Air Canada Aeroplan is ranked highly among point enthusiasts. In fact, some may argue it to be the best frequent flyer program out there. Aeroplan has some incredible redemption sweet spots that can help you stretch the value of your miles to unimaginable degrees.
In this article, we will highlight Air Canada Aeroplan's redemption chart, sweet spot redemptions, stopovers policy, and award cancellation fees.
Air Canada's Award Chart
Air Canada prices its reward tickets based on a published chart that categorizes the world into four "zones." Based on the distance of your flight and which two zones you're flying into/out of, your award ticket will fall into a specific pricing bucket.
Based on the award chart, a partner flight business class booking through Aeroplan that flies 7,501–11,000 miles will cost only 87,500 pts. This means you could fly from New York to Singapore on Singapore Airlines business class for just 87,500 pts one way (this is a ~17 hr, ~10,000 mile flight).
These extremely valuable deals are called "sweet spots" since they identify high value opportunities to use your miles from the award chart. However, since these opportunities are so far and few between, they can be very difficult to find. This is why Roame exists—to help speed up searches and make it easier to find these elusive awards.
Example Sweet Spot Redemptions Via Aeroplan
North America <> Singapore On Singapore Airlines Business Class
This is probably one of the most famous Aeroplan award redemptions.
When flying to/from Singapore, based on Aeroplan's award chart, you are flying between the North America and Pacific zones. And for flights to/from North America, pretty much all of them fall in the 7,501–11,000 miles distance bucket, which prices the business class route at just 87,500 miles each direction for a flight that regularly run several thousands of dollars.
Europe <> Asia On Star Alliance Business Class
For those flying to/from Europe to Asia, Aeroplan also carries significant value. For partner flights flying 5,001–7,000 miles, you can score business class flights for just 80,000 pts and first class flights for just 100,000 pts.
So that means you could fly any of these routes (all about 12 hours+) starting at just 80,000 miles one way:
- Frankfurt <> Singapore on Singapore Airlines business class
- Paris <> Bangkok on Thai Airways business class
- London <> Bangkok on EVA Air business class
- London <> Haneda on ANA business class
- Frankfurt <> Seoul on Lufthansa business class
North America <> Africa On Star Alliance Business Class
Air Canada considers Africa as a part of the "Atlantic" zone, which means you can score some interesting redemptions when taking advantage of the award chart. As Aeroplan notes, points required for partner airline flight rewards are based on the actual distance flown between origin and destination. So that means a layover factors in the cumulative distance of each leg when determining the award pricing.
So, for instance, you could fly on Ethiopian Airline's business class nonstop route to/from ORD <> ADD (~7,500 miles) for just 90,000 Aeroplan miles one-way.
You could also start thinking about routes with layovers. For instance, you could fly to Europe first with a layover and then to Africa, all for just 90,000 miles one way as well (as long as it's less than a total of 8,000 miles).
Intra North America Economy Flights
Since Air Canada is a distance based award system, there are several high value award opportunities to use your points. For example, when flying to Hawaii, you can book partner awards for just 12,500 points one way. Notably, there's a good chance that this pricing is actually better than booking with United Airlines directly.
Aeroplan prices intra North America flights starting at just 6,000 pts one way. In certain situations, it may make sense to just book your flights through Air Canada.
Southeast Asia <> Oceania Business Class
Conveniently, Australia and New Zealand are considered a part of the Pacific zone when it comes to Aeroplan. What makes this rather exciting is that you can book business class flights to/from Asia/Oceania starting at just 40,000 pts one way (for flights 2,001–5,000 miles in distance). Given how difficult it can be to find reasonable award flights to Oceania from North America, repositioning in Asia could prove a fantastic way to get significant value out of your points.
Air Canada Stopovers
One of the most incredible things about Air Canada's frequent flyer program is the ability to add stopovers for just 5,000 miles each. Stopovers can be for up to 45 days and can be pretty easily ticketed online.
To book an Aeroplan flight with a stopover, you'll need to select the Multi-city/Stopover flight option before completing the search. Then, in the search criteria, you simply enter the individual flights you want to take. The best way to verify award availability here is to search each individual leg individually and then combine them onto one multi-stop reservation using this tool.
Air Canada Award Cancellation Policies
As you may notice, Air Canada really like its established charts. They have a nice table outlining award cancellation fees:
Air Canada's award cancellation fees aren't horrendous by any means, but can be steeper in some scenarios. However, if you pay more points for the flexible rate, you'll be able to easily cancel and reinstate your points with few issues.
Conclusion
Air Canada Aeroplan is one of the best frequent flyer programs around, with incredible opportunities to redeem your points for high value. On top of that, they have an awesome stopover policy where you can add them for just 5,000 miles each, with reasonable award redeposit fees. Aeroplan has good reason to sit ontop of point enthusiast's rankings and is always worth considering when redeeming your points.
