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Question: Frustrated--rarely find good flights any more--any tips?

Question: Frustrated--rarely find good flights any more--any tips?

Old Nov 1, 2016, 11:44 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 305
Originally Posted by grandgourmand
With Aeroplan you need to figure out if the system works with your most likely travel habits. If I was regularly looking at YYZ-LAX or YYZ-YVR or YYZ/YVR-LHR etc...planning on point redemptions might not make the most sense. Popular routes that AC can dominate just won't be as available using points.
I find it ironic that you say this, considering I have redeemed 4 rt flights this year on such AC dominant routes (YYZ-YVR and YYZ-SFO). All about 1-3 weeks in advance, and all in such a way that when push came to shove, I wasn't terribly flexible with dates either. For some of these, I was keen on not just specific dates, but very specific times, too. And got them!

The key, in my short experience, is persistence. When timeframes are around 1 week in advance, availability may pop up tomorrow even if it was not there yesterday. I was checking their stupid website obsessively every few hours.

I must admit though that this strategy is hard to implement if you're planning a vacation and need to give ample notice to your employer, or if you are concerned about hotel availability and pricing.

Now that I think about it though, most hotels actually have very generous cancellation policies, so you can book a hotel for your target date, see if airfare shows up, and if it doesn't, oh well, cancel hotel, follow plan B.
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Old Nov 1, 2016, 12:23 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by martzipan
I find it ironic that you say this, considering I have redeemed 4 rt flights this year on such AC dominant routes (YYZ-YVR and YYZ-SFO). All about 1-3 weeks in advance, and all in such a way that when push came to shove, I wasn't terribly flexible with dates either. For some of these, I was keen on not just specific dates, but very specific times, too. And got them!

The key, in my short experience, is persistence. When timeframes are around 1 week in advance, availability may pop up tomorrow even if it was not there yesterday. I was checking their stupid website obsessively every few hours.

I must admit though that this strategy is hard to implement if you're planning a vacation and need to give ample notice to your employer, or if you are concerned about hotel availability and pricing.

Now that I think about it though, most hotels actually have very generous cancellation policies, so you can book a hotel for your target date, see if airfare shows up, and if it doesn't, oh well, cancel hotel, follow plan B.
I'm glad to be wrong. I really don't know the availability trend of these routes, as I don't look at them too often. Sounds like pretty available within a shorter time frame, but what about 350 days out...for the planners?

But yeah, persistence is 100% right. Not just with Aeroplan, but with pretty much all award programs. Even ones that are usually regularly available can change over night, so you need to be able to adapt. It's part of the fun, but it's also stressful so I can understand why most people wouldn't want to bother with Aeroplan.
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Old Nov 1, 2016, 1:15 pm
  #33  
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Programs: United MileagePlus Silver, Nexus, Global Entry
Posts: 8,798
Originally Posted by adam.smith
If you don't fly a lot and don't accumulate a lot of points such that you get Aeroplan status, you may want to consider switching to something like an Avion card
Yep - I live in Canada and collect actual-travel miles to United (for United status), so I'm leaving Aeroplan for Avion once the renewal fee on my TD Aeroplan Visa comes up.
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Old Nov 1, 2016, 2:16 pm
  #34  
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Toronto ON and Dunedin FL
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 57
Originally Posted by adam.smith
What's wrong with booking a one-way? The cost of a one-way Aeroplan booking is equal to 50% of the round-trip cost. If you like what you can get in one direction, you can book Aeroplan that way, then buy a revenue ticket the other direction. Or sit around and wait to see what opens up and either book a second one-way Aeroplan ticket.

You could also book a round trip Aeroplan award, but continue monitoring the leg you don't like to see if something better opens up later, then make a change at that time.
Yes, I guess so. One way revenue fares are sensibly priced these days I guess? Don't like paying penalties for changing reward flights, however. And those penalties are going up soon, btw.

Originally Posted by martzipan
I find it ironic that you say this, considering I have redeemed 4 rt flights this year on such AC dominant routes (YYZ-YVR and YYZ-SFO). All about 1-3 weeks in advance, and all in such a way that when push came to shove, I wasn't terribly flexible with dates either. For some of these, I was keen on not just specific dates, but very specific times, too. And got them!

The key, in my short experience, is persistence. When timeframes are around 1 week in advance, availability may pop up tomorrow even if it was not there yesterday. I was checking their stupid website obsessively every few hours.

I must admit though that this strategy is hard to implement if you're planning a vacation and need to give ample notice to your employer, or if you are concerned about hotel availability and pricing.

Now that I think about it though, most hotels actually have very generous cancellation policies, so you can book a hotel for your target date, see if airfare shows up, and if it doesn't, oh well, cancel hotel, follow plan B.
Good for you. Unfortunately I'm talking about vacation dates that have little or no flexibility--not because of work, but because of cruises booked, usually. In the case of Tahiti next year, we will fly (hopefully) AF Premium Economy. They only fly three times a week, LAX-PPT. So fly out of YYZ on Monday, spend the night with friends, then fly to PPT on Tuesday night, arrive Wednesday morning, board the boat on Saturday, with 3 nights pre-cruise at a hotel. Fly back to LAX on the last morning of the cruise, arrive in the late afternoon, on a Wednesday. So it's either a redeye to Toronto or stay overnight and fly out on the morning of Thursday the 19th. At that point don't want to stick around for more days.

I foolishly thought I could grab some biz reward flights for those days--I've managed to do it before.
Waiting until a week before doesn't work for me, especially when I want to book my AF flights months in advance.
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Old Nov 1, 2016, 4:59 pm
  #35  
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Originally Posted by WWannabe
Yes, I guess so. One way revenue fares are sensibly priced these days I guess? Don't like paying penalties for changing reward flights, however. And those penalties are going up soon, btw.
Fares within North America on AC or US carriers are priced as one-ways. Other than occasional idiosyncrasies like point of sales and sales taxes, a return trip costs the same as two one-ways. So, really the only disadvantage to you in booking a one-way reward and a one-way revenue ticket is that it could possibly (but not definitely) cost you more to change/cancel should you need to do so.

Good for you. Unfortunately I'm talking about vacation dates that have little or no flexibility--not because of work, but because of cruises booked, usually.

[...]

I foolishly thought I could grab some biz reward flights for those days--I've managed to do it before.
Waiting until a week before doesn't work for me, especially when I want to book my AF flights months in advance.
I'm not sure what you have in mind from the past, but I remember even 10 years ago when I started paying attention to Aeroplan, it wasn't easy to just snag seats on whatever flight I wanted, whether economy or business. Easier than today, perhaps, but I remember flying YYC-YOW-YYZ-YUL-YYC in 2007 to get economy award seats for a weekend trip to Toronto, because that's what was available.

Understood you may not want to wait until a week in advance given you have pretty fixed plans, but is there really a ton of downside to waiting a bit to see whether more award seats open up? The price of revenue tickets may go up in the meantime, but nearly 12 months out, they're unlikely to skyrocket quickly. You could monitor the award availability for a few months and see what opens up before pulling the trigger on revenue tickets.
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Old Nov 2, 2016, 7:58 am
  #36  
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Toronto ON and Dunedin FL
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Posts: 57
Originally Posted by adam.smith
...
... is there really a ton of downside to waiting a bit to see whether more award seats open up? ...
No, which is why I said I would do exactly that.

I've just been schooled to look for reward flights as soon as the dates open up. So I do.
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Old Nov 2, 2016, 1:56 pm
  #37  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 259
Originally Posted by WWannabe
Yes, I guess so. One way revenue fares are sensibly priced these days I guess? Don't like paying penalties for changing reward flights, however. And those penalties are going up soon, btw.



Good for you. Unfortunately I'm talking about vacation dates that have little or no flexibility--not because of work, but because of cruises booked, usually. In the case of Tahiti next year, we will fly (hopefully) AF Premium Economy. They only fly three times a week, LAX-PPT. So fly out of YYZ on Monday, spend the night with friends, then fly to PPT on Tuesday night, arrive Wednesday morning, board the boat on Saturday, with 3 nights pre-cruise at a hotel. Fly back to LAX on the last morning of the cruise, arrive in the late afternoon, on a Wednesday. So it's either a redeye to Toronto or stay overnight and fly out on the morning of Thursday the 19th. At that point don't want to stick around for more days.

I foolishly thought I could grab some biz reward flights for those days--I've managed to do it before.
Waiting until a week before doesn't work for me, especially when I want to book my AF flights months in advance.
For getting to Tahiti: Try looking at United Flights from SFO to AKL (direct), and then trying for a Air NZ flight to PPT. Getting to SFO is a breeze from YYZ too.

I'm starting to piece this exact trip myself for a Windstar Cruise, and have found lots of SFO-AKL flights. I quite enjoyed the United layflat beds in J.

The only problem I am finding is getting my AKL-PPT flight - I may have to buy this one, and not use AP miles. Perhaps Virgin.

Anyways - just a suggestion. I also tend to look for 1 way flights only - I find it MUCH easier to piece together my itinerary.
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Old Nov 2, 2016, 2:47 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Toddcan
For getting to Tahiti: Try looking at United Flights from SFO to AKL (direct), and then trying for a Air NZ flight to PPT. Getting to SFO is a breeze from YYZ too.

I'm starting to piece this exact trip myself for a Windstar Cruise, and have found lots of SFO-AKL flights. I quite enjoyed the United layflat beds in J.

The only problem I am finding is getting my AKL-PPT flight - I may have to buy this one, and not use AP miles. Perhaps Virgin.

Anyways - just a suggestion. I also tend to look for 1 way flights only - I find it MUCH easier to piece together my itinerary.
Well, the tip about one-way flights is a good one, I will take it to heart.

As for flying to AKL, this makes no sense to me. PPT is an 8-hour flight from LAX. SFO-AKL is 12 hours. Granted the flatbeds on United have a good rep, but...then you have a 5 hour flight back to Tahiti.

I find the Air France flights to Tahiti from LAX good because they have a Premium Economy class, which is bearable for us. Just have to accomodate to a 3-flights per week schedule, but that just means staying longer in paradise. This search is for a Paul Gauguin cruise, our 6th.
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Old Nov 3, 2016, 2:11 am
  #39  
cur
 
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aeroplan is only good for the rtw, mini rtw, short haul 15k redemptions, or long haul business class roundtrips, particularly with origins/destinations that aren't canada.

nonstop yyzlax in j, ya you're going to have problems and you need to be flexible to be happy

so maybe do switch to a program where yes you have to spend more but you will get what you want
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Old Nov 3, 2016, 9:04 am
  #40  
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If OP has Amex MR points then transfer them to DL and book a premium award with them. Or to CX or BA and book one with AA. YYZ-LAX is one of the most in-demand routes for awards, particularly when premium seats are rationed. A connection through YVR or YUL shouldn't be considered unreasonable under such circumstances (and via YVR could be in a layflat seat).
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Old Nov 3, 2016, 10:37 am
  #41  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 259
Originally Posted by WWannabe
As for flying to AKL, this makes no sense to me. PPT is an 8-hour flight from LAX. SFO-AKL is 12 hours. Granted the flatbeds on United have a good rep, but...then you have a 5 hour flight back to Tahiti.

I find the Air France flights to Tahiti from LAX good because they have a Premium Economy class, which is bearable for us. Just have to accomodate to a 3-flights per week schedule, but that just means staying longer in paradise. This search is for a Paul Gauguin cruise, our 6th.
My suggestion considered only that you will have Aeroplan miles - which does not have Air France as a partner. It's nice that you have that option. I'd love to fly to PPT from SFO, or LAX, but those flights are near-impossible on AP rewards. I don't mind a 12-13 hour flight when I can sleep comfortably in a lay flat.

Enjoy your cruise!
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Old Nov 14, 2016, 8:12 am
  #42  
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Okay, so I booked a one-way fare YYZ-LAX just now, on the advice of people here, so thanks. It's direct, business, so I'll keep looking for a return flight. At the moment they have only ones that fly through Montreal, which would be acceptable, but not ideal, so I'll wait.

As for the Tahiti flights, not trying to do this with a reward flight. I've been told now that Air France is using a plane with flatbed business on the Paris-LAX-PPT route, so I'm thinking of booking Business going out (overnight), and PE or even Economy coming back (during the day.)

Thanks for all the help and encouragement.
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