Happy

Question :

With so many airports involved in the proposed itinerary, wouldn't the airport taxes and fee could add up to match the cost of the YQ if flying AC on a more direct route?

Given it to me I would just take the train Paris to London, city center to city center instead of flying the CDG-BRU-LHR. Save a lot of time and probably not much more extra cost when you add the airport to CDG and LHR to town, plus the airport taxes on all 3 airports.

rankourabu

Yes, I would also just stop in CDG, and overland to London. A stopover in London would add taxes probably more than the cost of transport Paris-London.

Flying YVR-USA/YUL/YYZ-IST-FCO would be under $100 in tax.
Flying YVR-FCO on AC would be at least $70 in tax + $hundreds in YQ. Only taxes saved would be US taxes, in no way would they be negated by flying AC.

Happy

Here is a thought -

UA serves FCO from EWR, and seasonal from ORD and IAD.

UA also serves YVR-ORD, and seasonal YVR-EWR, and YVR-IAD.

So potentially it can cut IST from the outbound, if the seasonal service starts early enough, like early May.

Also on the overland portion, may be flying to LHR and then overland to Paris later. Fly home from CDG - that should cut the UK APD tax as I believe CDG taxes still are cheaper than LHR on departure.

I am thinking out loud as I have transferred some AMEX pts and redeemed the Marriott Travel Package to Aeroplan and plan to use it sometime next year for either a one-way EU-US or a mRTW. Just starting to pay attention to the intricacies of the program.

Grateful to have this thread. Wish it has a wiki for the no YQ partners and special situations that YQ is not charge such as any flights depart from HKG, or flights depart from Japan on ANA - those I believe dont have YQ. HKG due to the government forbids YQ. No idea on the scenario of Japan origin flights.

mia

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...rd-travel.html

laddielad

Does Aeroplan not show all the possible flights? Trying to find a simple one like YEG - ORD via United and then ORD to AMS via United but none of the direct flights for them show up in June/July.

Also JNB - SIN, in the same time period wanting to get the direct flight that SQ offers but none of this shows on Aeroplan??

rankourabu

If they are available as savers on united.com, Aeroplan can book them.
But no, they dont show you all options, especially where AC options exist.
AC wants the YQ.
You have to call in for $34.

crimsona

If Singapore Airlines is on a newer plane, they won't release seats to partners

TJ1010F

Is YYZ-IST on TK in business no longer a thing?
I just looked for availability in spring/summer of the upcoming year and I remember there used to be great availability on this route but no longer see it.

rankourabu

No, but USA-IST is wide open.
Last ticket I booked had to go YYZ-MIA-IST

jasdou

YUL-IST was pretty open also when I looked a few weeks ago.

Cerenity

In our experience, YYZ-IST was typically tougher to find availability vs YUL and US cities for TK.

jerryhung

Same here

YUL or ORD/JFK would be easier to find availability, for ex-East Coast
e.g. My trip to Turkey was YYZ-YUL-IST, IST-ORD-YYZ b/c YYZ-IST isn't available

However, I did see and book YYZ-IST for March 2018 in Y, in mid 2017

FlyerTalker70

I'm planning a trip to Europe using some Aeroplan points I accumulated. However, I noticed that the carrier surcharge varies greatly between airlines and even depending on connection points. Case in point: one itinerary has me connect in LHR (YYZ -> LHR on AC metal, LH to FRA) with the carrier surcharge being nearly $400. However, another itinerary I found which is AC direct to FRA has a much lower carrier surcharge (I believe around $200).I'm tempted to fly on UA given they don't impose a carrier surcharge (and I can use the benefits of my UA Gold like E+ seating) but it would mean connecting in EWR which I don't want to do (arguably the worst airport in USA)

Is there any rhyme or reason as to how these surcharges are calculated? Do certain airlines have a lower surcharge than others? Do certain airports impose a lower surcharge? Are there any strategies for reducing this if you absolutely positively must fly on one of these airlines?

Safe Travels,

James

pentiumvi

How to Save Money/YQ on Aeroplan Europe redemptions

See above link for some info.

No way to reduce carrier surcharges if you must fly on those airlines, except on Air Canada, and only if you have SE status.

longtimeflyin

Not really

If you book on a carrier that doesn't charge YQ and then after switch your flights after the first leg is flown to a carrier that does charge YQ then there is no recalculation and collection of additional taxes and such.