{"id":244711,"date":"2022-12-19T16:53:13","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T21:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesopedia.com\/?p=244711"},"modified":"2025-02-13T09:54:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T14:54:03","slug":"booked-a-romantic-trip-to-the-emirates-maldives-using-reward-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesopedia.com\/en\/guide\/destination\/booked-a-romantic-trip-to-the-emirates-maldives-using-reward-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Booked: A romantic trip to the Emirates & Maldives using reward points"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ten years ago, I took my wife on our honeymoon to Thailand, New Zealand, French Polynesia, and Hawaii. It was her first experience of luxurious business-class flights booked mostly with points<\/strong>. The star attraction of the trip, by leaps and bounds, was our overwater bungalow in Bora Bora. Now to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, we will be heading to the Maldives in the new year for another tropical adventure with a stop in the Emirates on the way!<\/p>\n

While our honeymoon was a three-week trip, this one will be only 10 days. That is short for such a long distance to travel, however this time we have kids at home who are used to travelling with us now. This will be a rare experience to travel just the two of us. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Here is a description of the methods I used to earn the points<\/strong> for, and plan, our extensive flight and hotel bookings for the trip.<\/p>\n

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Our trip will start in Montreal and take us as far as the Maldives in five flight segments which will cover 17,648 miles.<\/p>\n

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Our first flight is a positioning one with Air Canada taking us to Toronto in business class on an A220<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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We will have a 5-hour wait in Toronto. I booked this long delay on purpose, despite many flight options between Montreal and Toronto. Since we’ll be travelling in January, bad weather is a risk so I wanted to minimize the chance of missing our next flight to Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

Our first longhaul segment will be in Etihad’s business studio<\/a> on board a Boeing 777-300 from Toronto to Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

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The cash fare for these two segments would have totaled $13,280. Since Etihad is a partner of Aeroplan<\/a>, I was able to book them for 180,000 Aeroplan points<\/strong> and $225 CAD in fees. Abu Dhabi is 6,634 miles from Montreal, so it falls in the North America-Atlantic Zone 6,001-8,000 mile band for 90,000 points per person with a partner airline. The points required per mile band can all be seen on Aeroplan’s flight reward chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following a short stay in the Emirates, we again will travel in Etihad’s business studio, this time on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner<\/a> on an overnight flight from Abu Dhabi to Mal\u00e9. This flight would have cost $8,600 CAD, however I booked it for 50,000 Aeroplan points<\/strong> and $160 in fees. The distance is 1,876 miles, so falls within the Atlantic Zone 1,001-2000 mile band for 25,000 points per person.<\/p>\n

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Once our stay in the Maldives is complete we will return home with Qatar Airways with a one-night stopover in Doha. Our first segment is Mal\u00e9 to Doha in economy class on an Airbus A320. This was due to a lack of availability of business class seats. However I will try to upgrade to business with a last-minute cash upgrade if one is available, and will check online to see if anything better opens up at the last minute using points. This can happen sometimes with Avios rewards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After our Doha stopover, will will embark on a morning flight aboard a Boeing 777-300 from Doha to Montreal to sample the airline’s famous Qsuites<\/a>! These are highly sought after flights in the points&miles world with closed door seating in business class, dine-on-demand, and overall best service in a business class product in the sky.<\/p>\n

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The retail value of these Qatar flights is $14,000 CAD. I booked them using 211,000 Executive Club Avios <\/strong>and $1,000 in fees. Since Avios use distance-based pricing, it’s always the best deal to book as direct flights as possible.<\/p>\n

I will also add that the taxes and fees for the flights were paid for using my National Bank World Elite Mastercard<\/a>. This is an excellent card to use since its travel insurance is valid on award bookings as long as the taxes and fees are charged to it.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Earning points for flight rewards” google_fonts=”” el_id=”earning_points_for_flight_rewards”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

This trip utilizes both Aeroplan points<\/a>\u00a0 and British Airways Executive Club Avios<\/a>. Both of these are relatively easy to earn in Canada.<\/p>\n

For Aeroplan, other than flying with Air Canada or its Star Alliance partners, the best way to earn points is by:<\/p>\n