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
Nov 25, 2020, 9:35 am
#1021
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, Bonvoy, Alaska, Avios
Posts: 1,290
Looking at YYZ-YUL-CZM in J a few weeks.
If I take the 23:30 flight to YUL it's all in J @ 21.8k
A more reasonable 21:00 flight is now in Y @ 19.9k (YUL-CZM still in J)
Yet if I look at just YYZ-YUL both evening flights are 15.1k
My understanding is of the old system so I'm confused as to why the earlier flight is booking into Y when it shows as available? Admittedly I'm not super bothered as I've got MLL passes to use and I got the 70lb bag limit (scuba gear is heavy)
I'm not sure I could even call in a later time to as the way I used to check shows the J flight as currently available.... I have eUps as I'm 25k but I have limited understanding of how they work.
If I take the 23:30 flight to YUL it's all in J @ 21.8k
A more reasonable 21:00 flight is now in Y @ 19.9k (YUL-CZM still in J)
Yet if I look at just YYZ-YUL both evening flights are 15.1k
My understanding is of the old system so I'm confused as to why the earlier flight is booking into Y when it shows as available? Admittedly I'm not super bothered as I've got MLL passes to use and I got the 70lb bag limit (scuba gear is heavy)
I'm not sure I could even call in a later time to as the way I used to check shows the J flight as currently available.... I have eUps as I'm 25k but I have limited understanding of how they work.
Nov 25, 2020, 9:56 am
#1022
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: 44,357
Every seat is always available, but I suspect J on the 2100 would price astronomically high, so they're offering you Y at a more reasonable rate.
eUps on mixed cabin could be interesting.
I have booked, for tomorrow, YVR-YEG-YYZ-YOW as a J lowest redemption, with YEG-YYZ in Y. This was 133,500 points as SE with a black card.
It came out booked in I / Y / J, with a fare basis of JAEROEL/AE1 everywhere.
The eUp website will not let me upgrade YEG-YYZ, which is interesting, given they've said all redemptions would be upgradeable.
It makes sense in general for a business fare to not be upgradeable, because if this were a revenue ticket, I could just call and and have them move me into the available J space (there is definitely space).
However, attempting check-in gave me a different eUpgrade interface that allowed me to request an upgrade for 4 credits, matching the Latitude redemption amount.
There was an error "Your flight is not available for check-in at this time.", because THAT flight isn't within 24 hours, even though the first one is, but I'm optimistic it would work.
Edit: I bet calling in would give you some luck ahead of check-in if you run into that issue.
eUps on mixed cabin could be interesting.
I have booked, for tomorrow, YVR-YEG-YYZ-YOW as a J lowest redemption, with YEG-YYZ in Y. This was 133,500 points as SE with a black card.
It came out booked in I / Y / J, with a fare basis of JAEROEL/AE1 everywhere.
The eUp website will not let me upgrade YEG-YYZ, which is interesting, given they've said all redemptions would be upgradeable.
It makes sense in general for a business fare to not be upgradeable, because if this were a revenue ticket, I could just call and and have them move me into the available J space (there is definitely space).
However, attempting check-in gave me a different eUpgrade interface that allowed me to request an upgrade for 4 credits, matching the Latitude redemption amount.
There was an error "Your flight is not available for check-in at this time.", because THAT flight isn't within 24 hours, even though the first one is, but I'm optimistic it would work.
Edit: I bet calling in would give you some luck ahead of check-in if you run into that issue.
Last edited by canadiancow; Nov 25, 2020 at 10:38 am
Nov 25, 2020, 12:09 pm
#1023
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Programs: AC SE100K MM, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, Accor Diamond, National Emerald Club Exec Elite
Posts: 1,085
Had my first 7000 or so status points post today from credit card spend. My billing date was November 20 and they only credited status points for the spend between Nov 8th and the billing date it seems.
Unfortunately, it seems that we’ll have to keep aware of exactly what our balance is prior to a billing date as the activity page doesn’t show the transaction. The only thing that changed was the total, so there’s no way of knowing how many points they credited without keeping track of the pre-billing date total. Perhaps there’s a lag and it will show up on the activity page at some point.
Unfortunately, it seems that we’ll have to keep aware of exactly what our balance is prior to a billing date as the activity page doesn’t show the transaction. The only thing that changed was the total, so there’s no way of knowing how many points they credited without keeping track of the pre-billing date total. Perhaps there’s a lag and it will show up on the activity page at some point.
Nov 25, 2020, 1:59 pm
#1024
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Vancouver
Programs: AC SE100K 1MM, FB Platinum, Bonvoy Platinum Elite, IHG Gold Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,605
Is there a yearly max on credit card spend or can one actually get to SE with credit card spend (although I recognise this would be a spend of $500000)? I guess one will still need $20K in SQD in order to qualify but could you then rollover the miles?
Nov 25, 2020, 2:17 pm
#1025
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: 44,357
You'd need to hit the SQD requirement every year.
Nov 25, 2020, 3:07 pm
#1026
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Toronto, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, Bonvoy, Alaska, Avios
Posts: 1,290
Nov 25, 2020, 3:22 pm
#1027
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: Air Canada 50K, Marriott Gold,
Posts: 206
I am looking to redeem points in PE for YYZ-MUC-PMO outbound and then AMM-LHR-YYZ return for next year. AC only operates YYZ-MUC and LHR-YYZ out of those flights and so it looks like I can only redeem for those flights (no availability from Star Carriers onward) and then need to buy revenue tickets from LH and BA for the other 2 tickets, which AC does sell as well. Does anyone know if AC can link these all together so that if there are any delays or IRROPS I will be taken care of? Concerned about having them as separate bookings for this very reason.
Nov 25, 2020, 3:55 pm
#1028
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: YKZ
Programs: AC MM SE, Marriott Titanium - Lifetime Plat 2nd Class, National Executive, Avis PP
Posts: 682
What dates are you looking for ? I see YYZ-MUC-PMO in PE and J (to MUC, then Y on final leg). Also available through CPH (July 17th at least)
CC
CC
Nov 25, 2020, 4:21 pm
#1029
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: YYZ
Programs: Air Canada 50K, Marriott Gold,
Posts: 206
Nov 25, 2020, 4:44 pm
#1030
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Canada
Programs: Marriott LT Gold, IHG Club, Hertz Gold, Aeroplan, Avios, SkyMiles, Thrifty, AMEX
Posts: 985
Nov 25, 2020, 7:03 pm
#1031
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM SK EBG LATAM BL
Posts: 23,314
I am looking to redeem points in PE for YYZ-MUC-PMO outbound and then AMM-LHR-YYZ return for next year. AC only operates YYZ-MUC and LHR-YYZ out of those flights and so it looks like I can only redeem for those flights (no availability from Star Carriers onward) and then need to buy revenue tickets from LH and BA for the other 2 tickets, which AC does sell as well. Does anyone know if AC can link these all together so that if there are any delays or IRROPS I will be taken care of? Concerned about having them as separate bookings for this very reason.
You can redeem all the way to/from your destinations with the connecting legs in economy, all on one award ticket
Nov 26, 2020, 12:59 pm
#1032
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: YVR - MILLS Waypoint (It's the third house on the left)
Programs: AC*SE100K, wood level status in various other programs
Posts: 6,233
Is anyone else really carious to see what new partnerships they will announcing as per Mark Nasr tease in his recent interview?
I know it's not life impacting but I can only assume it could be an upside for the new program.
I know it's not life impacting but I can only assume it could be an upside for the new program.
Nov 26, 2020, 3:30 pm
#1033
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,734
Early money seems to be mainly on Qatar and Virgin Atlantic.
Nov 26, 2020, 3:36 pm
#1034
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: 44,357
Nov 26, 2020, 3:41 pm
#1035
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,734
I mean I have no complaints if they add that aromatherapy store that's in every mall, I'm just more interested in the airline ones.