flyyguyy

So we all know you can use hidden city tickets to get to places like Istanbul for less than the required 37,500 Aeroplan miles. You just buy a 30,000 miles ticket to a European city, opt for Turkish Airlines with a layover in Istanbul, and then simply get out.

But are there limitations to how far you can push this logic?

For example, can I do the same thing by buying a 30,000 miles ticket to Europe that connects through Delhi, the Air India hub? That would get me to Delhi (normally 50,000 miles) for just 30,000.

Or what about buying a ticket to Europe with EVA Air, or Air China, or Singapore Airlines going through their hub cities (Taipei, Beijing, Singapore). That would get us to those cities (normally 40,000+ miles) for just 30,000.

These routings don't show up in the Aeroplan search results, but are they even possible? Could I stitch together something like YYZ-DEL-FCO or YVR-PEK-ATH and then call the Aeroplan contact center to make it happen? Or is there some rule that would prevent these trips from working at all? Thanks.

Sean Peever

How far can you push it? it depends on how deep your pockets are for legal fees.

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/2...icketing?__c=1

https://www.godsavethepoints.com/ski...-legal-battle/

https://www.travelweekly.com/Mark-Pe...en-city-flying

ChrisA330

Search the forum for MPM.

expert7700

this thread will put a damper on your hidden city / skiplagged idea:

Aeroplan call centre can no longer book specific segments?

MPM isn't the only enemy anymore, it is many/most agents unable or unwilling to piece together trips or book things not shown on aeroplan.com

Stranger

None of these look particularly convincing BTW. LH lost but apparently is appealing. None of them refers to AC either.

This said, I suspect since the OP is talking about rewards, in which case it's more or less a non-issue. Furthermore, talking rewards, there probably would be very few itineraries where this applies. Aren't rewards miles requirements normally based upon the point where the miles required are highest?

Sean Peever

The point was more that airlines will go after people who abuse it (if they win or not still seems to be up for debate). AC has proven in the past it will go after people who seem to abuse the system (something about some kind of intoxicated package).

Sopwith

So it’s okay for the airlines to work the system to their advantage, but not the customers?

Sean Peever

I don't believe I said it was right or wrong.

canadiancow

The highest cost STOP. If it's just a connection, it doesn't count.

RangerNS

It sounds like a good way to clear out your usable miles down to 0.

Sopwith

I wasn't suggesting you did. Merely pointing out the collective mentality of the airline industry.

flyyguyy

Thanks, I had been thinking about MPM, but wasn't 100% sure how it would apply here.

Still, there are some itineraries that seem interesting that I don't really see anyone talking about. For example, the MPM on YVR-ATH is 10,097 miles. Gcmap.com gives the distance on YVR-DEL-ATH at 10,037 miles (here). So does that mean the itinerary would be valid, and I could call in to stitch it together?

Thanks for pointing this out. Thoughts on whether it's a real change or just a function of the Aeroplan/AC technology debacle?

tcook052

A question best posed in the linked thread.

ChrisA330

If you could find a routing that was exactly YVR-DEL-ATH, it would be valid. I don't believe there is a *A carrier servicing DEL-ATH, so you'd need to connect somewhere. Just by adding a connection in IST makes it exceed MPM.

And as already mentioned, calling it in to feel the segments to the agent is not as easy as it once was.

flyyguyy

You're right. I thought I had a *A flight from DEL-ATH, but I was wrong.

With that said, removing ATH entirely and going YVR-DEL-IST comes in at 9,776 miles, just below the 9,920 MPM for YVR-IST, so that should work. The tough part will be finding award space on AC44 from YVR-DEL. There's plenty of availability on United, but I haven't found any on Aeroplan so far.