Originally Posted by Quade111

Hey folks,
We'd really like to use our massive amount of aeroplan points to book guaranteed first class seats from YYZ to either Lima or Buenos Aires. The availability of first class seats is important enough that it would be the primary driver of our trip location.

I have only booked one reward flight with aeroplan and that was about 7 years ago. I pretty much have no experience booking reward flights with aeroplan.

As you can guess, I have had no success finding availability for 2 first class seats to BA or Lima. In most cases, AE offers economy class seats for about 200000 pts/seat. I have spent a lot of time combing the website, even looking for seats 12 months from now. I am completely flexible with my dates. I would just like to see these seats offered at least once to restore some faith in aeroplan as a useful flight reward plan. I don't mind paying twice the going points fare to guarantee first class seats, but paying triple or more (which is what they offered) with no guarantee is stupid in my opinion.

How screwed are our chances of actually getting two first class seats in your experience? What else should I do besides using the aeroplan website and phone number to find what I am looking for? Any tips are appreciated. Thanks.