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

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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

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Old Feb 23, 2018, 12:17 am
  #1741  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
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Originally Posted by drvannostren
Quick questions, I've got lots of experience with the MINI-RTWs, but this topic eludes me a little, and I'd rather ask here to save the phone call

What airports are interchangeable in LA? I'm not sure if interchangeable is the right word, but hopefully you guys know what I mean, maybe it's called "same city"? I ask because of course options include BUR, ONT, LAX and SNA.

Also, I've got the same question for the DC area. Options there include DCA, IAD and BWI. All of which are in two different states, so I'm not sure if ANY of those would count at all.

My final question, and I only ask to be 100% clear...I know the INTL connections have to be < 24 hours. I'm under the impression domestic connections have to be < 12, but what about transborder connections? What do those fall under? I'm trying to squeeze like 3-4 cities into a "domestic" multi-city, so I only technically get 2 stops.
The word you're looking for is co-terminal. I believe DCA, IAD, and BWI are all considered "Washington". I have no idea which, if any, of the LAX airports are co-terminals.
canadiancow is offline  
Old Feb 25, 2018, 10:13 pm
  #1742  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: AC E75K / Marriott Silver Elite / SPG
Posts: 143
Hey guys, I just have a quick question about my itinerary. I secured two J reward tickets via the routing below:

YYZ-TPE (Stop)
TPE-BKK-SYD (Destintation)
SYD-PEK-YVR-YYZ

After doing more research about things to do in Australia, I was wondering if I can change my flights from SYD-YYZ to MEL-YYZ instead. So my proposed itinerary will be:

YYZ-TPE (Stop)
TPE-BKK-SYD (Destintation)
MEL-YYZ (I don't care about the layover)

Much appreciated!
Flyer4Ever is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2018, 8:14 am
  #1743  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: YYZ
Programs: Aeroplan, Alaska, Marriott
Posts: 435
That looks like a standard open-jaw to me. Should be doable but you'll need to pay the change fee. MEL-SIN-TPE-YYZ would probably work, and be low tax/fee.
Cerenity is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2018, 9:00 am
  #1744  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: AC E75K / Marriott Silver Elite / SPG
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by Cerenity
That looks like a standard open-jaw to me. Should be doable but you'll need to pay the change fee. MEL-SIN-TPE-YYZ would probably work, and be low tax/fee.
Thanks Cerenity, that's what I thought too. Just curious, am I able to layover in TPE since I flew from YYZ-TPE on my inbound flight?
Furthermore, slight change of plans again..I'll be flying from PER-YYZ instead of MEL-YYZ (but shouldn't change routings as I believe there's a flight from PER - SIN).
Lastly, is there a way I can estimate taxes/fees? Can I sum up the taxes/fees from all of my segments if I'm looking at individual segments from Aeroplan?
Cheers!
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Old Feb 26, 2018, 9:27 am
  #1745  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: YYZ
Programs: Aeroplan, Alaska, Marriott
Posts: 435
Yes, you can hit the same city on outbound and inbound. like A-B-D, D-B-A, just can't hit it twice in one direction like A-B-C-B-D (where A is your origin, D is your destination)

Best way to get taxes/fees is to call in. Summing up individual legs can be misleading as often Aeroplan surcharges can be different depending on where your stops and destination are.

For your scenario, I think the only leg that may incur significant charges is the BKK-SYD leg on TG, as the rest will be on BR / SQ. I'm not super up to date on the latest TG YQ situation, but they used to be one of the higher ones, where a leg like BKK-SYD might run you a few hundred bucks or so per ticket. Not sure if this is still true. What I would probably do is plan a back up like BKK-SIN-SYD (if there is availability) ahead of time, before calling in to book. That way if the YQ comes back high from the quote, you can ask them to try the alternative.
Cerenity is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2018, 1:18 pm
  #1746  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: AC E75K / Marriott Silver Elite / SPG
Posts: 143
Originally Posted by Cerenity
Yes, you can hit the same city on outbound and inbound. like A-B-D, D-B-A, just can't hit it twice in one direction like A-B-C-B-D (where A is your origin, D is your destination)

Best way to get taxes/fees is to call in. Summing up individual legs can be misleading as often Aeroplan surcharges can be different depending on where your stops and destination are.

For your scenario, I think the only leg that may incur significant charges is the BKK-SYD leg on TG, as the rest will be on BR / SQ. I'm not super up to date on the latest TG YQ situation, but they used to be one of the higher ones, where a leg like BKK-SYD might run you a few hundred bucks or so per ticket. Not sure if this is still true. What I would probably do is plan a back up like BKK-SIN-SYD (if there is availability) ahead of time, before calling in to book. That way if the YQ comes back high from the quote, you can ask them to try the alternative.
Thanks again Cerenity! I paid $230 in taxes and fees + $30 booking fee so I just hope I don't have to spend too much more on taxes/fees for this change + $75 change fee (APDiamond)..I just want to offset the one way flight from PER - SYD hence the itinerary change in the first place.
Flyer4Ever is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2018, 3:05 pm
  #1747  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 232
Need help. Booking today

Hi guys,

I need your help Amex points posted finally, and am ready to call AP tonight to book.

Does the following itinerary look valid to you?

YYZ - AMS (via FRA layover of 8 hours). In AMS for 2 days.
AMS-HKT (via a few hour layovers in FRA and BKK). In HKT for 6 days.
​​​​HKT-BKK. In BKK for 4 days.
BKK - YYZ (via DEL, or BOM, or similar layover)

Thanks in advance for your help
hsandhar is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2018, 8:49 pm
  #1748  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,082
Originally Posted by hsandhar
Hi guys,

I need your help Amex points posted finally, and am ready to call AP tonight to book.

Does the following itinerary look valid to you?

YYZ - AMS (via FRA layover of 8 hours). In AMS for 2 days.
AMS-HKT (via a few hour layovers in FRA and BKK). In HKT for 6 days.
​​​​HKT-BKK. In BKK for 4 days.
BKK - YYZ (via DEL, or BOM, or similar layover)

Thanks in advance for your help
You cannot transit through FRA twice on your outbound. You'll need another way to get to AMS from YYZ or to get to HKT from AMS. Maybe try AMS-MUC-BKK-HKT.

Also, YYZ-FRA-AMS will probably be pretty high YQ on either AC or LH, not sure if that's an issue for you.
pentiumvi is offline  
Old Feb 27, 2018, 8:55 am
  #1749  
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Posts: 23,305
Originally Posted by hsandhar
Hi guys,

I need your help Amex points posted finally, and am ready to call AP tonight to book.

Does the following itinerary look valid to you?

YYZ - AMS (via FRA layover of 8 hours). In AMS for 2 days.
AMS-HKT (via a few hour layovers in FRA and BKK). In HKT for 6 days.
​​​​HKT-BKK. In BKK for 4 days.
BKK - YYZ (via DEL, or BOM, or similar layover)

Thanks in advance for your help
Cant go via FRA twice on the outbound
You realize the price tag for this will be >$800 per ticket + points
rankourabu is offline  
Old Feb 28, 2018, 5:38 am
  #1750  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 232
Originally Posted by pentiumvi
You cannot transit through FRA twice on your outbound. You'll need another way to get to AMS from YYZ or to get to HKT from AMS. Maybe try AMS-MUC-BKK-HKT.

Also, YYZ-FRA-AMS will probably be pretty high YQ on either AC or LH, not sure if that's an issue for you.
Originally Posted by rankourabu
Cant go via FRA twice on the outbound
You realize the price tag for this will be >$800 per ticket + points
Thanks guys.
The information I received here and support from AP was extremely helpful. I explained the whole situation to the agent, and she was able to book 2 1-way tickets (or something similar).

Ended up going with the following:
YYZ-FRA-AMS
AMS-MUC-BKK-HKT
HKT-BKK-JFK
LGA-YYZ
hsandhar is offline  
Old Feb 28, 2018, 8:16 pm
  #1751  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,082
Originally Posted by hsandhar
Thanks guys.
The information I received here and support from AP was extremely helpful. I explained the whole situation to the agent, and she was able to book 2 1-way tickets (or something similar).

Ended up going with the following:
YYZ-FRA-AMS
AMS-MUC-BKK-HKT
HKT-BKK-JFK
LGA-YYZ
I'm curious, how are you getting from BKK-JFK?
pentiumvi is offline  
Old Feb 28, 2018, 9:10 pm
  #1752  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 742
Originally Posted by pentiumvi
I'm curious, how are you getting from BKK-JFK?
Yes, also can you share which segments had YQ(and how much)? THAI has yq on some itin but not others it seems.
moops380 is offline  
Old Mar 3, 2018, 11:04 pm
  #1753  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 232
Originally Posted by pentiumvi
I'm curious, how are you getting from BKK-JFK?
My bad, I failed to include another segment in the middle. Its BKK-PEK-JFK. 7 hour layover in PEK.

Originally Posted by moops380
Yes, also can you share which segments had YQ(and how much)? THAI has yq on some itin but not others it seems.
Once again, all segments below. All seats are in J.

YYZ-FRA-AMS (stop) (LH)

AMS-MUC-BKK-HKT (stop)
AMS-MUC --> LH
MUC-BKK (TG)
BKK-HKT (TG)

HKT-BKK (stop) (TG)

BKK-PEK-JFK-YYZ
BKK-PEK (TG)
PEK-JFK (Air China)
---Ground---
LGA-YYZ (AIr Canada)


Please see the details below. Hope it helps.

U.S. Passenger Safety Fee
$7.10

Canada Domestic/International Air Travel Security Charge
$25.91

Netherlands Domestic/International Security Charge
$15.70

China Airport Fee
$18.00

Germany Airport Security Charge
$14.10

Thailand Advance Passenger Processing User Charge
$2.80

Thailand International Arrival and Departure Fees
$1.20

Germany International Passenger Service Charge
$63.00

Canada Harmonized Sales Tax
$3.25

Netherlands Domestic/International Passenger Service Charge
$18.70

Canada Domestic/International Airport Improvement Fee
$25.00

Thailand Domestic Passenger Service
$32.20

U.S Agriculture Fee
$5.00

U.S Passenger Facility Charge
$5.70

U.S.A Immigration User Fee
$8.90

U.S. Customs User Fee
$7.20

Carrier Surcharge
$274.00

Total per passenger
$527.76
hsandhar is offline  
Old Mar 6, 2018, 8:46 pm
  #1754  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: AA PP, OZ *G, Hyatt Expl, Marriott Gold, Lots of Ex-statuses
Posts: 318
Another question from me. Given that LH F only releases 14 days before, how can we book that for a mini-RTW? Do you just book J and call back later for F? I saw a poster say to do that in May '17, but has anyone actually done that and had AC upgrade them to the F ticket at no cost?

Also, am I interpreting the connections rule properly? I'd like to fly from LAX to MRU with stopovers in JNB and CGK. Here's what I was thinking:

LAX-ICN-(SIN)-CGK (stop)-(BKK)-(HKG)-JNB-MRU (destination)-JNB (stop)-NYC-LAX

My thinking was that ICN-CGK doesn't have non-stops in J, so I can book ICN-SIN-CGK in F but count ICN-CGK distance. Similarly, CGK-MRU doesn't have non-stops, so I can do CGK-BKK-HKG-JNB-MRU. I want to return to JNB to actually stop-over after MRU, and then continue onto LAX via a variety of options (IST, FRA, MUC, NYC, etc.)

But the total distance for the LAX-MRU leg is ~20K, with MPM being ~18.5K according to the other thread. So this only works if I'm ignoring the connections. Is that allowed by the rules, or do I have to re-route?

Last edited by Rowyourboat; Mar 6, 2018 at 10:20 pm
Rowyourboat is offline  
Old Mar 6, 2018, 11:15 pm
  #1755  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: YVR to SEA
Posts: 2,535
You need to redo that. All connection points count against you
crimsona is offline  


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