BCN/Barcelona or CDG/Paris - which would be turnaround point (origin: North America)

Quick question for anyone that might know - am planning a big reward trip for the coming year and was hoping to do:

SAN(origin) - CDG(stopover) - BCN(turnaroundpoint) - YYZ(stopover) - SAN.

Anyone know if this is valid? - or do I need to make CDG my point of turnaround? I did call Aeroplan who thought that BCN would be a valid point of turnaround, but I detected some hesitation in her voice and online maps are indicating to me that CDG is located just a fraction of a degree slightly east of BCN. Hoping someone here might know - would save me a ton of preplanning headaches if I knew ahead of time that my flight was invalid...

Thanks!

Point of turnaround isn't determined by geographic location, but by distance: which point is farthest from your point of origin. In this case it's BCN.

SAN-CDG is 5698 mi
SAN-BCN is 6042 mi

You also are not able to define your own POT.

Oh, I see, thanks for the clarification! I'm not quite sure what you mean by not being able to define my own POT?

Meaning you can't randomly choose a POT.

Shot in the dark here, but I think the OPs confusion might be

POT = Point of Turnaround.

In the grand scheme of things, does it matter which is the Point of Turnaround in this itinerary ?

If it is a choice between a stopover in CDG on the way to BCN, or a stopover in BCN on the way to CDG, just book whatever AP will allow. The net result is the same.

And if they won't let you do either for some reason just book it as an open jaw and take the train or an LCC between Paris and Barcelona.

A few (semi-related points):

- BCN-YYZ direct is an all-economy seasonal flight with no IFE or refurbished interior
- MAD-YYZ is also seasonal but it is a standard 763 with IFE and pods in J
- There is no direct flight on *A from Paris to Barcelona - you need to connect through Germany, Zurich, Milan etc...
- Rail Europe sells train tickets between BCN-CDG. There's an expensive overnight direct sleeper, or a cheap ($120 one-way) TGV-local combo that takes about 7 hours
- For YYZ to BCN/CDG, BCN is the POT. Assume SAN is the same

Ah, thanks - sorry I was a bit confused because I had assumed that POT could not be chosen (hence the question as to which routing was valid) so I wasn't sure if I was missing some other point...

Thanks for the notes. Yeah, I just realized the lake of J-pods on the BCN-YYZ flight; not good... thanks for the tip on the TGV/train option. I think we will either consider that, or the $59+tax nonstop flights that AirFrance has...

Actually, for us it 'does' matter whether BCN or CDG is the point of turnaround, because we need to visit CDG first for an event that particular first weekend of our trip before hitting BCN and then YYZ on the way back. Our schedule of planned events we are trying to attend won't work if we have to visit CDG before BCN.

also the Y seats have no IEF and they are NASTY old seats These planes are needed for HNL, and now AC has to use them in the summer for somewhere.

What I was attempting to say ( any perhaps didn't do a very good job of it ) is that it doesn't matter which city is the point of turnaround, or what order you need to visit them in, it can still be done with one award.

For instance, if BCN is the point of turnaround and you need to be in CDG first, your trip looks something like this; SAN - CDG (stopover) - BCN (destination) - YYZ (stopover) - SAN.

If CDG is the point of turnaround and you need to be in CDG first then it looks like this; SAN - CDG (destination) - BCN (stopover) - YYZ (stopover) - SAN.

Etc., etc., etc. Both stopovers can be on the same side of the destination (aka point of turnaround).

So the real questions are; award availability, and what flights get you the best seats.

Oh wow, I didn't realize I could have both stopovers on the same side of the point of turnaround! That's where my confusion was - I thought that i was limited to one stopover on the way to the POT, and one stopover on the way back from the POT. So I understand you now - it really doesn't matter I guess which one is the POT - thanks for enlightening me!