Indeed, that's part of the BA devaluation this year. However, most people here on FT agree BA and IB have been very generous thus far with what's considered "off season". You will note the screenshot I posted re: the Iberia Business award is in fact June 11, 2016 and on a Saturday no less. The vast majority part of the year, including most of June is considered "Off Season". If the award requires you to travel to Europe in the middle of February, then I'd agree it would be a major inconvenience. but that's not the case. While Aeroplan does not have a high/low season distinction, the reality is getting award seats on partners during high demand period can be very difficult. If you want to fly to Europe in J during the last week of June or first week of July using Aeroplan miles on European partners, well good luck with that.


Actually, the minimum is 2.5K miles + about $40 because Avios have the unique option of using part cash part miles for Y/J/F award even on partners such as AA or CX. The vast majority of Canadians live along the corridor of Windsor to Quebec City, which means most people are one short hop away from the gateway airport of JFK/BOS either by plane or bus. In fact, many people prefer to fly directly out of US airport because they can easily save $50~$60 off the NAVCAN surcharge and the YYZ/YUL airport fees. Surely, living in YVR, you understand the benefits of flying out of SEA vs. YVR. You are only one Quickshuttle ride away from Sea-Tac airport. The savings you made on airport taxes alone is >> than the cost of the bus ticket. Even if you don't want to take a bus, nothing stops you from flying Alaska down to Sea-Tac out of YVR or for East Coasters, YUL/YYZ to JFK on AA, all for just 2.5K+$40+airport charges. You can even turn it into a stopover if you so choose to, but not with Aeroplan.

Uh what? Do you actually know what is Iberia? I mean, their network, along with affiliated airlines Air Nostrum and Iberia Express (bookable on miles) actually cover pretty much the entire European continent. I counted well over 100+ destinations within Europe:



It's actually a very flexible a la carte online booking system, for example, you want to go to Nice, France in Business class all the way in June next year:



You select the flights you want, then the system calculates how many miles you need and then gives you the various options to pay part of the mileage cost in cash. In this case, the system says you need to pay 43,000 miles but as little as 22,400 miles if you so choose to with a cash co-pay.



But many people feel intra-Europe J class for flights less than 2 hours is a waste of money, so Iberia gives you the option of customizing your itinerary a little differently and make some savings instead:



Notice I select Business class for the Transatlantic segment but only "Blue Class" or the cheapest economy class for the short intra-Europe hop from Madrid to Nice, France. The system also tells you how many seats are available for your flight in the desired class so if you have a family of 4, you know which flights can accommodate your entire family. The availability is excellent when you book far in advance as you can see from the first screenshot, you can book up to 6 people from New York to Nice via Madrid in Business class, in the month of June next year no less.

Now that I customized my trip to select only economy class for my intra-Europe flight but keeping the long-haul flight in J, the system gives me a new price for my trip:



The price now drops to 38,500 miles and starting from as little as 19,700 miles. You can add the 2.5K extra that most Canadians need to pay to fly YUL/YYZ-JFK on AA or LA/JJ.



One way or the other, the total cost of miles one-way is still far, far lower than what Aeroplan is charging and even more so that what it will charge post December 15. And BA/IB just had their devaluation, so these mileage levels aren't going anywhere. Oh and United won't get you to Nice for example because they don't fly to Nice, a popular resort destination btw. Turkish has some limited flights to Nice certain times of the year but you need very significant backtracking and there is no guarantee Aeroplan will continue to count a connection via Europe 2 as Europe 1 in the future. So even if you fly UA to say, Germany, then connect on LH to Nice, you will still have to pay LH surcharge on the intra-Europe segments. And if you want to go to places like Mallorca, Canary Islands, Naples, Italy or Ireland, good luck getting to these destinations using Aeroplan without having to pay fuel surcharge. Actually, good luck getting the availability you need on the dates you need - you are going to need a lot of luck and yes, pay the hefty surcharges. And if you need to bring your family of 4 along...well, pray. IB gives you its entire European network free of surcharges, virtually the entire continent is only one flight away from Madrid.

There is no contest while in Europe, you need to fly a major European carrier with a vast network for connections. Neither UA or TK are adequate replacements - they are the ones with limited destinations, limited flights & availability, not the other way around.

Everything has strengths & weaknesses. There is no denial that a distance based award like Avios is weaker vs. a zone base award chart in certain areas. The fact is the vast majority of Canadians live less than 400 miles away from BOS/JFK or just one short hop away by plane, which makes Avios very attractive as a way to get to Europe and back, especially because on the way back, US to Canada on AA only charges a small tax of $5 vs. $50~$70 when flying out of Canada. JFK to YYZ/YUL costs virtually nothing with the taxes literaly amounts to that of a transit ticket price because AA doesn't have scam charges on award, unlike Aeroplan.





If you want to fly CX J to JFK, to connect to IB J, you are better off using two separate awards. One using AS miles for 25K in J:

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...ic-canada.aspx

The schedule connects nicely however, you leave YVR around noon to take IB's flight around 8:30PM. The total adds up to 25K+34K = 59K miles with the distinct advantage of not having any fuel surcharge. Then, it's another 2.5K miles to most IB destinations within 650 miles of Madrid. 4K more if within 1150 miles of Madrid.

Alternatively, you can use AS miles to fly AS+AA to Europe for 50K miles in Business class each way, for example, YVR-LAX-LHR, again no fuel surcharge. AS partner awards include complimentary travel on AS to partner's gateway airport. Once in Europe, you can use Avios on BA/IB/LA/AB and etc. to get to the destination you want to go. While the mileage cost from West Coast is more or less a wash, the savings on the fuel surcharge can be quite significant still.

It was an example, not an exhaustive list. Most Oneworld carriers do not charge YQ within Europe, including Air Berlin even when using Asia Miles, Lan Chile has no fuel sucharge of anykind anywhere, Aer Lingus has none either. All of the above are bookable using Avios, plus of course, IB's own extensive network. However, finding availability using Aeroplan miles can be a major challenge, as can be attested by numerous negative PR recently on the news to this effect. That's why award booking is not just a theoretical exercise.

You are once again comparing apples to oranges. There are several threads in the CX forum dissecting these side by side comparison in great details. I think you should go there and do a search and catch up on some readings. I participated in some of those discussions and don't feel like repeating what have already been debated over and over in the CX forum here.

Intra-Asia? After December 15, yes, Aeroplan will be the worst, without a doubt. 80K for J return and up to 130K in F? Seriously, can't think of any major North American FFP program doing worse here, can you? Keep in mind, you need to compare apples to apples. FFP that gives out 200% and 300% for J/F flights or up to 11X based on the total ticket revenue is not the same as a program capping F at 150%. Oh and don't forget to add the hefty fuel surcharges within Asia since Aeroplan scams them on most Asian partners. Aeroplan only benchmarks themselves from a redemption standpoint but ignore the fact they give very little miles for flying vs. its competitors. No matter, it will find out the hard way very quickly many of the increasingly scarce premium customers will pack their bags and look for greener pasture considering Canadian economy isn't exactly in great shape at the moment.

At the risk of repeating myself over and over to the point of sounding like a broken record, not all miles are created equal. Aeroplan rarely ever have any bank to FFP transfer bonus like BA often runs, plus the fact BA gives far more miles for flying premium fares vs. Aeroplan such that it is plainly obvious the value of Aeroplan mile vs. Avios is not 1 to 1. Of the list of 5 programs you named as examples to HKG, I can tell you the cheapest option in terms of opportunity cost, assuming the miles are gained entirely from CC spending, is in fact Asia Miles, even though in absolute term, AS is lower. As to why or how, it would be best you ask that question in the appropriate forum.