Best use of 100,000 Aerplan points
 

Hello! I would imagine that 100,000 Aeroplan points is a pittance in comparison to what most you can earn/spend but I would like to use these up in 2014 and would very much appreciate your advice.

When searching for flights from Canada to various destinations that I can go to with only that many points, and wishing to fly somewhere in Business or First class (since I've never done that in my adult life), I am finding that AP bounces me all over the continent/globe to get me to my final destination, and the only flight in Biz/First is the shortest flight! :mad:

So I'm thinking that a flight isn't probably the best use of my miles. So then I'm thinking about using them for a Fairmont hotel stay (2 or 3 nights max it seems at a Category A or B property). Doesn't seem like the best use of the miles either.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

I would like to use them for a trip, but if it doesn't seem worthwhile, do you have any other ideas? Thanks Folks, for your advice!

Where are you based?

Assuming you´re based on North America, I´d use the 100k points for a business class award to Europe and take full advantage of the 2 stopovers + destination allowance.

Using AE miles for hotel stays isn´t a particularly great deal.

I agree.. If in North America then Europe sounds like the best bet. Try and use SWISS (LX) across the Atlantic, they have no fuel surcharge.

Business class flights are still the best value, by far, for your Aeroplan points, if you do it right. Redeeming for hotel stays is a waste of points.

In business class, you can go to Europe for 90k, or around the world for 125k (mini-RTW). In addition to your destination, you can also have two stopovers.

Aeroplan website search is useless. You need to build your itinerary segment by segment yourself by looking for available seats using various tools (ANA, LifeMiles, United, etc.) Or, if you tell us your departure city and approximate dates and destinations, I could look up what's available and give you some ideas. Then you will need to call Aeroplan to book your custom itinerary.

Wow! You folks are fantastic! I'm impressed with your knowledge and advice! I am based in Calgary. I don't have any dates in mind yet, though it would probably be June July August or September. I've never been to Europe, but have always wanted to visit the UK, Amsterdam, Italy, and Greece. So any date in that period and any of those destinations and I'd be a happy camper! Thanks again for all your help!

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with this perk: destination allowance. Could you please elaborate?

Sorry for being unclear: You are allowed to have two stopovers in addition to your destination (= stay in three different places on one award)

Example, all in business class:

June 15 YYC-YUL AC160
June 15 YUL-ZRH LX87
June 16 ZRH-FCO LX1726
Stop in Rome
June 22 FCO-CPH SK682
Stop in Copenhagen
June 29 CPH-AMS SK553
Stop in Amsterdam
July 4 AMS-WAW LO266
July 4 WAW-YYZ LO45
July 4 YYZ-YYC AC145

Alternatively, you sign up for Amex Gold, which will give you 20k free Aeroplan miles, and you will have enough to book a mini-RTW in business class, for example:

Calgary - Thailand
Thailand - Amsterdam
Amsterdam - Rome
Rome - Calgary

Lots of options. Maximize your miles by using them for long haul business class travel on nice airlines, don't use them for anything else.

To OP, just study the Aeroplan Reward Chart and see where you want to go
http://www4.aeroplan.com/FlightRewardChart.do

But 90K for NA-Europe in Business class is probably your best value
or like above said, find a way to get 25K AMEX MR by 12/31/2013 an book trip to Asia 1 in Business for 125K (starting 1/1/2014, it'll be 150K to Asia)

Definitely go find the extra 25k miles through a credit card bonus (either AmEx or one of the Aeroplan ones) and travel to Asia too. You can have multiple <24 hours stops plus your destination and two stopovers mentioned above, so you can really see the world!

I'm currently in Copenhagen on a trip that included Beijing, Copenhagen, Malmo (by train) and will include Warsaw too - 125k all in business class. Last year I did San Francisco (24 hours), Seoul, Hong Kong (10 hours), Bangkok, Tokyo and Washington DC (12 hours) all for 125k miles all in business class.

Flying via Taipei is useful as the airline involved (Eva) has no fuel surcharges. They will fly you Vancouver to Taipei to Bangkok to Amsterdam or London (or the other direction if you want to start in Europe first).

Best to search by individual flight leg (e.g. search for Vancouver-Taipei, then for Taipei-Bangkok as a separate flight), and use Flisea.com (set up an ANA account and give it the details) to search.

(Spectator to the thread: I am totally coming back to you guys when the time comes for me to cash in my accumulating points!)

great topic, we have only 108K miles left after our current trip. 90K would be a sweet way to burn most of them up. europe has been our favourite (and most travelled) destination by far.

thanks for the advice.

Not sure how many points you have but keep in mind "jerryhung's" point of the increase in booking to Asia1 in the New Year. You can book most flights up to 325 days out (somewhere around there). So should be able to fly in September/October under the old rates.

Only 17k miles left? Apply for an AmEx card - gets you to 127k and so you can add Asia to your trip for free.