Advertisers are not responsible for the content of this site, including any editorials or reviews that may appear on this site. For complete and current information about any information on any advertiser product, please visit their website. We receive compensation from some financial institutions listed on this site. Although we are compensated for each approved financial product through our website’s affiliate links, our research and content are based on an objective analysis. †Terms and conditions apply.
This guide will show you how to find the best Aeroplan deals for flights using your points and how to overcome common program challenges, such as limited flight availability or high redemption rates.
First of all, you need to understand the basic principle of the Aeroplan program, where the price of a ticket on an Air Canada flight is dynamic and remains available until the flight is full. On the other hand, on partner carriers, costs are fixed (with a few exceptions), but reward seats may not always be available.
Air Canada
Partners
For example, to get to Tokyo from Montreal, the most obvious option is the direct route, but this isn’t always the most affordable choice in terms of points. A one-way business class ticket with a partner costs 75,000 points, but can go up to 175,000 points with Air Canada depending on dynamic pricing!
Without further ado, here’s how to get to those partner search results and get the best Aeroplan deals for a flight in points!
First of all, to find the best Aeroplan deals, you need to determine whether it’s possible to fly to your destination with a partner. To do this, you can use Flight Connections or Google Flights.
Personally, I prefer Flight Connections in order to better visualize the connections.
However, Google Flights is still very simple and easy to use.
For example, if you want to go to Japan from Montreal, the two screenshots above show that there is a flight between Chicago and Tokyo with a partner.
The Wikipedia site is not always updated, but when you search for an airport page, all the routes and airlines are listed. You can then quickly go and find the Aeroplan partner routes that serve this airport.
Without a doubt, before you can even think about finding the best Aeroplan deals on a flight… it has to be available! Roame is your best bet for this; you can search for fares over a span of several days set an alert if nothing interesting comes up. To find Aeroplan reward seat availability, it’s best to stay flexible with your travel dates.
Let’s repeat the procedure to find availability for the return trip. It’s essential to find available reward seats; otherwise, only Air Canada’s dynamic-priced flights will appear. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as dynamic pricing can actually work both ways.
Roame can send you automatic alerts when a seat that meets your criteria becomes available!
The number of seats you can book with points is very limited, and you need to book well in advance to get the best Aeroplan deals. It should also be noted that not all companies are listed on Roame.
Finally, you need to search for this flight on the Air Canada platform to recreate the desired itinerary from your preferred airport. In fact, you can simply enter Montreal as the departure city and Tokyo as the arrival city, even if the partner flight is from another city.
The system will show you the possible routes and rates and bingo!
The first leg between Montreal and Chicago is with Air Canada. Therefore, the cost is partially dynamic. However, since this is a smaller proportion of the trip, it doesn’t affect the final price too much.
This one-way flight in business class costs approximately 75,000 points, which is consistent with the fare structure between North America and the Pacific. This is how you can find the best Aeroplan deals available, making it a true sweetspot. However, the economy class flight is available for less than 45,000 points, even though the award chart lists it at 50,000 points! The combination of the fixed partner flight between ORD-NRT and the dynamic Air Canada flight between YUL-ORD generated this award.
Targeting partner airline flights is a really smart strategy, as it makes planning your points accumulation much easier. For example, if you know that the flight you want costs 50,000 points or 75,000 points, you could simply get a single card like the American Express Platinum Card® and earn all the points you need for your trip! The Membership Rewards points from this card transfer easily to the Aeroplan program.
To put things in perspective, the welcome bonus from the American Express Platinum Card® covers the cost of a round-trip flight in economy class or a one-way flight in business or first class. This more than offsets the $399 annual fee for the first year ($799 minus the American Express Annual Travel Credit and the Annual Dining Credit).
Instead of worrying about paying a $399 annual fee for a credit card, why not instead look forward to getting a ticket to Japan for $600 ($399 + $198 tax). The annual fee is the very small cost you have to pay to get those points. At the time of writing, Google Flights shows the same flight selling for over $2,000; which is expensive, and $600 will be tough to beat even compared to other cheap flight options!
This is just one example among many. American Express has launched exceptional offers this summer that could help you reach your travel goals!
Once you have mastered the process of finding better prices with partner flights, you can tackle more complex routes.
Maximizing the value of your points starts with finding the best Aeroplan deals on airlines other than Air Canada, but we usually want to push as hard as we can to get the most value for our points.
For example, if someone is planning to visit Turkey, the Maldives and Southeast Asia, how do you go about getting the best Aeroplan deals for this itinerary?
You should approach this with the goal of flying exclusively with Aeroplan partner airlines and making use of Aeroplan stopovers, but the first step is to map out your routes and the sequence of your itinerary.
In our example, there are three destinations in all, so we need to find a flight:
In fact, no! I know that these destinations are the goal, but we don’t have to go in the order we think is “logical” or “linear”. To get the best Aeroplan deals, you should think of your trip as:
So, we need to think about how to fit our goals into this framework:
In addition, you need to book two one-way flights to take advantage of two Aeroplan stopovers at 5,000 points each. The benefit is that you can depart from a different airport, not just Singapore!
In this situation, you have no time limit in Southeast Asia and can travel the entire continent and return from any other city like Bali to enjoy the many free nights obtained with the Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card, for example.
You can book an Aeroplan itinerary with a stopover online.
We then repeat the same steps as in the previous section with the Flight Connections tool to target all the possible routes, but we do it differently since we dissect the flight segments.
So you’ll need to find all the possible partner connections between Montreal and Istanbul, and so on.
Now that you understand the importance of planning your routes and their sequence, there is an advanced technique you should know: leveraging zone arbitrage based on the Aeroplan award chart.
Aeroplan has divided the world into several geographical areas (North America, Atlantic, Pacific, etc.).
As you can see in the Aeroplan award chart for travel between North America and the Atlantic or Pacific zones, the number of points required will vary depending on the distance travelled.
For example, it could be cheaper to add a destination in the Pacific zone to make your trip to the Atlantic zone less expensive!
The best-known example is the Maldives, which we began to explain above.
In fact, the cost of a Montreal-Istanbul-Male route would be:
By adding a destination in the Pacific zone to your trip, you can reduce this cost. For a Montreal-Istanbul-Malé-Singapore trip (including a stopover in Malé at a cost of 5,000 points), the cost would be:
This would save you between 5,000 and 17,500 Aeroplan points, while adding a destination to your itinerary!
This type of arbitration is an Aeroplan sweetspot that you can find for destinations on the border of different geographical areas.
Keeping our example in mind, you have now determined that Montreal-Istanbul can be done at partner fares on the wings of:
While it’s more convenient to fly direct from Montreal to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, that doesn’t mean there’ll be award availability.
On the other hand, you have several other choices, but these involve additional stopovers; on the bright side, Aeroplan lets you add layovers (up to 24 hours) free of charge!
So you can even visit a few bonus cities to your world tour, and get the best Aeroplan deals for the trip!
You must repeat this with all segments to determine each of the airports in your path and all the flights available for your project.
Once you’ve found all your flights and made sure they’re all available, you’ll need to log in to your Aeroplan account to proceed with booking on the Air Canada website; the Aeroplan stopover function is available online. If you find the segments available separately, but you can’t find them online together, you’ll have to call.
A good tip is to calculate the exact price of your itinerary using Great Circle Map and the Aeroplan award charts before calling to book. This way, you’ll know whether the person on the phone is giving you the best Aeroplan deals or not. Unfortunately, not all agents are accustomed to making this type of reservation.
When you are booking exclusively with partner airlines, it is easy to determine the final cost based on the distance flown, the zones crossed, and the Aeroplan stopover for 5,000 points. When your itinerary includes a segment with Air Canada, the pricing will be dynamic and vary depending on the proportion of Air Canada flights within your trip.
Some routes are only served by Air Canada. So you have no choice but to navigate with dynamic pricing.
In these cases, you’ll get the best Aeroplan deals either by getting lucky or if you plan ahead, especially if you’re coveting a busy period because you have school constraints like the holidays or spring break.
Each class of service has several fares, so when all the tickets in one price band are sold, you move on to the next more expensive band, and so on.
In fact, the “Flex” or “Latitude” Economy fare can be 4 times the price of the “Basic” Economy fare when you are sitting in similar seats side by side on the plane. That’s why prices vary so widely.
Since points pricing is, to a large extent, correlated to the cash fare, you can use Google Flights to get an overview of the days when it’s cheaper to travel. Don’t forget to apply your filters so that they are reflected in the calendar.
The best Aeroplan deals don’t always follow the cash price, but it can give you an idea even if this comparison doesn’t work every time. However, sometimes it does. A low cash fare can often signal a low points redemption rate.
Then, it’s a good idea to be a program credit card holder to get the best Aeroplan deals. Cardholders of products like the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card enjoy preferred pricing on Aeroplan flight rewards. If you combine this with Aeroplan Elite Status, you can save even more!
Finally, considering the current welcome bonus on this card, you’ll earn enough points for a short getaway.
Plus, TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Cardholders can check one free bag on all Air Canada flights!
If you just want to see the best Aeroplan deals for all destinations, Air Canada offers an interactive search map!
To use this tool to find flights, you just have to enter your departure city without specifying a date and the map will generate the best Aeroplan deals it can find on short notice.
If you are not flexible on the dates, you can always enter them and you will see the best Aeroplan deals for your dates.
Once you have decided on a destination, a date, and a price, you can simply click on “book now”.
One of the undeniable advantages of owning a Visa or American Express Aeroplan credit card is the travel privileges it offers. In fact, these cards give cardholders the opportunity to benefit from preferential fares and better prices when booking flights with Aeroplan. What’s more, these co-branded credit cards are often on promotion with generous bonuses.
This collaboration between major credit card companies and Aeroplan’s loyalty program enables travellers to maximize their savings while enjoying quality services.
So when you choose a Visa or American Express Aeroplan credit card, not only do you enjoy all the classic benefits of a credit card, but you also gain access to a world of exclusive travel privileges.
After putting so much effort into earning points with various strategies, it’s only natural to want to find the best Aeroplan deals for your trip.
It’s not impossible to find partner flights, but it’s definitely easier to collect points when you have a fixed cost in mind for use.
And when flying with Air Canada, it’s always a good idea to have an Aeroplan credit card in your wallet to access the best Aeroplan deals!
The value of an Aeroplan point can vary according to several factors, including destination, class of travel and flight availability. As a general rule, an Aeroplan point is valued at approximately 2 cents per point. However, this value may fluctuate depending on your use.
To make the most of your Aeroplan points, planning ahead is essential to access the best available options. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of your points: be flexible with your travel dates to take advantage of the most advantageous fares in terms of points, and use the flexible flight search tools to find the best options in terms of the number of points required, and explore airline partners to broaden your travel possibilities and find more advantageous itineraries in terms of points.
Aeroplan points can be used to travel to many destinations around the world, thanks to airline partnerships and alliances. You can fly to domestic destinations in Canada and the U.S., or even internationally to destinations in Europe, Asia, South America and elsewhere. The possibilities are vast, and depend on the availability of flights with Aeroplan’s airline partners. We recommend that you consult the Aeroplan website or contact Customer Service for specific information on destinations accessible with your points.
The number of Aeroplan points required for a flight depends on several factors, including destination, class of travel, seasonality and flight availability. Short-haul flights may require as few as a few thousand points, while long-haul or business-class flights may require tens of thousands of points. We recommend consulting Aeroplan’s rewards chart or using the online booking tool to obtain an accurate estimate of the number of points required for your specific flight.
Savings are here (if you don’t see the sign-up form, please click here):
You can change your preferences or opt out at any time by clicking on one of the hyperlinks available at the bottom of each newsletter.
If you are already a subscriber and would like to unsubscribe, you can click on the link at the bottom of any of our e-mails.
