IMO, for all its warts, Aeroplan is the only program in North America that is compelling for premium award travel these days. The US carriers all price-gouge business class on their own metal, with Delta being the worst offender, but American and United are catching up. United also price-gouges on partner awards these days; you can book ANA F but it's 220,000 miles each way. If you're lucky enough to find a JAL award through AA, that's the best deal in the market, but availability is slim and they apply ridiculous married segment rules to keep people from arriving or departing at major hubs. Try to fly to Europe on AA and you're likely to get forced onto BA with hundreds of dollars in added fees. Delta is completely useless for anything other than economy class.

In the last year I've used Aeroplan to book United Polaris across the Pacific, Lufthansa first across the Atlantic and across Asia, LOT business across the Atlantic, and I'm flying AC business to/from Japan in a couple of weeks, all at saver rates. The last was accomplished by combining with short United economy legs to force the 75,000-mile saver price.