Ok, SO I'm looking for a 4 day trip to Europe , Yul - AMS June 28th. I want to use aeroplan points. I looked on Aeroplan and the taxes are around 650.00.
I then Created a united account , selected the same itinerary for reward travel and the taxes were around 150.00. I don't have any united miles or status with them.
I'm located in Canada. I have 800k Amex membership rewards points , but they don't partner with united.
My question to the experts is , how can I book the united itinerary? DO I need to transfer points somehow into a united account?
The simplest solution is to use AE points but fly on UA or other airlines that don't have scamcharges. There's lots of information on other threads as to which those airlines are. I don't know where else you can transfer your AX points to, but you could also look at other alliances.
Programs: SPG, Marco Polo Gold, Aeroplan, Hilton Honors, Marriotts, Priority Pass
Posts: 82
You can use your aeroplan points and choose United flights. You will not get a direct flight and will transit in the US, but you will definitely save on the surcharges.
Here's the quick and dirty that will hopefully save you the grief of searching through a lifetime's worth of posts before you boil it down: Aeroplan.com will (that is, should) show you routings where *A carriers fly, including UA. Use Google/ITA Matrix, ANA or UA.com to find the specific route and flights you want, then check on the AP website. If they don't show up there, you can try calling AP direct. However, if the flights are available, you'll get dinged $30 for the pleasure of booking something with an agent that arguably, should have been on their website in the first place.
Your goal is to fly routes with non-AC metal. This may mean you will have to fly out of US city to start your journey.
With MR you can transfer to AE, AZ, BA, CX and DL along with a bunch of hotel point programs.
You can try exchanging to UA MP on points.com but there is a risk the exchange value doesn't make sense. I don't know what the current rate is.
Otherwise, use your MR to simply purchase a fare and earn status miles, to boot. Certain cards (non-corporate IIRC) can use the trip-flex rewards which give you a $0.01/point credit. E.g. a $1,200 flight would cost 120,000 MR points that are converted to a statement credit. Admittedly, not the best value, but may compare favorably to using AE, flying on AC in Y and paying big surcharges. And much less availability (or lack thereof) issues.
Oh yeah, here is my latest list of non-fuel surcharge (YQ) airlines when booking on AE. I believe it's pretty up to date and would welcome any changes to it. In any case, it'll be really easy to see if YQ is being added when you price out the itin!
Thanks for all the info. I go to Brussels often, thus, it's a direct flight on AC from Yul. I understand the why we would wnat to go through usa on United metal , this saves the scamcharges.
But If I had united points , I could book on united.com , on the AC metal , no scam charges , and direct flight.
Arghh, wish I could transfer somehow some points to united.
I can tolerate, perhaps, the scam charges when travelling alone , but, when 4 of us are travelling , $$ makes no sense at all
For the AMS routing , going thru Usa is not bad since ac doesn't fly direct anyway.
I got lucky and when Continental was a MR partner, I transferred a bunch of miles to them. Then, when UA and Continental merged, I moved my miles over UA. I'm SO thankful I did that, but once they're gone, they're gone...unless I decide to start flying UA as a REAL pax.
With MR you can transfer to AE, AZ, BA, CX and DL along with a bunch of hotel point programs.
You can try exchanging to UA MP on points.com but there is a risk the exchange value doesn't make sense. I don't know what the current rate is.
Otherwise, use your MR to simply purchase a fare and earn status miles, to boot. Certain cards (non-corporate IIRC) can use the trip-flex rewards which give you a $0.01/point credit. E.g. a $1,200 flight would cost 120,000 MR points that are converted to a statement credit. Admittedly, not the best value, but may compare favorably to using AE, flying on AC in Y and paying big surcharges. And much less availability (or lack thereof) issues.
AP to UA is around 0.3. Ewww.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteYUL
Oh yeah, here is my latest list of non-fuel surcharge (YQ) airlines when booking on AE. I believe it's pretty up to date and would welcome any changes to it. In any case, it'll be really easy to see if YQ is being added when you price out the itin!
Arghh, wish I could transfer somehow some points to united.
There might be a way. Do you need hotels? Transfer points from AMEX to SPG at 1000 for 500 points and then redeem Nights and Flights rewards on SPG. For 70,000 points you get 5 nights at a category 4 hotel and 50,000 United miles. FOr 60,000 points you get 5 nights at a category 3 hotel and 50,000 United miles. Only downside is that it will take a little time to get the miles into your account and I think all the SPG hotels in Amsterdam are category 5, but you could always use them somewhere else. Just have to have the need for 5 night stays at category 3 and 4 hotels! No need to be part of the same trip.
How did you arrive at 50,000 United Miles from 70,000 SPG points??
More importantly perhaps is that's a huge loss of value from the original MR points, IMHO. If you're going to transfer from MR to SPG for choice of airlines, perhaps consider someone with a 1:1 ratio.
Quote:
Originally Posted by allbrosca
For 70,000 points you get 5 nights at a category 4 hotel and 50,000 United miles
Hi, Thanks for the ideas. I have 248k SPG points , so I wouldn't need to touch the Amex points , correct?
I'll do some more digging on the Spg site and look for the transfers.
Sounds like it could be a solution , but would need to be of good value.
