300rwhp

Hello forum, trying to help a friend book her first Aeroplan J redemption Not a mini rtw per se;

YYC-HAM July 21-July 27
HAM-Berlin or BCN/DUB Aug 8-10
Berlin/BCN/DUB - to remaining city BCN/DUB/BERLIN Aug 30
then home to YYC Week of Sept 10.

I am really struggling with the booking engine.

I have found YYC-YYZ-ORD July 23 on AC connecting to ORD-CPH-HAM on SK July 24 which the SK flights generate $29 in taxes and AC $140

Internal thinking maybe train Hamburg to Berlin and back

Hamburg to Dublin or Barcelona but here i run into transiting ZRH more than once which messes it up doesn it?

DUB-YYC is a nightmare for nothing in J over water or AC with High taxes

Low fees are key and she could Ryanair into DUB if you recommend it. Main thing is decent J with low taxes over water.

Any assistance you can provide would be appreciated.

Thank you

Jay71

While acknowledging the risk of "who knows what kind of Aeroplan craziness may happen closer to June 2020", we'll likely accumulate 430k points towards the end of 2019 which is enough for 2 first class reward tix to Asia 2.
How realistic is it that we'll be able to book some first class reward tickets on some long haul segments of a mini-RTW? I think I read that some airlines don't release their first class seats for reward booking until very close to departure and I'm assuming they'd be in high demand.

Or would it be more pragmatic to just try for a business class itinerary for a trip in the spring?

kalderlake

One option might be to travel one direction--go from YYC to PER to DXB to EUR to YYC.

There are some good options, both in terms of quality and availability, transpacific (via YVR), that will also help keep the charges/fees down. Eg. EVA to TPE and SIN and then PER with Singapore airlines.

I'm doing something along the same lines this fall, returning via Europe, in J, and my fees/charges were under $400.

MasterGeek

I don't understand how Aeroplan decides to price round trip itineraries that include a stop-over. I get mixed results.

Case 1:
YUL-BKK (stop)
BKK-RAK (stop)
RAK-YUL (end)
This is priced at 155K miles in business class as in a YUL-BKK roundtrip award, apparently based on the pricing from origin to farthest stop, or POT.

Case 2:
RAK-NRT (stop)
NRT-YUL (stop)
YUL-RAK (end)
This is priced at 165K miles in business class as in a RAK-YUL roundtrip award, apparently based on the pricing from origin to stop with the highest mileage pricing.

Does anyone have an insight ?

What I am trying to achieve: Travel from RAK to NRT and include YUL as a stop and be priced at the North Africa to Asia 1 level (125K in J)

Thanks!

WKnight

Summer time, business class, and just 2+ months away, it's going to be difficult to get to/from Europe as all the good low-YQ seats have been snatched up already. Try moving your searches without YYC as the origin, and instead start in YYZ, YUL, ORD, IAD, EWR, MIA, BOS and then if you do find something, see how you can get to that positioning airport from YYC.

Sorry, probably not something you didn't already know, but just thought I'd throw it out there for you to consider anyways.

zoqfotpik

Aeroplan is suppose to charge the most expensive redemption zone, but it's not always the case as you discovered with YUL-BKK-RAK. There are other zone pairings where it also costs less, unfortunately I don't think M East - Asia 1 - US/CAN is one of them. here's a few:

• US/Can - India - Aus/NZ = 150k instead of 160k
• S Africa - Asia 2 - US/Can = 150k instead of 170k
• M East/N Africa - Mexico - S America = 160k instead of 190k

Just to give you an idea of other possible zone pairings, the same examples above actually charge the correct price in Y - its most expensive redemption zone. For example, US/Can - India - Aus/NZ costs 100k miles and not 90k.
However, this only seems to work online, because when I tried calling in to book the agents always quote the most expensive redemption zone applicable. YMMV

DavidYYC

Thanks for any input, the rules have changed so much since I did this when we had the Y for J redemption sale in 2012.

Is this a valid trip?

YVR-SFO-LHR Stop

LHR-ADD-JNB Turn Around

JNB-JFK Stop

EWR-YVR

I am not sure if the JFK EWR counts as a stop if its less then 24 hrs. I think this meets the MPM rules?

Thanks

DavidYYC

Just to clarify my above question.

Is arriving at JFK and leaving from EWR counted as an open jaw? If so than the above itin would be invalid if the stop in New York is > 24hours?

WKnight

mpm for YVR-JNB is 16362 miles, so you're well within.

However, I'm not sure if EWR and JFK are considered co-terminals (mixed reports?). If not, that would be an open jaw. And in that case, it will likely be invalid since the open jaw is not at the turn around (JNB) nor at the start (YVR).

I think you'll have to get an Aeroplan phone rep to verify if your itinerary is possible or not. It's free to call and check. Wait times are not as horrible as they used to be. In the past half year I've had no longer than 2-5 minutes wait, and usually right away, even during the mid-day.

flyer05

Pretty sure EWR and JFK are co-terminals.

DavidYYC

Thanks for the above replies. I had figured out the MPM, as being OK.

I did a search through the valid mini RTW trips and could only see one that used JFK to EWR, however it was not clear if that was used as an open jaw.

If I can book this, I will report the results here.

DavidYYC

I did mange to book this, and have added it to the list of valid itineraries. The agent did not like the last stop, but after consulting with a supervisor agreed that JFK/EWR are co-terminals, so it is counted as a stop, (it was >24hrs) and not an open-jaw. MPM was OK.

MasterGeek

Can you do 2 stopovers in a round trip ticket wholly within the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific zone (30K miles in coach) ?

ChrisA330

Directly from the T&C's...assuming AE considers these all the same continent.

28.4. Intracontinental travel (travel within the same continent) except for travel within Canada/Continental USA, or between Canada/Cont. USA and Hawaii/Puerto Rico/Mexico/Central America/Caribbean: Stopovers are not permitted. One open jaw is permitted.

https://www.aeroplan.com/terms_and_conditions.do

WKnight

Thanks for the update. Hopefully I'll remember this info if it arises on a future Aeroplan booking (before 2020).