Aeroplan: How to Find the Best Deals

The Basics for Finding the Best Aeroplan Deals on Flights

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

• easy to find availability (until the last minute)
• sometimes an exorbitant price

Partners

• availability is sometimes impossible to find (especially in groups)
• fixed cost

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 85,000 points under the Aeroplan chart in effect since June 1, 2026, 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!

Best Aeroplan Deals: Booking Flights with Partner Airlines

1. Find Partner Airline Routes

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.

2. Find Availability

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!

3. Finding a Flight with Aeroplan

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!

This one-way flight in business class cost approximately 75,000 points when the screenshot was taken, which was consistent with the chart then in effect between North America and the Pacific. Since June 1, 2026, the official chart sets this partner itinerary of about 7,000 miles at 85,000 points in business class. 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 85,000 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 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 the equivalent of that $399, plus the taxes and fees charged at booking. The annual fee is the very small cost you have to pay to get those points. To measure the savings, compare the cash price that Google Flights shows for the same flight, and check other cheap flight options!

This is just one example among many. Keep an eye on the American Express welcome offers, which change regularly and could help you reach your travel goals!

Best Aeroplan Deals: Complex Itineraries and World Tours

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?

1. Plan Your Routes and Their Sequence

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:

• between Montreal and Istanbul (Turkey)
• between Turkey and Malé (Maldives)
• between the Maldives and South East Asia
• between Southeast Asia and Montreal

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:

• Flight # 1: Home – Aeroplan Stopover – Destination
• Flight # 2: Destination – Aeroplan Stopover – Home

So, we need to think about how to fit our goals into this framework:

• Flight # 1: Montreal – Istanbul (stopover) – Singapore (destination)
• Flight # 2: Singapore – Malé (stopover) – Montreal

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.

Advanced Strategy: Zone Arbitrage to Maximize the Value of Your Aeroplan Points

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, under the Aeroplan chart in effect since June 1, 2026, the cost of a Montreal-Istanbul-Malé route (about 8,550 miles) would be:

• 75,000 points in economy class
• 110,000 points in business class

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:

• 70,000 points in economy class (including the stopover)
• 107,500 points in business class (including the stopover)

This would save you between 2,500 and 5,000 Aeroplan points, while adding a destination to your itinerary! The screenshots in this section and the charts shown above predate the June 1, 2026 chart update: rely on the amounts in the text.

This type of arbitration is an Aeroplan sweetspot that you can find for destinations on the border of different geographical areas.

2. Find Availability

Keeping our example in mind, you have now determined that Montreal-Istanbul can be done at partner fares on the wings of:

• Turkish Airlines (direct flight)
• Swiss Airlines (stopover in Zurich)
• Austrian Airlines (stopover in Vienna)
• Lufthansa (stopover in Munich or Frankfurt)
• etc.

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.

3. Book with Aeroplan

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.

Best Aeroplan Deals: Redeeming Points for Air Canada Flights

1. Timing Your Booking Right

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.

2. Find the Lowest Cash Fares

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!

3. Use the Interactive Map

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”.

4. Benefit from a Visa or American Express Aeroplan Card Promotion

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.

Bottom Line

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!

Aeroplan – Frequently Asked Questions