My first Aeroplan mini round-the-world trip is booked!
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I must say that I have always looked with interest at this “hidden” benefit of the Aeroplan loyalty program. I have also helped several friends or coworkers book their “mini” round-the-world trip—known as a “mini-RTW” within the community. Matthieu has done several of these, including one recently that he described in detail. But I hadn’t taken advantage of it myself yet.
The Aeroplan mini round-the-world trip: what is it?
To sum up Aeroplan’s mini round-the-world trip in one sentence: you have the option to travel to a faraway destination and stop both on the outbound and on the return in other destinations for the same mileage cost as a standard round trip.
So you can go to Asia across the Atlantic – and stop in Europe – and then come back across the Pacific, also stopping along the way.
Many rules govern this mini-tour of the world:
- 2 stops (i.e., 1 stop on the outbound, 1 stop on the return, or 2 stops on the outbound or return route) (as many days as you want) — aka stopover
- If an open path is used, you lose 1 stop – in theory – aka open jaw
- Layovers (less than 24 hours) are allowed both on the outbound and on the return — aka layover
- You cannot pass through the same airport again within the outbound itinerary OR the return itinerary
- You should not exceed the Maximum Permitted Mileage, which we explain in our Aeroplan stopover guide – aka MPM
In short, there are many rules to know before planning your mini-tour of the world.
Add to that our own:
- Avoid companies that charge carrier surcharges – aka YQ
- Use flightconnections.com to find the flight segments from point A to point B
- Use the Award.flights tool to easily locate availability (days, travel classes, airlines, type of plane…)
- Fill in the missing segments to other destinations with other loyalty programs (British Airways Executive Club, Flying Blue, Alaska MileAge Plan…)
- Be patient
My requirements for our Aeroplan mini round-the-world trip
We wanted to make 3 trips in one:
- Visiting family in Europe
- Discover an Asian country
- Visiting friends in San Francisco
The difficulties:
- The travel period is one of the busiest
- I had to find 3 award tickets per flight for 4 people (2 adults, 1 child over 2, 1 baby)
- I wanted to keep the cost of airport taxes and carrier surcharges below $500 per person (which is quite a feat when you’re transiting 8 different countries…)
One more was added along the way:
- Air China, which has just returned to Aeroplan, does not apply Aeroplan’s very generous rule for infants traveling on their parents’ lap ($50 in economy class, $100 in business class)! This company wants a full fare ticket to be purchased. So it was impossible to travel on this one despite the abundance of award tickets on Aeroplan.
My booking experience for this Aeroplan mini round-the-world trip
I would say that it took me almost ten hours to put this route together. A lot of back and forth between Flightconnections and Award.flights.
And I spent about 1 hour on the phone with Aeroplan to finally book the final itinerary, as follows:
| Airline | Departure | Arrival | Flight duration | Stay | AP |
 | Montreal | Zurich | 7h20 | ||
| Zurich | Nice | 1h10 | 7 days | Stop |
 | Nice | Istanbul | 2h55 | ||
| Istanbul | Taipei | 10h40 | 21 days | Open Jaw |
 | Ho-Chi-Minh | Seoul | 5h20 | ||
| Seoul | San Francisco | 9h20 | 4 days | Stop |
 | San Francisco | Montreal | 5h24 |
Since this is a trip with Taipei as the destination, it is Asia 2 in the aeroplan award scale: 90,000 Aeroplan points in economy class or 155,000 Aeroplan points in business class.
Taxes and other surcharges come to $511.55.
The Aeroplan mini round-the-world trip: a great deal
90,000 miles in economy class and 155,000 miles in business class to take 4 trips in one… it is a real bargain, and one we hope Air Canada keeps in its loyalty program.
We will indeed:
- Visit our family in France
- Spend 3 days in Taipei
- Visit Vietnam for more than 15 days
- Visit our friends in San Francisco for 4 days
A simple round trip to France would have cost us 60,000 miles in economy and 110,000 miles in business.
Going only to Vietnam or to Taipei would have cost the same price, namely 90,000 miles in economy and 155,000 miles in business.
As for a weekend only in San Francisco, it would have cost us 25,000 Aeroplan points in economy and 50,000 miles in business…!
In short, being able to book this type of trip on a budget of only $500 per person is exceptional!
Over the next few weeks, I will be doing detailed articles on how to do this step by step. In the meantime, feel free to ask your questions in the Facebook group!
How to get Aeroplan points to finance this mini-tour of the world
No secrets. Unless you earn a lot of Aeroplan points through your job, credit cards—and especially their welcome bonuses—will be your main source of Aeroplan points!
Here are the best current offers:
- Annual fee
- $799
- Our valuationMilesopedia first-year estimate First-year valueWelcome bonus$1,360Total$1,360Plus $680 of bonus paid after the first year, not counted in this total.Rewards on your spending are not included. The calculator that adds them from your own profile is on the card's page.
- $1,360
- Welcome offerAfter $15,000 in 3 months
- Up to 120,000 points
Apply Now
on American Express's website
Apply with confidenceCheck whether your application will be approved before you submit it, with no impact on your credit score*When you apply for a personal American Express Credit Card, we will tell you whether you are eligible without affecting your credit score. So you can apply with confidence.*Instant decisions are only available for consumer Card applications (also called “personal Cards”).
- Annual fee
- $199
- Our valuationMilesopedia first-year estimate First-year valueWelcome bonus$1,190Total$1,190Rewards on your spending are not included. The calculator that adds them from your own profile is on the card's page.
- $1,190
- Welcome offerAfter $30,000 in 12 months
- Up to 70,000 points
Apply Now
on American Express's website
Apply with confidenceCheck whether your application will be approved before you submit it, with no impact on your credit score*When you apply for a personal American Express Credit Card, we will tell you whether you are eligible without affecting your credit score. So you can apply with confidence.*Instant decisions are only available for consumer Card applications (also called “personal Cards”).
- Annual fee
- $799
- Our valuationMilesopedia first-year estimate First-year valueWelcome bonus$1,190Total$1,190Plus $510 of bonus paid after the first year, not counted in this total.Rewards on your spending are not included. The calculator that adds them from your own profile is on the card's page.
- $1,190
- Welcome offerAfter $10,000 in 3 months
- Up to 100,000 points
Apply Now
on American Express's website
Apply with confidenceCheck whether your application will be approved before you submit it, with no impact on your credit score*When you apply for a personal American Express Credit Card, we will tell you whether you are eligible without affecting your credit score. So you can apply with confidence.*Instant decisions are only available for consumer Card applications (also called “personal Cards”).
- Annual fee
- $250
- Our valuationMilesopedia first-year estimate First-year valueWelcome bonus$1,020Total$1,020Rewards on your spending are not included. The calculator that adds them from your own profile is on the card's page.
- $1,020
- Welcome offerAfter $12,000 in 12 months
- Up to 60,000 points
Apply Now
on American Express's website
Apply with confidenceCheck whether your application will be approved before you submit it, with no impact on your credit score*When you apply for a personal American Express Credit Card, we will tell you whether you are eligible without affecting your credit score. So you can apply with confidence.*Instant decisions are only available for consumer Card applications (also called “personal Cards”).
- Annual fee
- $120
- Our valuationMilesopedia first-year estimate First-year valueWelcome bonus$600Total$600Plus $100 of bonus paid after the first year, not counted in this total.Rewards on your spending are not included. The calculator that adds them from your own profile is on the card's page.
- $600
- Welcome offerAfter $3,000 in 3 months
- Up to 70,000 points
Apply Now
on American Express's website
Apply with confidenceCheck whether your application will be approved before you submit it, with no impact on your credit score*When you apply for a personal American Express Credit Card, we will tell you whether you are eligible without affecting your credit score. So you can apply with confidence.*Instant decisions are only available for consumer Card applications (also called “personal Cards”).
