Hello, I've been searching flight prices and award options for a trip to Asia in Oct/Nov this year and would like to check if what I'm finding makes sense.

Departing from Toronto, going to the Philippines (flexible on MNL/CRK/CEB), dates have some flexibility (land in the Philippines around Oct 25-28, land back in Toronto around Nov 7-10) for two people. We have around 180,000 Aeroplan points combined (family sharing). Booking class is flexible; was hoping for at least PE but everything seems more costly than usual. Open to long layovers in Asia, including a stopover (preferably on the way back to Toronto).

It seems like we might have enough points if we flew via the US (trying to avoid this). Or we might have enough if we book from Toronto to ICN or NRT then pay cash to get a flight from ICN/NRT to the Philippines (don't want to route via HKG or China, open to TPE but there aren't as many flights). I'd consider flying in the opposite direction but it doesn't seem like that helps much. I also looked into cashing in award points YYZ-CRK for 90k in PE then paying for a one-way ticket back but the one-way cost was higher than the corresponding round-trip leg.

Do I have too few points to get 2 award tickets to Asia? It feels like we're kind of on the borderline.

If I booked one person's trip using points and the 2nd person's trip separately using cash, could I ask AC to put some sort of indication we're traveling together in case we get rerouted due to delays/cancelations? I'd book the cash fare first then the award booking.