24left

^^^^

And it's $5,174 to SIN with a seamless cnx at HKG.


As for the OP's original question, I would also add what are your objectives with Aeroplan membership?

CrownRoyalForever

Do you mean Altitude or Aeroplan? Big difference.

For US based folks, Amex MR are quite easy to get and Aeroplan is one of their better transfer partners. For me, I quite like the option of transferring to Aeroplan, ANA, or KrisFlyer depending on which *A redemption is cheapest for that itinerary.

The 2 stopovers are nice, but one of the killer apps for Aeroplan is the $100 lap infant fee in J. It's a clear industry outlier.

Cheers

CanadaDH

I often book my tickets at the 355 day window. Aeroplan is among the earliest in Star to open their booking window. Along with AC, I often see reward seats on other carriers like TK who release seats a long time in advance, and they can be scooped up in days. If I was redeeming from a program that opened booking later, I might miss out. That's a benefit no matter where you live.

24left

I used the word Aeroplan as OP mentioned it more than once. Perhaps he meant AC Altitude?

KenHamer

Aeroplan is unsurpassed when it comes to small household appliances.

SKYEG

This is really case by case. Would need specifics on where you travel, the type of trips you use your miles on, your flexibility on time, if you earn miles by flying lots or spending lots, COS you use your miles on, etc.. Tons more questions to be asked to find the most effective program for you.

Jasper2009 summed it up very nicely ^

LOL!!!!!! My dad(before swapping to AE 4 years ago), has collected over 160,000 AIR MILES. This is actually quite a lot for Air Miles.... We've been trying to use them to fly but can't ever find a time they are worth it(booked a few short haul YEG/YYC-YVR flights for 1000 miles and paid $150 in tax so saved around $150). I told him we should give up and start buying small household appliances instead . Ugh Airmiles are so bad it makes me cringe that people collect them like crazy. There aren't even really any good travel gift cards either.

canadiancow

At LCBO, my options are Air Miles or nothing...

SKYEG

LOL!!! I also collected more Air Miles than I should have during Uni days at Manitoba Liquor Marts and still continue to collect a 'few' at the local Sobeys...

CanRulez

I got lucky when another FT'er posted the Airmiles gift e-card offer. 150AM for a $30 Air Canada gift card. Worked out to $0.20/mile.

and yes, 160,000AM is a truckload. I think there are sweet spots just like with AP.

IluvSQ

When Air Miles announced it's expiry policy ( since rescinded), I rushed out to spend my few thousand expiring miles. There was no flight I could use them on ( since I fly J or F), so I turned my attention to hotels. On a trip
to Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, and Jakarta the hotels
I usually stay at were unavailable with Air Miles. The best I could do was
2 nights in a Holiday Inn Express in Bangkok - which was maybe a $200 value.

darwiniandemon

Living in Switzerland, you'd be lucky if you can get anything out of your spending.
Alas, after I moved here many years ago, I had so many points with AP that I just kept using it...even when I fly with Germanwings and accumulating a miserable 125 per segment.

I depleted my account from 300k to 0 at one point in time, but over the last few years it accumulated to over 100k again. Not sure what to do. Keep the poison or just switch to something else entirely. Miles & More isn't much of an alternative in any case...

PROS
At least the inactive grace period for non-residents of Canada is 3 years, instead of 1
The mini-RTW option was nice for the honeymoon

CONS
Only accumulate when I stay in hotels or fly and not possible to collect from regular day-to-day spending
Shift towards LCC intra-Europe means very little points
I can't even get toasters

escape4

I am probably not the most knowledgeable person about the distinctions of each program, but yes I find Aeroplan useful. If I compare to LH M&M where I have SEN, I find Aeroplan's cash portion on award bookings to be tiny relative to LH. Even though there are some class fares where I earn more miles on LH than AC, and even though the miles required for an award booking on LH is sometimes lower than AC, once you consider the cash portion then AC comes out on top. And for very long routes then LH charges you three zones miles rather than point to point, unlike AC.

And if I compare Aeroplan to other programs outside of Star Alliance, then if I want to fly a North American based airline, it's gotta be AC. I find AC to have a better J product than UA, AA, and DL.

Bonaventure

the only thing completely and utterly useless was the effort you put into typing that.

hkskyline

I "grandfathered" my account after relocating to Asia. They used to be super cheap for some intra-Asia redemptions, such as HK - Japan, which at 20k miles, was cheaper than Asia Miles. That changed since the devaluation last year but North America redemptions are still competitive at 37.5k. Unlike other FFPs, I could fly either transatlantic or transpacific. With many more partner carriers than oneworld, I had many more options to redeem. Some exotic alternatives from East Asia to Toronto included Addis Ababa and Istanbul, plus a whole cabinet full of choices via China.

Cathay is quite stingy with releasing award seats and there are plenty of elite members armed with millions of miles to clear out the inventory quickly. Star Alliance offers quite a lot of total availability even up to fairly last minute bookings.

That being said, there is no Aeroplan credit card in Hong Kong, but there is one for UA.

The smallest state

In a word........NO

While AC lives off of the rest of the worlds view of Canada being a clean, fair, modern and friendly place, they also fly all over the planet besmirching the good name of Canadians.

So no, the rude FA's (you can find almost one on every flight), the peculiar rules for booking, the shabby website, the abysmal customer service via phone agents and the thing that outweighs everything..............dealing with AC's built-in inertia/aggravation/terms-and-conditions make almost the simplest tasks impossible.

At the end of the day, there is almost nothing worth doing on AC. The hassle of dealing with them far exceeds any benefit to what you are looking to accomplish.