radoak

has anyone seen a market fare from east coast to yyc or yeg anytime under 55 000 aeroplan miles ever , why i ask is i have 2 market fare flights have to use by nov thought about flying out west to see my daughter been checking all winter right up to nov and every date i see is over 55000 miles or higher , can book reg fare for 25000 for a lot of same dates , my market fare is 24,900 dont mind useing more miles for flight , but not double the miles

Low Roller

I think you're going to have a hard time getting those flights for close to 25,000 points unless AC has a really great sale, especially if you don't have aeroplan status.Since market fares are based on price, the best way to check is to use the Air Canada site. Find the lowest priced dates and then check what aeroplan wants for those flights (since AC shows prices for over a week at a time instead of having to check each date separately. I saw some YHZ--YEG in June for $556 return. This translated to 36800 points with my silver discount or 46,000 without.

radoak

i know market fares are based on price , but still find it crazy that middle of winter was still 50,00 to over 60,000 to fly out west , were not talking about florida , can book flight right now middle of july yhz to yyc for 25,000 yet market fare is 69,0000 for same flight times ,taxes are cheaper but still doesnt make sense to me .can see if u could not get a flight for those dates but to charge over dlb the miles something not right.

RangerNS

The theory of "free" travel from points is based on there being "unsellable" capacity. Market Rate redemptions thus are digging into the "sellable" pool of capacity, and so your points are competing with cold hard cash.

Air Canada general is very generous in allocating reward seats, if not on particular flights. Among the best, globally. And you can also use points like cash and tap into anything, at cash prices.

There are no specials to be had for market based rewards, outside of the status based discounts.

RangerNS

The theory of "free" travel from points is based on there being "unsellable" capacity. Market Rate redemptions thus are digging into the "sellable" pool of capacity, and so your points are competing with cold hard cash.

Air Canada general is very generous in allocating reward seats, if not on particular flights. Among the best, globally. And you can also use points like cash and tap into anything, at cash prices.

There are no specials to be had for market based rewards, outside of the status based discounts.

YEG USER

Assuming you’re rebooking something you’d previously cancelled.

What was your original origin/destination?

radoak

was flying yhz to phx got a good flight with market fare , never thought i have to cancel , know i can get market fare to few places with same miles i used ,but when i started checking for flight out west was just a bit suprised of the miles u needed for market fare flights when there is a lot of reg fare flights for same dates.

YEG USER

As was mentioned by someone else, all market fares do is allow you to purchase a revenue seat using miles instead of cash (I don't know what the ratio is, but its likely something like 1 Aeroplan mile equals 1 cent). You can't compare classic award mileage rates and market fares as they're apples and oranges, as the classic rewards come from a separate inventory - typically of seats they don't anticipate selling (or are less likely to sell) on specific flights.

At the time you purchased your ticket to phx, there was likely a seat sale, etc. which reduced the number of miles needed for market fare. Domestic flights within Canada are often more expensive than equivalent flight length to US, so it isn't surprising to me that you can't get a market fare reward out west for the same number of miles as your phx ticket.

You'd likely have been much better off to buy a revenue ticket (which is my general philosophy with regards to market fare tix as there can be much more value to be had with classic rewards), unless there was another reason why you'd prefer to conserve your cash. Since you need to rebook your trip using market fare rewards, keep an eye out for seat sales and choose a destination accordingly.

Another thing to consider, I'm not sure what the cash portion of the ticket might have been for taxes/fees/etc. You might want to consider forfeiting the ticket and trying to get your taxes/fees back. You might be further ahead doing that than paying the Aeroplan change fees, etc.