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FAQ: The Complete Newbie Guide/FAQ to the Air Canada Aeroplan Mini-RTW

Old May 30, 2013, 9:55 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: jerryhung
New List of Mini-RTW 2.0 version after Oct 29th, 2014 "enhancement" (i.e. less MPM)

FAQ: List of valid and booked mini-RTW itineraries version 2.0 (post-"enhancement&quot

INTRO

This wiki is taken from the excellent overview in the first post of this thread by FrequentFlyer9000 and is meant as a guide to the Aeroplan "Mini-RTW" for the uninformed newbie flyer. This is a no judgment zone and newbies are welcome. In this thread, the usage of scary acronyms and complicated FlyerTalk insider-speak will be minimized.

Also, this wiki is a work in progress so please provide feedback or make wiki edits if you think something warrants it.

INFO & COMMON QUESTIONS

What is the "Mini-RTW"?

The Mini-RTW is a name given to a type of reward booking using Air Canada's Aeroplan miles. It is actually not a "round-the-world" ticket at all - it is a regular award redemption. Just as you would use 75K frequent flyer miles to go to Japan on another airline, you can use 75K to do so using Aeroplan miles. The difference is that Aeroplan allows you to "stopover" in multiple cities at no extra mileage cost, making it very attractive compared to other reward travel. It should be noted that this isn't really that much better than some other airlines. For example, Delta offers one stopover + open jaw, which is only one stopover worse than Aeroplan's deal. But many of the airlines only offer one stopover and no open jaw. So there is definitely value here.

In addition to your final destination (in which you can stay for days/weeks/months), you are allowed:

Two stopovers in other cities (stay for days/weeks/months). You are allowed to trade one of these stopovers for an open jaw (where you land in one city, but take the next flight out of another city)
10 segments (layovers during which you spend less than 24 hours in a given city) <-- this limit may be gone as of 2014/2015

So, disregarding the additional 10 segments, an award trip for Japan could actually look like this:

NYC > Tokyo (destination - one week) > Paris (stopover - one week) > London (stopover - one week) > NYC

You basically get three times the world exploration for the price of one. If you add on the extra layovers allowed, you can turn it into:

NYC > Los Angeles (one day) > Hawaii (one day) > Tokyo (one week) > Seoul (one day) > Hong Kong (one day) > Paris (one week) > Munich (one day) > London (one week) > Washington DC (one day) > NYC

Of course, you don't have to do the above. Spending so much time in airports can be exhausting. But the option is there for you if you want it.


How many miles is this going to cost me?

See the Award Travel chart here.

From North America to "Asia 1" countries: (effective Jan 1, 2014)
75K in Economy
150K in Business
210K in First

From North America to "Europe 1" countries:
60K in Economy
90K in Business
125K in First

...and so on. Check the link for other combinations. Assuming you are stopping in three cities, the city in the most "expensive" redemption zone is the zone you will have to pay for. So if you are visiting two Asia1 zone cities and one Middle East city, you will pay 80K miles rather than 75K miles since that is what the Middle East trip costs (numbers assume Economy class travel).

Which miles do I need to use? Can I use miles from other Star Alliance airlines?

You need to use Aeroplan miles. You cannot use miles from other Star Alliance members, such as United, to book this mini-RTW. However, you can book flights for the mini-RTW on any airline that is in the alliance and has the desired award seating available. You technically do not have to fly any segments on Air Canada at all.

So, what's the catch? What are the restrictions?

There is no catch. However, there are some restrictions on your itinerary. This is where things get a bit more complicated.

Want to find the new MPM after 10/29/2014?
Aeroplan City Pair mileage (new pseudo-MPM) - FlyerTalk Forums

This is no longer valid after 10/29/2014
1) Your itinerary must be within 5% of the total "Maximum Permitted Mileage" (MPM) for the route from the origin to the destination. Even though you are stopping in three cities by using your two stopovers and a final destination, you can define the destination as the stop city furthest away from the origin. Although certain flyers have gotten away with telling an inattentive phone rep that their final destination / "turnaround city" is one of their layover cities to increase their MPM, this does not always work. Sticking with one of your three stop cities is a safe bet.

MPM exist so that you cannot repeatedly fly around the world 10 times on your 10 segments. There is a limit to how many miles you can fly on the reward ticket. MPM guidelines can be found by using the KVS tool or by using Expert Flyer. MPM is calculated between your origin and your destination, one-way. The trips to and from your destination are calculated separately. You are allowed to overshoot this number by 5% ("MPM5"). If you can find a bookable itinerary online that has a mileage longer than the published MPM, this is a "published routing" and can be used even if it exceeds the MPM5. In KVS, navigate to the "Reference" tab, select "MPM" from the dropdown menu, and enter your city pair. MPM information is available under the Travel Information section of ExpertFlyer. It is available to all subscribers, Basic or Premium, and there is a 5-day free trial to ExpertFlyer.com that can be used.

To see if your itinerary fits your MPM limit, you can use the site here to see your total miles traveled: www.gcmap.com. Enter your airport codes separated by dashes to see the itinerary and get the total mileage (e.g. NYC - LHR - NYC). Example here.

TO READ MORE ABOUT MPM: Read this (short) document
2) If you do elect to use an open jaw instead of one of your stopovers, you must schedule the open jaw so that it is in the same "IATA zone" as either the origin or the destination city. So if you are going from NY to Japan to Europe and back to NY, the open jaw cannot be scheduled in Europe, since it is neither the origin zone or the destination zone. The open jaw also cannot be a larger distance than any two legs you are actually flying. In case you are wondering, IATA zones are as follows:

IATA 1 - The Americas (incl. Caribbean, Hawaii)
IATA 2 - Europe as far as the Ural Mountain range, Middle East & Africa
IATA 3 - Oceania, SE Asia, Far East, Sub-Continent.

Remember that if you use your open jaw at the turnaround/destination point, you will only have one stopover to use left. So you would be able to do NYC > Singapore (destination, open jaw) // Tokyo (stop) > NYC. This has one destination, one open jaw (at turnaround point), and one stopover. However, you would not be able to do this: NYC > Madrid (stop) > Singapore (destination, open jaw) // Tokyo (stop) > NYC. Because your 2 stops + 1 open jaw would be more than the two allowed.

3) You cannot land in the same city twice in any one direction. This means that on my way from NY to, let's say, Cairo, I cannot do New York > London > Paris > London > Cairo on the way there, since I would be stopping in London twice in one direction. However, I can stop in London on the way to Cairo and then again on the way back from Cairo.

4) The actual trip needs to be "bookable". It needs to follow certain rules. I won't get into too many details, but anything completely nonsensical in terms of routing is generally not going to fly. But most routes will not fall into this category. Just something to keep in mind.


Do I have to go in the same direction for every leg of the flight?

No. As an example, you can cross the Atlantic twice or cross both the Atlantic and the Pacific once (more like a real RTW trip).


How do I book this?

Assuming you have already planned out your entire itinerary to the dot and have made sure your trip is in accordance with the above restrictions, call Aeroplan and speak with a representative. Alternatively, you can try to book online for free. However, this is not always possible with more complicated routings.


What will this cost me in real cash? How can I minimize fees?
It depends on the region you travel to and which airline you fly on. In general, the more Air Canada segments you fly the more fees/taxes you will pay. Aeroplan does not collect surcharges on non-Air Canada-operated flights. So flying Air Canada internationally will cost you extra. If you use a lot of Air Canada flights in your mini-RTW, your fees could be anywhere from $150 to $400, even sometimes creeping up above $600. Lesson is to avoid AC "metal" (airplanes) if possible.

Every trip will have a $30 cost per person for booking on the phone, regardless of the itinerary.


What are the change fees if I want to change a leg or multiple legs of the trip later?

$90 for changes after original booking. If there is an involuntary change because of flight schedules changing, there is no fee charged. Note that when you make a change, the taxes/fees associated with fuel, etc. may change. They may decrease or increase depending on the previous flight and the new flight. This is independent of the $90 rebooking fee. The $90 is flat regardless of how many of the segments you change. It is not $90 per changed segment.


How do I plan this trip out? Even finding a simple award ticket can be difficult online, let alone one with 10 segments!

Good question. It is recommended that you use either the All-Nippon Airways (ANA) website (guide on how here), the KVS tool (costs money) or ExpertFlyer (costs money), or http://FliSea.com. I personally like to use KVS, but it is not newbie-friendly. It is $20 for 2 months for the "diamond" level service, and $75 for a year. Small price to pay for saving a lot of time, if you can handle the learning curve. ANA is a good free method of finding segments and many people have had plenty of success with it; FliSea is a metasearch tool that uses all of the sites above.

The trick is to do this one segment at a time. So first find NYC > LONDON for the date you want and make sure that the award class you are looking for is available (e.g. Economy low fare). Then do the next leg: LONDON > ROME. Repeat for every segment. Write down the details of each flight, calculate the mileage using the www.gcmap.com resource, and call up Aeroplan to book.

One of our Flyertalk members has built a database with all the Mini-RTW routes that have been flown in the various threads in one simple place: http://www.turnleftat.com/mini-rtw-list/
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FAQ: The Complete Newbie Guide/FAQ to the Air Canada Aeroplan Mini-RTW

Old Nov 18, 2017, 9:40 pm
  #1651  
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ Diamond, Jiffypark Manhattan Gold
Posts: 4,485
Originally Posted by asgr81
Hi everyone,

I am thinking of doing a last mini rtw and use all my miles at the end of 2018.

Can anyone give me an idea if below trip is possible route wise and also of possible to find 4 J tickets ?


YYZ - TPE
TPE - DPS (stop)
DPS - SIN
SIN - MEL (pot)
MEL - BKK
BKK - DXB (stop)
DXB- IST
IST - YYZ

Your MPM is totally fine, in fact you're like 1000-1500 miles under.

However, all in J? Hope you're planning well out. Also 4? Yikes.

Lastly, you won't get SIN-MEL J direct unless you're using Krisflyer miles. I thought maybe on the 777, but from a few quick searches it seems like no. The space might be found on TG but then that sends you back through BKK and I'm not sure if they'll approve that. You could try routing through somewhere else, but that'd probably kill your MPM. If you can get all of this x4 in J, and have to take SIN-MEL in Y, I'd still gladly take it. If you took the 380, you could probably snag an entire 4 block by yourselves to not have to split the group.
drvannostren is offline  
Old Nov 18, 2017, 10:05 pm
  #1652  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: YYZ
Programs: Aeroplan, Alaska, Marriott
Posts: 435
SIN-MEL on the A330 should have plenty of availability in J
Cerenity is offline  
Old Nov 18, 2017, 10:41 pm
  #1653  
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ Diamond, Jiffypark Manhattan Gold
Posts: 4,485
I did get SIN-ICN 333 J, but it was just 1 seat. The days I searched on this MEL thing I didn't see a 330. It's not great, but at least it'll keep you under MPM and all J.
drvannostren is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 8:04 am
  #1654  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 48
Aeroplan website is showing availability of 4 J tickets from Sin - Mel on A330 towards the end of 2018.

i am planning well ahead of time so hopefully will be able to find J availability. The only issue will be Mel - Bkk and Bkk -DXB on TJ as they don't release more than two seats i believe. Might have to split the ticket.
asgr81 is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 9:14 am
  #1655  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
I'm currently on LH495 YYZ-MUC and then LH1752 MUC-ATH in economy for May/June 2018 on an overall business class trip. I was wondering if this happened to be one of the routes, at least the transatlantic portion, that tends to have availability open up in J. Basically I want to figure if I should be keeping my eyes open for the same route in J, or perhaps another route that goes transatlantic in J. Thanks!
TJ1010F is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 3:18 pm
  #1656  
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ Diamond, Jiffypark Manhattan Gold
Posts: 4,485
Keep your eyes closest on THAT one, changing it won't cost you anything. If there's another you have an interest in then sure keep an eye on that too, but it'll cost ya. I'm always surprised when people are on LH in the first place since it costs so much, but don't start adding change fees on top of that. LH opens J/F space close in to the fly date IIRC. What I suggest is maybe sign up for Expertflyer and set up an alert, or remind yourself to check every day. It's worth it in the end. The MUC-ATH if it opens, cool, if not, who cares, it's only gonna be Euro-biz anyway. I just booked a totally J trip minus WAW-IEV. The only reason I even care to bump it up is to make the whole trip J, though I know the J for that flight will be pointless.
drvannostren is offline  
Old Nov 19, 2017, 3:42 pm
  #1657  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 73
Originally Posted by drvannostren
Keep your eyes closest on THAT one, changing it won't cost you anything. If there's another you have an interest in then sure keep an eye on that too, but it'll cost ya. I'm always surprised when people are on LH in the first place since it costs so much, but don't start adding change fees on top of that. LH opens J/F space close in to the fly date IIRC. What I suggest is maybe sign up for Expertflyer and set up an alert, or remind yourself to check every day. It's worth it in the end. The MUC-ATH if it opens, cool, if not, who cares, it's only gonna be Euro-biz anyway. I just booked a totally J trip minus WAW-IEV. The only reason I even care to bump it up is to make the whole trip J, though I know the J for that flight will be pointless.
Thanks a lot for the advice. I actually just got notification they automatically changed my MUC-ATH to J today. Will keep a look out for last YYZ-MUC or YYZ-XXX-ATH to complete the J.
Part of the the reason for LH is that, I think because I'm not booking a full like 12 months out but rather for 6 months a lot of the good non YQ options for my dates are taken. Either way I was going to eat YQ on AC or LH from what was available so just went with the one with the best timing that leaves Fri night.
TJ1010F is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 10:28 am
  #1658  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC, BA, Marriott, SPG
Posts: 840
Is this valid?

Planning the following:

YYZ-PRG (stop)
PRG-VIE (open-jaw)
BUD-YYZ

Online system is giving me an error but thought I'd check with everyone hear before I call in.
seegs is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 10:50 am
  #1659  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,273
Originally Posted by seegs
Planning the following:

YYZ-PRG (stop)
PRG-VIE (open-jaw)
BUD-YYZ

Online system is giving me an error but thought I'd check with everyone hear before I call in.
Online system cant book stopover and openjaw. You will have to pay $34 booking fee.
Fees for this will range from ~$600+ for Y, and $1000+ for PY, if you fly AC Rouge.
rankourabu is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 11:02 am
  #1660  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC, BA, Marriott, SPG
Posts: 840
Originally Posted by rankourabu
Online system cant book stopover and openjaw. You will have to pay $34 booking fee.
Fees for this will range from ~$600+ for Y, and $1000+ for PY, if you fly AC Rouge.
Thanks! For YYZ-PRG/BUD-YYZ, the online system is giving me $600 pp for Prem Rouge flights. Not the greatest redemption but we have a lot of miles to burn before 2020 and I don't think we have enough opportunities to use them to Asia which is where I get my best redemptions.

And just to confirm, I can do 1 stopover + open-jaw or 2 stop-overs. I cannot do 2 open-jaws (i.e. YYZ-PRG/VIE-KRK/BUD-YYZ)
seegs is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 11:45 am
  #1661  
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott LT Gold, IHG Club, Hertz Gold, Aeroplan, Avios, SkyMiles, Thrifty, AMEX
Posts: 985
Originally Posted by seegs
Thanks! For YYZ-PRG/BUD-YYZ, the online system is giving me $600 pp for Prem Rouge flights. Not the greatest redemption but we have a lot of miles to burn before 2020 and I don't think we have enough opportunities to use them to Asia which is where I get my best redemptions.

And just to confirm, I can do 1 stopover + open-jaw or 2 stop-overs. I cannot do 2 open-jaws (i.e. YYZ-PRG/VIE-KRK/BUD-YYZ)
No, you cannot do 2 open-jaws

That said, all those cities can easily be done by train. If I were you, I'd be searching for YYZ-KRK on LOT and BUD-YYZ on LOT or TK, and do the rest by train. You'll probably save enough in fees to cover the cost of the trains.
Twickenham is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 12:21 pm
  #1662  
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC, BA, Marriott, SPG
Posts: 840
Originally Posted by Twickenham
No, you cannot do 2 open-jaws

That said, all those cities can easily be done by train. If I were you, I'd be searching for YYZ-KRK on LOT and BUD-YYZ on LOT or TK, and do the rest by train. You'll probably save enough in fees to cover the cost of the trains.
Thanks! Procrastinated too much and it's peak summer travel period so I am trying to work with what I can for flights/trains. Unfortunately we cannot start in KRK but that was the first choice.
seegs is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 3:17 pm
  #1663  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,273
Originally Posted by seegs
Thanks! Procrastinated too much and it's peak summer travel period so I am trying to work with what I can for flights/trains. Unfortunately we cannot start in KRK but that was the first choice.
It's definitely not too late for buses/trains between the 4 cities. There really is no need to fly unless it's already part of the ticket. Check LeoExpress for trains, there are other companies as well, bus travel will be even cheaper, faster, and leave u in the center unlike the airports.
rankourabu is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 9:49 pm
  #1664  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 291
I've been doing some research into booking my first Aeroplan RT award and taking advantage of the 2 stopovers allowed but am a little confused by the maximum mileage allowance and validity of (non-direct) routings. I'm planning to fly from SFO to PEK and use the two stopovers in TPE and NRT. However, this is fairly last minute (Feb 2018) so I'm having trouble finding direct flights that work for me. Would the following itinerary be valid?

SFO - SEA (connection)
SEA - TPE (stopover)
TPE - ICN (connection)
ICN - NRT (stopover)
NRT - PEK (destination)
PEK - SFO

There is also a possibility that I'll have to take a non-direct flight from NRT to PEK, so a possibility of another connection in ICN/PVG/etc...

I know I'm within the allowed10 flight segments but not sure if all the connections back and forth around Asia affects the validity? For what it's worth I did all my searching on the Aeroplan site so the routing is what shows up there...
GiantCow is offline  
Old Nov 20, 2017, 11:32 pm
  #1665  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,076
Originally Posted by GiantCow
I've been doing some research into booking my first Aeroplan RT award and taking advantage of the 2 stopovers allowed but am a little confused by the maximum mileage allowance and validity of (non-direct) routings. I'm planning to fly from SFO to PEK and use the two stopovers in TPE and NRT. However, this is fairly last minute (Feb 2018) so I'm having trouble finding direct flights that work for me. Would the following itinerary be valid?

SFO - SEA (connection)
SEA - TPE (stopover)
TPE - ICN (connection)
ICN - NRT (stopover)
NRT - PEK (destination)
PEK - SFO

There is also a possibility that I'll have to take a non-direct flight from NRT to PEK, so a possibility of another connection in ICN/PVG/etc...

I know I'm within the allowed10 flight segments but not sure if all the connections back and forth around Asia affects the validity? For what it's worth I did all my searching on the Aeroplan site so the routing is what shows up there...
There isn't a 10 segment limit for aeroplan awards.

I think your destination may actually be considered to be TPE, as that's the furthest point from your origin.
If so, I think you may need to re-order some of your stops. TPE-ICN-NRT-PEK-SFO may be pushing the MPM.

Also, you won't be able to connect in ICN for your NRT-PEK segment, as you've already gone through ICN once. You can only pass through each city once per direction (ie. outbound/inbound)
pentiumvi is offline  

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