Aeroplan Miles Sales - May 7-15th 2020
May 5, 2020, 1:47 pm
#31
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 395
I would be tempted - however with the uncertainty around when travel restrictions will be lifted combined with the Aeroplan relaunch, I just don't see this as a worthwhile risk/ "investment" at this time (for me). If I was 100% certain I could use them before the relaunch of Aeroplan, I would certainly buy some.
May 5, 2020, 1:54 pm
#32
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,282
I'm certainly thinking about it. I haven't made up my mind.
May 5, 2020, 2:16 pm
#34
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,702
In normal circumstances I'd agree but in the current situation it is hard to predict even a year or 18 months out where travel will be so the risk of having to cancel your travel is much higher than normal. I have redeemed six figures worth of points in past month for travel in late 2020 and early 2021 and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if all the trips end up not happening.
Last edited by 36902BRF; May 5, 2020 at 2:36 pm
May 5, 2020, 3:09 pm
#35
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,718
But like martyYOW and 36902BRF , I'm concerned about whether I'll be able to use them up in decent time. I'll have no problem redeeming them for something decent pretty quickly, but if that gets cancelled, I may end up getting back a bunch of points that are potentially worth less than they are now.
The cow has already sort of made the point that this is a drop in the bucket, but just for some context, in 2018, the last full year in which Aimia owned Aeroplan, Aeroplan sold almost $1.3 billion of points. Most points are sold to financial partners and AC/*A partners at a bit over 1 cpm, so let's assume 1.5 cpm. That gets you to over 85 billion Aeroplan miles sold in the year. They had a bit over 2 years' sales outstanding as deferred revenue (effectively, unredeemed points) at YE18, meaning something like 175 billion Aeroplan points in circulation at that time. So adding 100MM more miles, or even 1B more miles, doesn't really move the needle. (Those numbers will have moved around a bit since then, obviously, but they weren't terribly volatile in the previous years, so they should be decent enough for illustrative purposes).
A devaluation may be coming when the new Aeroplan launches (whenever that ends up happening), but it won't have anything to do with this promo.
May 5, 2020, 3:59 pm
#38
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: USA
Programs: AC SE100K, F9 100k, NK Gold, UA *S, Hyatt Glob, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 5,180
The price per mile looks good. Seems unwise to stockpile miles though when this was re-stated yesterday by AC:
"We’ll have a dynamic redemption structure but also a published chart for partner flights; (pushed back to Dec 2020)"
It says partner awards will still be fixed.. But tons of questions remain unanswered about the devaluation. (such as, if an itinerary starts or ends with an AC flight, will it use a dynamic $$$ structure or fixed structure).
"We’ll have a dynamic redemption structure but also a published chart for partner flights; (pushed back to Dec 2020)"
It says partner awards will still be fixed.. But tons of questions remain unanswered about the devaluation. (such as, if an itinerary starts or ends with an AC flight, will it use a dynamic $$$ structure or fixed structure).
Last edited by expert7700; May 5, 2020 at 4:06 pm
May 5, 2020, 4:42 pm
#40
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: トロント
Programs: IHG Gold
Posts: 4,813
In normal circumstances I'd agree but in the current situation it is hard to predict even a year or 18 months out where travel will be so the risk of having to cancel your travel is much higher than normal. I have redeemed six figures worth of points in past month for travel in late 2020 and early 2021 and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if all the trips end up not happening.
If I was sure I could book a long haul mini or similar in J, I would buy the points in a heart beat, but not going to do so this time around.
Hopefully when we put these COVID problems behind us, or at least on the back burner, there will be other opportunities for "deals". Here on FT we are obviously interested in flying, but a signinficant part of the general population is leery about flying at all. They have to entice those people back one way or the other. The other thing is a lot of the leisure market might be wiped out. Hard to book and pay for trips when you have lost your job, obtained mortgage relief or seen your small business fail.
May 5, 2020, 5:07 pm
#41
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,288
Exactly the problem, already stuck with hundreds of thousands of Aeroplan points moved over from AMEX for cancelled trips in 2020. No thanks to more Aeroplan with the upcoming devaluations fast approaching.
May 5, 2020, 6:51 pm
#42
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 315
same. Close to 7 figures sitting here in AP miles from canceled trips. And who knows how long this will last
May 5, 2020, 6:53 pm
#43
Moderator, Air Canada; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: YYC
Programs: AC SE MM, FB Plat, WS Plat, BA Silver, DL GM, Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 16,718
As an Altitude member, when you register for Travel at Home, 50% of the Aeroplan Miles you purchase (including any bonus miles earned) will count towards helping you get to the next Air Canada Altitude status or reach Altitude Prestige 25K.
EDIT: I see. There are two slightly different versions. There's the page dedicated to the offer to purchase miles, which is linked upthread, then there's the Travel at Home homepage, which has the language you posted. Hopefully the former is correct.
Last edited by Adam Smith; May 5, 2020 at 7:09 pm
May 5, 2020, 8:11 pm
#44
Suspended
Join Date: May 2019
Location: Chicago
Programs: ,united 1k, AA EXP, HH Diamond,BA gold, Hyatt globalist
Posts: 974
As someone who doesn’t use aeroplan miles to often. Does anyone have a best guess of what the cost to Europe in business class will be after air Canada takes over aeroplan. Because I still feel as though the value would be good if the cost stays quite reasonable <75k. What do you guys think?
May 5, 2020, 9:08 pm
#45
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: YXE
Programs: Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fraggle Rock
Posts: 123
I see. There are two slightly different versions. There's the page dedicated to the offer to purchase miles, which is linked upthread, then there's the Travel at Home homepage, which has the language you posted. Hopefully the former is correct.
