I converted Starwood points to Aeroplan using the Starwood bonus and the bonus Aeroplan has offered in November for the past two years. I was able to convert 160k Starwood points into 250k Aeroplan points. However, to quote my favorite line from Sense and Sensibility, "The rent here may be low, but we have it on very hard terms!"

I soon discovered that US-Europe tickets on AC, Austrian, Lufthansa, SAS, or Swiss came with $900+ fuel surcharges. So much for my dream of treating my friend to Air Canada Business. I booked us on United in F just to burn all of my AC points.

I was told that, even though I purchased two Saver F awards using Aeroplan points, only Economy was available on the SFO-ORD leg, and there would be no opportunity for me to rebook into F. I also had to make multiple calls to UA to get Economy Plus seating for myself and my 1K friend. The 1K Desk had to request exceptions to get around the $114-each E+ fees. As an over-entitled 1K, I found this very irritating.

I was prepared to call Aeroplan and pay the $90 change fee if I or O inventory became available. But I've been watching for space on the SFO-ORD leg for four months, and I haven't seen anything open up. For a UA award I would have been able to waitlist and clear automatically if space had become available.

I am never using Aeroplan again. The fuel surcharges for AC and European-carrier long-haul flights, the change fees, the E+ problem, and the inability to waitlist for F/C inventory have eliminated the value of this program for me.