV screen, so I didn't bother raising it with the cabin crew, but was that just an outlier? Or is their J seat dodgy?

I slept well on their 787 J seat, but I did also find that the seat back didn't recline to completely 180 degrees lie-flat and that my head was raised a bit? It was more like 170 degrees, although my legs were laying flat.

 

[Mattg]

This doesn't bode well for those booking Aeroplan awards on Bamboo Airways:

Bamboo Airways Ends Long Haul Flights, Dumps 787s

Bamboo Airways is discontinuing all of its long haul flights, and getting rid of its Boeing 787s, as part of a major restructuring.

onemileatatime.com

 

[Rifty6210]

This doesn't bode well for those booking Aeroplan awards on Bamboo Airways:

Bamboo Airways Ends Long Haul Flights, Dumps 787s

Bamboo Airways is discontinuing all of its long haul flights, and getting rid of its Boeing 787s, as part of a major restructuring.

onemileatatime.com

My booking for MEL > SGN 25/12 was cancelled unfortunately. I did receive an option to have my points and fees/taxes returned back to me.