Originally Posted by
rankourabu
You can fly YYZ-ORD/IAD/PHL/EWR-LON and avoid the $800 scamcharge @:-)
Yes but then you have to deal with US customs and you are also wasting a few hours each way, especially if you go to ORD. And doesn't that mean that your main flight is on United - Canadians love to hate AC but there service, lounges, IFE are generally far superior to what you get on US based airlines.
It is partially a question of how much extra time are you willing to waste and also put up with other hassles, like clearing customs an additional time each way. These Aeroplan reward tickets are usually when I take along my wife when I am on a business trip so I am not paying for my ticket, only hers (with points + scam charges + legitimate other fees).
Maybe I should look into One World since much of my overseas travel is to LHR or HKG so I could use BA and Cathay rather than AC. How is One World for these scam charges and am I better off joining BA's FF plan or Cathay's?