Aug 12, 2020, 12:02 am
Last edit by: Adam Smith
You must call in for stopovers, multi-city, or complicated routings, until the new booking system launches in 2021.
I hope others will significantly improve this wiki!
There are four zones: North America (inc Central), South America, Atlantic (including India and Western Russia), Pacific (inc Eastern Russia) and the chart is based which one you start from and which one you end up in, there's ten of these.
Cost is based on distance, which zone pair your flight is in, which class you are flying in.
Partner airlines (again) are a better deal because while Air Canada will calculate cost on a wide ranges but partner airlines are fixed to the bottom of the range.
YQ is eliminated. There's a 39 CAD fee for booking a ticket which contains a flight on a partner airline. Aside from this, there's no incentive any more to book a return flight it seems and every incentive not to.
Note: The partner booking fee is refundable, so it's basically a YQ, rather than a booking fee.
Most flights are devalued. However, the elimination of YQ sweetens this significantly. Within North America, a lot of flights became cheaper, YVR-HNL very significantly. YVR-TYO is much cheaper while YVR-AKL is a little cheaper.
A vastly more powerful booking system is promised for 2021.
There are a lot of new tricks to be learned. https://princeoftravel.com/blog/new-aeroplan-flight-rewards/ is a good start.
Information that is harder to find:
I hope others will significantly improve this wiki!
There are four zones: North America (inc Central), South America, Atlantic (including India and Western Russia), Pacific (inc Eastern Russia) and the chart is based which one you start from and which one you end up in, there's ten of these.
Cost is based on distance, which zone pair your flight is in, which class you are flying in.
Partner airlines (again) are a better deal because while Air Canada will calculate cost on a wide ranges but partner airlines are fixed to the bottom of the range.
YQ is eliminated. There's a 39 CAD fee for booking a ticket which contains a flight on a partner airline. Aside from this, there's no incentive any more to book a return flight it seems and every incentive not to.
Note: The partner booking fee is refundable, so it's basically a YQ, rather than a booking fee.
Most flights are devalued. However, the elimination of YQ sweetens this significantly. Within North America, a lot of flights became cheaper, YVR-HNL very significantly. YVR-TYO is much cheaper while YVR-AKL is a little cheaper.
A vastly more powerful booking system is promised for 2021.
There are a lot of new tricks to be learned. https://princeoftravel.com/blog/new-aeroplan-flight-rewards/ is a good start.
Information that is harder to find:
- SE IKK redemption from the old program can be changed ("within reason") without repricing. Dates, routings, no problem. Origin/destination should be fine. But nothing that would have required a repricing under the old program. This is from Mark Nasr in https://www.facebook.com/pointsmiles...44878252851420
- The "Activity" page only shows you the most recent ~48 transactions. See this post for information on how to get older data.
- A partial refund may not be possible (e.g. if you book RT and outbound flight is cancelled by you or AC, to delete the first flight segment, you have to cancel the entire ticket and rebook the inbound at a potentially higher fare. It seems supervisor can grant exceptions.)
2020 Air Canada Aeroplan Program
Aug 17, 2021, 8:25 am
#1531
Join Date: Jan 2021
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 459
Is YYZ-ORD-FRA-CPH a valid routing? I called in yesterday and the agent said it was over the maximum distance and the only way to make it work would be to book a separate YYZ-ORD flight which is pretty expensive at the moment for my selected date.
Aug 17, 2021, 8:49 am
#1532
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,346
Aug 17, 2021, 8:58 am
#1533
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,728
I still don't entirely understand what metrics are being used in the new program to tell an acceptable routing from an unacceptable one.
Aug 17, 2021, 9:23 am
#1534
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,346
Aug 17, 2021, 12:28 pm
#1535
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2009
Location: FRA / YEG
Programs: AC Super Elite, Radisson Platinum, Accor Platinum
Posts: 11,874
1) exceeding the non-stop distance by ~75% is pretty much never an issue.
2) there are very few itineraries where exceeding the non-stop distance by more than 100% is permitted (East Coast - Iceland via Europe would be the most common one).
Aug 17, 2021, 4:58 pm
#1536
Join Date: Jan 2021
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 459
Afaik AC management has previously confirmed that the "permitted mileage" roughly equals 200% of the non-stop distance in most cases, but there are no published rules and this is just a rough guideline. Based on my understanding / booking experience:
1) exceeding the non-stop distance by ~75% is pretty much never an issue.
2) there are very few itineraries where exceeding the non-stop distance by more than 100% is permitted (East Coast - Iceland via Europe would be the most common one).
1) exceeding the non-stop distance by ~75% is pretty much never an issue.
2) there are very few itineraries where exceeding the non-stop distance by more than 100% is permitted (East Coast - Iceland via Europe would be the most common one).
Aug 18, 2021, 7:24 am
#1537
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,728
If anything, this is a solid indication that the system isn't making exceptions for routes made unavailable by COVID or seasonal scheduling.
Aug 18, 2021, 8:03 am
#1538
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,346
Is there YYZ-LHR-KEF?
Going west, then overshooting way east, is the problem.
Assuming there's a KEF-LON/PAR/something-west, there should be no issue booking YYZ-KEF.
Going west, then overshooting way east, is the problem.
Assuming there's a KEF-LON/PAR/something-west, there should be no issue booking YYZ-KEF.
Aug 18, 2021, 11:07 am
#1540
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: YVR
Programs: AC*SE MM, Marriott Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 4,604
Has anyone gotten the CC Status Qualification Boost post recently? It's 1000 miles / 1 segment per every $5000 in spend for Premium cards and $10,000 for the regular cards. I had mine post like clockwork until June 10 (my billing date), but nothing for July or August. I have the CIBC Visa Infinite Privilege (bills are always paid in full each month).
Aug 18, 2021, 11:09 am
#1541
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 188
Has anyone gotten the CC Status Qualification Boost post recently? It's 1000 miles / 1 segment per every $5000 in spend for Premium cards and $10,000 for the regular cards. I had mine post like clockwork until June 10 (my billing date), but nothing for July or August. I have the CIBC Visa Infinite Privilege (bills are always paid in full each month).
Aug 18, 2021, 11:28 am
#1542
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,728
I just got mine.
Aug 18, 2021, 11:46 am
#1543
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: YYC
Programs: Aeroplan SE 100 IHG Plat Amb Nexus
Posts: 667
Premium credit card showing in AC App
I had my CIBC Aeroplan Visa infinite upgraded to Infinite Privilege but it still shows as crdit card holder in AC app same as before. Card number is the same. Will it automatically update and give any benefits or do I need to do anything. As card number didn't change thought it may not update properly.
Aug 18, 2021, 11:58 am
#1544
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Toronto, ON
Programs: AC 75K
Posts: 6,363
I had my CIBC Aeroplan Visa infinite upgraded to Infinite Privilege but it still shows as crdit card holder in AC app same as before. Card number is the same. Will it automatically update and give any benefits or do I need to do anything. As card number didn't change thought it may not update properly.
Aug 18, 2021, 12:14 pm
#1545
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: YYC
Programs: Aeroplan SE 100 IHG Plat Amb Nexus
Posts: 667