Best Trips with Aeroplan Miles
Traveling WITH AEROPLAN MILES
Want to know how to earn Aeroplan miles and use them for incredible Aeroplan redemptions to travel around the world? I’ve been collecting Aeroplan points for 23 years and have had some of my best trips with Aeroplan miles over the last eight years, mostly in business class.
I’ve learned some great tricks along the way and want to share some of them with you so you can travel to your dream destinations with Aeroplan points too.
Booking travel with Aeroplan can feel overwhelming in the beginning; I’ve been there. Hopefully, with some guidance, you’ll be booking the best trips with your Aeroplan miles in no time.
There is still a lot for me to learn when it comes to earning points and cash for travel (I see you Airmiles), but I like to think I have an excellent understanding of how to earn, redeem and maximize Aeroplan miles for flights.
November 2020 – Aeroplan just launched a brand new program on November 8, 2020. Read more about it here. Some of these strategies for earning points are still useful and applicable. Some of the strategies for redeeming points for flights are not. Bye mini RTW, it was great while it lasted.
ON THIS PAGE I DISCUSS: (click on the link below to jump to the topic)
- The Aeroplan Rewards program
- How to earn Aeroplan miles in Canada, let me count the ways
- How to redeem Aeroplan miles
- The best trips with Aeroplan miles
- Tips and tools for booking your Aeroplan reward
- Building your Aeroplan reward itinerary
- The best American Express Cards for travel and a brief introduction to the Membership Rewards program in Canada
- Other cards I use to earn Aeroplan miles
- Other ways to use your Aeroplan miles – Donate your miles
- Need help? One-to-one personalized advice and assistance
- Subscribe to stay in the loop
THE AEROPLAN REWARDS PROGRAM
In Canada, Aeroplan is the primary airline reward program amongst travel points collectors. My Aeroplan points have taken me to incredible places around the world like India, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Brazil, and Israel. Aeroplan is part of the Star Alliance group of airlines, and as such with Aeroplan miles, you have access to 28 partner airlines.
I’ve often heard that people don’t know what to do with their Aeroplan points and that the taxes are too high and therefore their Aeroplan miles are worthless. Well, my friend, you’ve got some learning to do, and I can help.
I’m that person that people call, email, and text for information about Aeroplan, and as such, I get a lot of the same questions. So I’ve created this page as a starting point to give you a better understanding of how to earn Aeroplan miles and how you can redeem your Aeroplan points for incredible Aeroplan rewards.
HOW TO EARN AEROPLAN MILES IN CANADA, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS
First, let’s discuss the ways in which you could earn Aeroplan miles. Although we don’t have as many opportunities to earn travel points in Canada as our neighbours to the south, we do have plenty of ways to earn Aeroplan miles.
Assuming you already have a free Aeroplan account set up, let’s begin.
Earn Aeroplan Points from Flying
You can earn Aeroplan miles by flying on Air Canada, with Air Canada Vacations or one of the Aeroplan partner flights within the Star Alliance network such as United Airlines, South African Airways, Tap Portugal and Lufthansa, to name a few. Add your Aeroplan number when you book your flight.
TIP: If you forget to include your Aeroplan number at the time of reservation, be sure to keep your boarding pass as you can claim the points for up to 6 months after your trip on the Aeroplan website.
PRO TIP: Check the where to credit website for more information on how many points you could earn based on the booking class and airline.
EXAMPLE:
In 2017, there was an amazing mistake fare from Vancouver to Sydney and Tokyo and back to Vancouver on ANA airlines for CAD $864 in business class. I happened upon that mistake fare and booked it without hesitation when I saw the words “business class”. Generally, you have 24 hours in which to cancel a ticket so whenever you see something that is too good to be true, you book it and figure it out later. If it turns out to be a mistake fare, you cross your fingers and hope the airline honours the ticket. In this case, ANA did honour the ticket, and I had a wonderful return visit to Australia and my first visit to Japan. I earned about 24,000 Aeroplan miles in the process.
The general rule I go by when travelling is to book one of the Star Alliance airlines even if it means the flight is $200-300 more. I recommend checking Where to Credit (mentioned above) first to make sure that it is worth the extra dollars compared to the price on another airline.
Earn Aeroplan Points Through the Aeroplan eStore
Before you purchase something online at places such as Amazon Canada, The Bay, Indigo, Old Navy or the Apple Store, visit the Aeroplan site. You could earn Aeroplan miles for your purchases when you buy something through the Aeroplan estore shopping portal. There are 170 online stores that offer points for your purchases. Keep an eye out for bonus days where you can earn 3x, 5x, 7x and even 10x the points for your purchase. It doesn’t cost extra, and if you were already planning to buy something, you’re earning free Aeroplan miles.
EXAMPLE:
In July 2019, Aeroplan and Apple had a 10x promotion for 3 days. The offer was announced the same day I received a Macbook Air that I had just purchased only days before. I missed out on the 10x promotion for my iPhone purchase last year by a couple of weeks. Not this time, not this time. I went to the Apple store the next day and reluctantly returned my new Macbook Air, but knowing I’d be receiving bonus Aeroplan miles made it all worth it. Not to mention the points I’d be earning for making the purchase with a credit card that earns me points for Aeroplan.
I earned 14729 Aeroplan points for my CAD $1339 purchase, something I had planned on buying anyway. As an Aeroplan black status member at the time, I earned an extra mile per dollar. Aeroplan Diamond members earn an extra 2 miles per dollar. Unfortunately, earning points toward Aeroplan status is being phased out after this month (Feb. 2020). The Aeroplan program will be owned by Air Canada once again in June 2020. The current Aeroplan status program offers bonus miles, discounts on Aeroplan change fees, cancellation fees, and market fare rewards.
PRO TIP: It is important to note that your Aeroplan miles can expire after 12 months of non-use. If you don’t have flights or hotel stays coming up, purchase something through the Aeroplan estore to keep your Aeroplan points account active. It’s a great way to extend your expiration.
Earn Aeroplan Points Through Retail Stores & Other Sites
Retail Stores – earn Aeroplan points at retail stores such as Home Hardware, the UPS Store, Viator, and through Costco online.
Earn Aeroplan Points from Car Rentals
You can earn Aeroplan points when you rent a car with Budget or Avis. You’ll earn 250 Aeroplan miles (off-airport location) or 500 Aeroplan miles (airport pick up).
Book Car Rentals on Aeroplan
You’ll earn 4x the miles per CAD $1 when you book your car rental (paying cash or miles) using the Aeroplan website booking tool. Be sure to include your Aeroplan number when booking.
Prices are competitive, and you’ll earn more points through Aeroplan than by booking with Avis or Budget directly.
Earn Aeroplan Points from Hotels
You can also earn points at Aeroplan partner hotels such as the Best Western, Aloft, Delta, Fairmont, the Baymont hotel and others. You’ll earn even more points at 4x the miles per $1 when you book your hotel through the Aeroplan website plus bonus miles with Aeroplan status.
Rocketmiles is a hotel booking tool that offers up to 10,000 Aeroplan points per night for some hotels. It’s worth comparing.
Earn Aeroplan Points from Financial Cards
Co-branded financial cards such as TD Visa Infinite, CIBC Aeroplan Visa, American Express Aeroplan Gold (see more info below) and American Express Aeroplan Platinum offer Aeroplan points through signup bonuses and daily use.
PRO TIP: Points earned using these cards count towards earning silver, black or diamond Aeroplan status. Visit the Aeroplan website for information on current offers and the benefits of each Aeroplan status level.
Please note: The Aeroplan status program is different from the Air Canada Altitude status program which is based on the flight segments flown and dollars spent. Also note the Aeroplan status program will be winding down as of March 1st, 2020.
Earn Aeroplan Points from Marriott Bonvoy
Earn 2 Aeroplan Miles per USD $1 you spend at Marriott hotels. Earn 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points by signing up for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card or Marriott Bonvoy business credit cards.
1000 Membership Rewards points = 1200 Bonvoy points
While Marriott Bonvoy can be valuable in itself for free hotel nights, you can transfer the Bonvoy points to Aeroplan and 40+ airlines. Transfer points at 3:1 from Bonvoy to Aeroplan.
For 60,000 Bonvoy Points, you will earn 20,000 Aeroplan points plus a bonus of 5000 Aeroplan points.
60k = 20k + 5k Marriott bonus = 25,000 Aeroplan miles
Watch for Aeroplan 25, 30 or 35% hotel conversion promotions
Aeroplan offers a bonus of 25 or 35% more points through their hotel conversion program a few times a year.
- 60k = 20k + 5k Marriott bonus + 8750 (35% bonus) = 33,750 Aeroplan miles
Earn Aeroplan Points from American Express
Earn significant points through signup bonuses and daily use. American Express cards earn membership rewards (MR) points that allow a transfer rate of 1:1 to Aeroplan points. More detailed information on the lucrative Membership Rewards program is below.
60k MR = 60k AEROPLAN MILES
Other Ways to Earn Aeroplan Points
Surveys – Did you know that you could earn Aeroplan miles for free just by taking a survey? Check out Asking Canadians
HOW TO REDEEM AEROPLAN MILES
You can redeem your Aeroplan miles for gift cards, merchandise, car rentals, hotels, and flights. The best value is found in redeeming Aeroplan miles for flights and that is what we’ll be discussing here.
To know how many Aeroplan points you need to book a flight on Aeroplan.com, consult the Points Predictor Tool or the Aeroplan rewards chart.
MY BEST TRIPS WITH AEROPLAN MILES
First, let me share some Aeroplan travel rewards that I’ve taken so you know what is possible. Hopefully, it will inspire you to dream of places you can go and how to use Aeroplan miles.
How to use Aeroplan Miles for Business Class
One of the best ways to use Aeroplan miles is for a multi-city long haul international business class travel. Amongst Aeroplan points collectors it’s known as a mini-RTW (mini round the world) trip. It’s not an official name so if you were to call into Aeroplan, they wouldn’t know what you were talking about. A mini-RTW is where you cross both the Atlantic and Pacific ocean and can have up to 3 stops (2 stops plus destination). With an international Aeroplan reward, you are also allowed up to 16 legs (segments) which may include several layovers up to 24-hours. A well-timed layover would be enough to give you an idea of the place and whether you’d like to return for a proper visit.
PLEASE NOTE: As of September 1, 2019, Aeroplan temporarily changed the number of stops allowed on an international business class trip from 2 stops to 1 stop (destination + one-stop or one open jaw).
Although you can not book a 3-stop Aeroplan ticket at the moment (as of January 2020), I am leaving the 3-stop itineraries (below) for now as I want you to know what is possible and perhaps help you with itinerary routing for 2 stop ideas.
Many of my redemptions have included South Africa on the itinerary as I’m always trying to find different ways to travel with Aeroplan miles to and from Johannesburg or Cape Town. I have a women’s mobile photography project there and in October 2019, I led a 7-day Cape Town photo tour.
Aeroplan mini-RTW Trip – Stops in Bali, Perth, and Johannesburg plus long layovers: May/June 2020 in Business Class, 160K Aeroplan Points
- Cost $320 + CAD $30 (booking fee for calling Aeroplan)
- YYZ-TPE 9 hour layover
- TPE-BKK overnight layover
- BKK-DPS stop
- DPS-SIN 10 hour layover
- SIN-PER destination
- PER-JNB stop
- JNB-IST 12 hour layover
- IST-VIE
- VIE-VCE 23 hour layover
- VCE-LIS 20 hour layover
- LIS-YYZ
I’ve been teaching my eldest niece how to earn and redeem Aeroplan points. I’m proud to report that she has enough points for this trip, and we’ll be travelling together.
The good news about the recent Aeroplan changes is that you can now cancel any Aeroplan trip up to 2 hours before departure for a cancellation fee of $75 plus HST ($30 plus HST if you have Aeroplan diamond status) and get your points deposited back into your account. Previously, you had to cancel 21 days before departure or more to get your points refunded for a fee. That is a welcomed change. Thank you, Aeroplan. You can read some of the other Aeroplan changes made here.
Aeroplan 6 Continents Trip – Lisbon, Perth, and Johannesburg: October/November 2019 in Business Class, 160K Aeroplan Points
- Cost $326 + CAD $30 (booking fee for calling Aeroplan)
- YYZ-BOS 6 hour layover
- BOS-LIS stop
- LIS-IST 23 hour 50 mins. layover
- IST-BKK arrive 7:30am, depart 9:10pm
- BKK-SIN 23 hour 40 mins. layover
- SIN-PER destination (determined by Aeroplan)
- PER-JNB stop
- JNB-GRU 9.5 hour layover
- GRU-PTY
- PTY-ORD
- ORD-YYZ
Aeroplan Mini-RTW Trip – Japan and South Africa: Oct 2018 to April 2019 in Business class, 165K Aeroplan points
- Cost CAD $392.36 + CAD $30 (booking fee for calling Aeroplan)
Original Aeroplan mini-RTW Itinerary:
- YVR-HND October 17, 2018, stop
- HND-PEK
- PEK-ADD
- ADD-JNB destination (determined by Aeroplan)
- JNB-ADD
- ADD-TLV stop
- TLV-IST
- IST-TXL overnight layover
- TXL-ZRH
- ZRH-YUL
- YUL-YYZ
- YYZ-YVR
Before I left Canada, I changed my ticket. I decided to drop the TLV stop for an opportunity to visit safariLIVE for 10-days. In South Africa, I changed my Aeroplan trip again to extend my stay. It cost CAD 75 as a Diamond Aeroplan member; otherwise, it’s a CAD 100 change fee. There was no change in taxes/fees.
Aeroplan mini-RTW Itinerary final revision looked like this:
- YVR-HND ANA Oct 17, 2018 stop
- HND-PEK ANA
- PEK-ADD Ethiopian Airlines
- ADD-JNB Ethiopian Airlines Nov 1, 2018 destination
- JNB-ZRH Swiss Air
- ZRH-YUL Swiss Air
- YUL-YYZ Air Canada Dec. 18 stop (home)
- YYZ-YVR Air Canada end April 18, 2019
When I initially booked the ticket the only way for me to do this on one Aeroplan reward ticket was to start in Vancouver. With planned stops in Japan, South Africa, and Israel, I would’ve been over the maximum permitted miles (MPM) from my home base (YYZ). Check this link for known MPM.
Feel free to email me if you have questions on how to figure out MPM for a routing you’d like to take.
My ticket cost 165K in Aeroplan points because I originally booked a stop in TLV. If I had just booked the ticket for Japan and South Africa, it would’ve cost me 150K Aeroplan points. I could’ve gotten the points back, but that would have meant that I had to cancel my ticket, pay a cancellation fee and rebook it. That would mean I would run a risk of losing my seat on the popular Vancouver to Tokyo route with ANA. I couldn’t take that chance because I had to be there on a specific date to meet my family that was travelling from Toronto.
FLYING WITH WESTJET IN CANADA TO POSITION FOR YOUR FLIGHT
I realize that I’m talking about Aeroplan miles and the broader Star Alliance partners, but sometimes you need to take advantage of other programs to meet your goals. Bottom line, it’s all about getting the best value for your dollar. With that said, I mostly fly within Canada on Westjet using member exclusives.
To “position” for my flight to Tokyo, and a chance to visit my best friend and her family there, I booked a one-way flight on Westjet. I returned to Vancouver over the Easter weekend in April 2019 to officially complete my Japan/South Africa trip. I booked another one-way flight for the journey back home to Toronto, got in another visit and paid CAD 125 plus taxes for each one-way flight. This was not a Westjet seat sale. Not sure what I’m talking about? Feel free to connect to ask me how.
Other Amazing Itineraries Using Aeroplan Points
Aeroplan Trip with stops in South Africa and Israel: Feb/Mar 2017 in Business class, 150K Aeroplan Points
- Cost CAD 349 + CAD 30 (booking fee for calling Aeroplan)
- YYZ-IAD Air Canada)
- IAD-JNB South African Airways, stop
- JNB-CPT South African Airways, stop
- CPT-ADD Ethiopian Airlines, 11-hour layover
- ADD-TLV Ethiopian Airlines, stop
- TLV-WAW LOT Airlines, 8-hour layover
- WAW-YYZ LOT Airlines
In February 2017, I went on a trip to Cape Town, South Africa with a stop in Johannesburg for a 6-night trip to Kruger National Park with friends and a stop in Tel Aviv for 2+ weeks in Jerusalem with my family and my father. My routing included an 11-hour layover in Addis Ababa and an 8-hour layover in Warsaw. I left the airport on both layovers.
I was supposed to be charged 165K Aeroplan points because the Aeroplan terms and conditions state:
5.1. If any allowable stopover point is in a different region than the flight reward destination, the higher reward mileage level will apply.
Sometimes you luck out, and there are Aeroplan glitches. My best advice for finding glitches, just play around with itineraries.
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES LAYOVER PROGRAM
If your layover is 8-24 hours from one international Ethiopian flight to another international ET flight, Ethiopian Airlines offers a layover program in Addis Ababa. I flew business class and was given the voucher on board in Cape Town. It included a hotel room at the Hilton, a shuttle to/from the airport, a tourist visa, two meal vouchers, and wifi. It was worth more than what I paid in taxes and fees for my whole ticket.
Aeroplan Miles Multi-City Trip with stops in Brazil, South Africa, and Asia: Oct/Nov 2015 Business class 150K
- YYZ-GRU 36-hour stop
- GRU-JNB stop
- JNB-AUH
- AUH-DEL stop
- DEL-YYZ
Some Trips are Worth Mixing Aeroplan Travel Redemptions with Revenue Tickets
For my Aeroplan Miles Trip 4, my main destinations were Thailand and Myanmar, but I didn’t have enough miles to spare (MPM restrictions) to include flights to those cities because I wanted to visit South Africa on the way. Sometimes it’s worth it to mix Aeroplan travel between Aeroplan points and revenue tickets. Ideal situations for this scenario are when scheduling is limited, or you go over MPM but want to visit a specific destination. Knowing that Delhi was only a 4-hour flight from Bangkok, I chose it as one of the stops even though I didn’t leave the airport on the way to Thailand. I used Delhi because of its proximity to where I wanted to go.
On this trip, I paid for my tickets from Delhi to Bangkok, Bangkok to Mandalay, some internal flights in Myanmar and from Ranong to Bangkok for my return flight to Delhi.
Aeroplan Miles Multi-City Europe Trip with stops in Munich and Paris: March 2012 Business class 90K
- YYZ-LHR
- LHR-MUC stop
- MUC-CDG stop
- CDG-YYZ
I chose to do a mix of Aeroplan redemption and train travel in Europe for this trip. After arriving in Munich, I took the train to Salzburg. From there I travelled on to Vienna and Prague and returned to Munich for my flight to Paris where I spent a week before taking the train through the Chunnel to London and back to Paris for my flight home to Toronto.
Simple Aeroplan Redemptions I’ve done
- Economy class one way 12,500 YYZ-RSW
- Economy class return 15,000 YYZ-EWR-YYZ
- Economy class return 25,000 YYZ-YVR-YYZ
- Economy class return 25,000 YYZ-YVR-YXE-YYZ
- Premium economy/economy return 50K YYZ-CDG-YYZ
- Business-class return 150,000 YYZ-IST-DEL-YYZ
Sometimes I use points within North America because either the revenue ticket is too costly for the dates I want to travel (holiday periods), my schedule isn’t flexible or I also want a stopover.
Although the best value with Aeroplan miles is to book an international business class seat on a long haul flight or mini-RTW trip, there can be great value in an Aeroplan reward in the economy class too. Use your points whatever way works best for you. My goal is to travel cheaper, longer and for the best value, but also with some comfort when I’m travelling for 1-2 days.
As mentioned above, Canada and USA routes might be switching to dynamic pricing this year. So if you have some Aeroplan points that you hope to redeem for flights within Canada or the USA, it would be a good time to redeem those points.
Aeroplan Redemption Ideas:
Some examples of great Aeroplan redemptions might be when you’re travelling with family and trying to cut costs, are going to a destination that is typically expensive (northern BC from Toronto,) or want to take advantage of stopover and book a multi-city. (YYZ-YYC-YVR-YYZ). The taxes/fees for an Aeroplan reward from YYZ to YVR return are in the CAD 160-185 range because you have to fly on Air Canada. It’s a lot when you compare that to a long haul business class ticket with stops that may be priced at CAD 300-350 for the taxes/fees (if you avoid YQ). However, there are times when a round-trip ticket from Toronto to Vancouver may cost CAD 1000-1500 when you want to fly last-minute. Having Aeroplan points is very helpful.
- YOW-YFB, YUL-YFB, YEG-YFB – 15k, (Nunavut), First Air/Canadian North
- YYC-YXY (Whitehorse) – 15k / YYZ-YXY – 25k
- YVR-YZF (Yellowknife) – 15k / YYZ-YZF – 25k
- YVR-YZP (Haida Gwaii) – 15k / YYZ-YZP – 25k
- YUL-YYT (St.John’s Newfoundland) – 15k / YYZ-YYT – 25k
Note: If (when) Aeroplan goes to dynamic pricing for Canada/USA flights, these routes are sure to increase. Take advantage of some of the short-haul redemption ideas above if you are looking for good value for your Aeroplan miles.
TIPS AND TOOLS FOR BOOKING YOUR AEROPLAN REWARD
- Know where you want to go and the routes you can travel to get there. – flightconnections.com, filter by Star Alliance
- Know your geography and airport codes. Write down the options or subscribe to receive my ‘Aeroplan Reward Booking Worksheet’ for Excel – google flights | google maps | excel
- Know your MPM (maximum permitted miles) – Visit Flyertalk for city pairs and mini-RTW discussions.
- Don’t rely on the Aeroplan website to show you all the options. – award.flights & expert flyer
- Build your itinerary segment by segment. This is key.
- Check your miles to make sure you’re within the MPM – Great Circle Mapper gcmap.com
- Confirm availability on Aeroplan right before you call in. – Aeroplan website or app
- Call Aeroplan at 1-800-361-5373 to book your trip because a 4+ segment multi-city trip cannot be booked online. The charge is $30 plus tax.
- For mRTW, if there’s a segment that’s not available in J class (business class), consider booking it anyway. You can change your seat to a business class seat if it becomes available at no charge. You can change your itinerary, you can do so for a $100 fee per direction ($75 for diamond) or cancel it and get your miles back for a fee. You can set alerts to watch for flight and seat availability. – Expert Flyer
Tools for Building Your Itinerary and Finding Availability
Flight Connections provides an overview of flight routes. It’s a helpful tool to help you see Star Alliance routes to/from a destination and the connections that can be used to get to a destination. This will help you with building and booking your Aeroplan reward. You can filter for star alliance airlines only.
Another tool I use to search routings is Google Flights. You can filter to only show the Star Alliance network. I also use this tool to search for revenue-based flights and compare the cost with the Aeroplan redemption I’m planning to make.
Whenever I build a trip, I always open google maps first. I move the globe around to get familiar with the geography and get ideas of where I want to go. I type in the name of the first city I want to visit and look for other cities I may way to visit before or after.
The above link points to the thread about mini-RTW on Flyertalk. It’s where I learned all about mini-RTW trips and how to book them. I’ve spent hours reading through the information in the Aeroplan forum to learn the rules and what might be valid itineraries. It can seem like another language, but once you get to know your airport codes, it will be easier to understand. It’s worth taking a look to see MPM for city pairs (starting point and destination) and valid itineraries that people have booked to help you learn what may be valid and/or give you inspiration for your trip.
award.flights is my go-to for searching award availability in F, J, W or Y classes. It’s free and helps me think outside the box. It only works on the Chrome browser and will need to be installed. You can search for several days at a time and multiple people. It’s a useful tool. Search for availability leg-by-leg to get the best results. Example – for YYZ-JNB try a broad search first and then build your own itinerary segment by segment. For example, search YYZ-ADD and then ADD-JNB. If you need help to understand how to use this tool, feel free to connect with me.
A subscription-based website to check award availability. It allows you to check up to 7 days at a time. You can also set seat alerts if you’re looking for a specific seat or award space. Trials are also available.
A website to help you calculate distances between your destinations. It’s also the website I used to show the maps for my itineraries shown above. This is an essential website for booking mini-RTW itineraries as you will need to calculate how many miles it takes from point A to the destination (the furthest distance) and from the destination to back to point A.
Let’s take the MPM for an Aeroplan trip that I posted above. Although I live in Toronto, I started in Vancouver because I wanted to go to Japan, South Africa, and Israel. The MPM for South Africa and what I assumed would be the furthest distance from YYZ is 13268, from YVR it’s 16362 giving me 3000 more miles to work with.
To make sure the routing would work, I would take all the airports I’m travelling through to the destination and type them into the field on Great Circle Mapper. It would look like this YVR-HND-PEK-ADD-JNB. As long as the miles shown are within 16362, it would be a valid routing. You then type in the other airports after the destination to make sure you’re within the MPM. There are other rules like making sure the layovers and stops are on the way, not going through the same city and being in a layover city for 24 hours or less. You can go through the same city before and after the destination.
Although I mostly use award.flights to find my flights and get ideas, I always use Aeroplan to confirm the availability. It can be a great search tool, but it’s not as quick if availability isn’t found. You would have to open the availability calendar and search for space one day at a time.
Building Your Aeroplan Reward Itinerary
I’ll use Toronto, Canada to Johannesburg, South Africa (YYZ-JNB) as an example as I’ve been there ten times (and have an upcoming trip). Many of the trips have been with Aeroplan points in business class seats. I’ve done my fair share of economy class revenue seats as well, which gives me an incentive to avoid it if I can.
Searching the Aeroplan Website for Award Availability
If you were to search using the Aeroplan website or the Aeroplan app for YYZ-JNB, you might see these options:
- YYZ-LHR-ADD-JNB
- YYZ-FRA-JNB
- YYZ-MUC-JNB
- YYZ-ADD-JNB
While the first 3 are great flights, I know that flights to LHR, FRA and MUC will be on Air Canada (because of my experience in knowing routes). It’s important to note that it will be a more expensive ticket because Air Canada charges high taxes and fees such as YQ (mentioned above) plus some airports charge higher taxes as well.
Looking at the 4th option, I know that it will be on Ethiopian Airlines and I also know that they don’t charge YQ.
Let’s compare costs for a one-way flight:
- YYZ-LHR-ADD-JNB is priced at $697.86
- YYZ-ADD-JNB is priced at $54.16
The difference in price is significant, by travelling on Air Canada through London Heathrow, you’ve added $643.70 to the cost. That may be okay for you if you prefer direct routing or want to experience the Air Canada business class pod. If you prefer to keep your taxes/fees lower, read on.
Searching award.flights for Award Availability
If you were to search using award.flights for YYZ-JNB, you might see what is shown above plus other options. Additionally, there will be four columns shown as F/J/W/Y, which is First/Business/Premium Economy/Economy:
- YYZ-ADD-DAR-JNB
- YYZ-ADD-NBO-JNB
- YYZ-LIS-FRA-JNB
- YYZ-IAD-JNB
This can help you to think outside the box and consider what other destinations you could fly through and perhaps stop at or do a 24-hour layover.
AMERICAN EXPRESS CANADA CARDS I USE THAT CAN EARN AEROPLAN POINTS IN CANADA
Please check current offers before applying as they may have changed while I’m sleeping or travelling 🙂 Having said that, I’ll do my best to keep the information up-to-date.
A Brief Introduction to American Express Membership Rewards and Aeroplan
Membership rewards are the points reward program by American Express. You can redeem the points for goods, gift cards, and travel. However, the key benefit is the option to transfer your membership rewards points on a 1 to 1 basis to Aeroplan. The transfer takes about 15 minutes.
1000 MR = 1000 Aeroplan points
Other Credit Cards I Use to Earn Aeroplan Miles
A BRIEF INTRO TO BRITISH AVIOS
If you have an abundance of membership rewards points and already have enough Aeroplan points for your dream trip, you could use your points to transfer to other programs such as British Avios for a 1 to 1 basis. The Avios program is distance-based, unlike the Aeroplan program, which is based on a fixed rate.
I’ve used Avios for flights within South Africa (British Airways) and Australia (Qantas). They can also be used in other regions such as Japan and Europe.
You could travel between Cape Town and Johannesburg for as little as 4000 Avios points one way on British Airways. But I digress as we’re concentrating on Aeroplan miles here.
- 1000 MR = 1000 British Avios
DONATING AEROPLAN MILES
If you don’t know what to do with your Aeroplan miles and are not interested in learning, please don’t just let them expire. Consider donating your miles to worthy causes as part of the Beyond Miles program.
As some of you may know I founded The Heart of a Woman Project, a women’s mobile photography initiative and it is one of the main reasons I return to South Africa as much as I do.
We are a verified member of the Beyond Miles Aeroplan miles donation program. You can find out what we do and how we use points by visiting the link. There are many other worthy causes too, and Aeroplan matches at 10%.
Tip: If you need to keep your Aeroplan miles account active, donating miles is one way to do so.
NEED HELP TO LEARN HOW TO EARN OR REDEEM AEROPLAN MILES?
The point of this page was not to boast about how many Aeroplan miles I’ve redeemed or where I’ve been. It’s to serve as an inspiration and more importantly, as a knowledge base to let you in on the world of travel with Aeroplan miles and what is possible. I sincerely hope this page can serve as a starting point for you.
Let’s Chat About Aeroplan Miles
I’ve been collecting Aeroplan miles for over 20 years for incredible trips around the world. In 2019, the best trip was a once-in-a-lifetime 6-continent trip that was mostly paid for with Aeroplan miles, Marriott Bonvoy points and American Express Membership Rewards points.
I know it can be a lot of information to take in, I’ve been there. I’m here to help you with where you are in the Aeroplan miles and points “game”, to break this article down and explain it further.
I am now offering a one-on-one consulting service.
- Do you have a dream trip in mind? Let me help you strategize on how to get there with Aeroplan points and affiliated points programs.
- Have the points but need personalized help on building an itinerary and booking your Aeroplan reward?
- Have some questions that you can’t find the answer to? I’ll be happy to give you some general points and miles guidance.
- Need help planning a trip? For example, I can help you plan that trip to South Africa, I’ve been 10 times in the last 7 years.
You found this page because you wanted information on travelling with Aeroplan miles / Aeroplan rewards so let me help you.
I prefer to connect with you on a one-on-one basis as everyone’s goals are different. Please don’t hesitate to send me that initial email to get the conversation started.
Why don’t you see more articles about points and miles on wanderingiphone.com?
I don’t want to be known as a points and miles blogger as I prefer this blog to be about travel & travel photography.
I’ve given you a lot of information, and with some googling and digging, you could find more. Or, we can chat. I’d be happy to connect if you have any questions. Please feel free to connect with me by email.
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