jlh16

Hi all,

I'm new to FT so I apologize if this is the wrong place to be posting. I was hoping for some help in booking flights to Southeast Asia from Calgary this summer with Aeroplan points. I'll be in Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam for just over a month. I was thinking Singapore would be the best city to fly in and out but I am flexible on this.

Currently, I'm sitting on around 130k Aeroplan points. I have been eyeing United or Singapore Airlines flights to try to reduce surcharges but this is where things get difficult. For example, on June 7 I can fly UA 5314 from YYC to SFO, then UA 1 from SFO to SIN. I see both of these flights on United's MileagePlus website but then when I go on to Aeroplan's, I don't see it.

Is there a better way to be booking a YYC-SIN flight using Aeroplan points while still reducing surcharges? Can I book United flights using Aeroplan points even if they don't show up on Aeroplan's search?

Thanks in advanced!

eigenvector

It's notoriously difficult to find award space on the SFO-SIN direct flight, I wouldn't be surprised if United is blocking it from partner programs. There's no other 1 stop options from YYC, but for June 7 I see space on EVA SFO-TPE-SIN, UA/SQ via PVG, KIX or even SYD (!). These are all minimal surcharge flights. Since you are going on a long trip you may view an all-day layover in Taipei or Osaka as a welcome addition to your trip. This is by searching SFO-SIN rather than YYC-SIN, the latter will give you a bunch of high surcharge Air Canada flights.

yytleisure

On united.com only saver awards are available to Aeroplan.

Search scam charges on this forum and you'll find ways to avoid them.

CanuckFlyHigh

YVR - TPE - SGN is an excellent option! Only 2ish hour layover in TPE there, and 3.5 on way home. Good biz class product.

Jma12

I think NH flies to SIN also, I have seen them releasing F within 7 days from ORD. But you will need to do 2 stops in ORD and NRT.
SQ does not release J to their partners unless it is intra-Asia, and SIN-PER/MEL/CPH/IST routes

quantumofforce

a nice feature of Aeroplan is you can stop in a city on the way to/from and even do an open jaw as well.

So you could do the flight to SGN, then book a local low cost carrier LCC or Ultra LCC flight from SGN to SIN if you can't find award space for SGN-SIN. Then on the way hame do another stop in TPE, TYO, ITM, KIX, HKG, or even the west coast connection if through the US.

You can also consider flying back through IST, (FRA, CDG or LHR too but they will likely have higher fees/taxes)

Adam Smith

Not even close. One-stop options on *A from YYC are:

• via SFO (AC/UA-UA)
• via NRT (AC-NH/SQ)
• via LHR (AC-SQ)
• via FRA (AC-SQ/LH)
• via ZRH (WK-SQ/LX) - not sure whether the WK flight is redeemable with Aeroplan. It's not part of a *A, but I dug up some posts on here from a few years ago where people were saying it was showing up on AE.

Not to mention that if miles prove impossible for OP and a revenue ticket is considered, PEK and AMS are opened up, as well as BA through LHR.

OP, in addition to the good suggestions in the posts above, you could consider UA SFO-NRT then NH/SQ NRT-SIN.

It may also be that SIN isn't the easiest jumping-off point. If you shared more about the places you're planning to visit and timing we may be able to offer more precise advice. Remember too that Aeroplan offers two free stopovers on international itineraries. This could mean, for example, that you could do something like:

• YYC-NRT-BKK (stop)
• BKK-SIN (stop/turnaround)
• SIN-Vietnam (stop)
• Vietnam-wherever-YYC

All for the same mileage as YYC-xxx-SIN-xxx-YYC.

(It sounds like you have a other destinations in mind and that's fine, you can just buy separate tickets for those, e.g. arrive SIN on Aeroplan on June 15, fly to Indonesia on June 17-20 on a cheap revenue ticket, then fly out of SIN on the Aeroplan ticket on June 21).

jerryhung

I think someone (@seks) posted a mRTW itinerary from YYC to Asia 2 as well, worth a look. found it at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28087949-post2538.html


Check out my signature thread too

Get to Asia 2 first and fly your own on discount airlines/LCC

Also, may as well make it to 155K AP miles to fly in Business class!!
Get some credit cards!

eigenvector

Sorry, my post wasn't accurate. What I was thinking is there are no other low/zero YQ one stop options from YYC since that was one of the criteria that OP mentioned. To fly internationally on a no YQ *A airline from YYC you are making at least one stop in North America and only SFO gets you to SIN without another stop at least until SIN-LAX resumes.
​​​

Adam Smith

Ah, okay, yes, 100% with you there. Those other routes will definitely have much higher YQ, except the ZRH one if it's bookable, which I doubt.

Oh, and OP, welcome to FT!

seks

I just noticed I got mentioned

The trip that I took (Apr 27 - May 24) actually got changed to

YYC-LAX (AC)
LAX-TPE (BR) stop
TPE-BKK (TG) stop (booked cheap flights between Thailand and Cambodia)
BKK-ICN (OZ)
ICN-YVR (AC) <=- The service in J is so bleh compare to BR and OZ. But I was curious about flying in a 787. Should have just done ICN-LAX instead with OZ.
YVR-YYC (AC)

It seems like the surcharges/taxes would be $583.91 (got some surcharges/taxes back). I didn't include the change fee in the total.