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
Apr 26, 2021, 1:09 am
#1381
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: 16,765
Apr 27, 2021, 3:57 am
#1382
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 290
I just booked 2 x MEL x YVR - YXC and return Jan, Feb 2022 in J for 330,800 + CA$313. The booking errored out on the payments page with a postcode issue (didn't seem able to handle a 4 digit Australian postcode), so had to call to book. Agent waived booking fee due to webpage error. I've been looking for a couple of months, and it appears that Australian awards have started to open up for just after Christmas now.
Apr 27, 2021, 9:01 pm
#1383
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: YVR
Programs: SE 100K
Posts: 934
I just booked 2 x MEL x YVR - YXC and return Jan, Feb 2022 in J for 330,800 + CA$313. The booking errored out on the payments page with a postcode issue (didn't seem able to handle a 4 digit Australian postcode), so had to call to book. Agent waived booking fee due to webpage error. I've been looking for a couple of months, and it appears that Australian awards have started to open up for just after Christmas now.
Do award prices tend to be cheaper for one way and return routings ex-AUS (AUS > CAN) than the other way around?
May 6, 2021, 1:11 am
#1385
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: 16,765
Some posts on SQD discrepancies have been moved to the thread dedicated to that topic.
Adam Smith
AC Forum Co-Moderator
Adam Smith
AC Forum Co-Moderator
May 6, 2021, 8:54 am
#1386
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
A couple of interesting comments posted today:
"The new Air Canada Aeroplan program lets members earn elite status through everyday activity, not just flying. Crediting shopping transactions, credit card spending, and other forms of points-earning can give you better treatment with Air Canada, and even incremental benefits with some of its partners – without ever setting foot on a plane
...........Earning status for things other than flying makes a lot of sense. Most things other than flying have higher margins than flying does. Selling miles is more profitable for an airline than selling seats. It’s strange in a way that this hasn’t fully caught on, since it isn’t a new idea. Fifteen years ago US Airways ran an end of year ‘Everything Counts’ promotion where members could mileage run with the airline’s partners instead of flying to achieve end of year status.
The limitation of Air Canada’s approach is that you can only earn the lowest tier of status this way – and doing so doesn’t give you a head start towards higher tiers, either. Earning upper status tiers through a combination of flying and other forms of program engagement seems like a next logical step, but they haven’t gotten there yet."
article
https://viewfromthewing.com/you-can-...ing-uber-eats/
"The new Air Canada Aeroplan program lets members earn elite status through everyday activity, not just flying. Crediting shopping transactions, credit card spending, and other forms of points-earning can give you better treatment with Air Canada, and even incremental benefits with some of its partners – without ever setting foot on a plane
...........Earning status for things other than flying makes a lot of sense. Most things other than flying have higher margins than flying does. Selling miles is more profitable for an airline than selling seats. It’s strange in a way that this hasn’t fully caught on, since it isn’t a new idea. Fifteen years ago US Airways ran an end of year ‘Everything Counts’ promotion where members could mileage run with the airline’s partners instead of flying to achieve end of year status.
The limitation of Air Canada’s approach is that you can only earn the lowest tier of status this way – and doing so doesn’t give you a head start towards higher tiers, either. Earning upper status tiers through a combination of flying and other forms of program engagement seems like a next logical step, but they haven’t gotten there yet."
article
https://viewfromthewing.com/you-can-...ing-uber-eats/
May 6, 2021, 9:57 am
#1387
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: ARN
Programs: AC, SK, Marriott
Posts: 1,150
The limitation of Air Canada’s approach is that you can only earn the lowest tier of status this way – and doing so doesn’t give you a head start towards higher tiers, either. Earning upper status tiers through a combination of flying and other forms of program engagement seems like a next logical step, but they haven’t gotten there yet."
May 10, 2021, 11:39 am
#1388
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
Your quote from my post looks as if I wrote it but was in fact part of what I had quoted from the article. Thanks.
May 12, 2021, 8:26 am
#1389
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: AC MM E50 , Former SPG, now Marriott LT Plat
Posts: 6,261
Today's fun comes in the form of Multi-City award Latitude bookings!
I've replicated the same issue identically on multiple routes, works the same each time, and twice now I've called in to have an agent do the booking, they've had to go back to the Help Desk twice to get it pushed through, and the tickets still show up as Latitude (X) but work just like regular Latitude (can be eUpped, refunded etc).
Basically, if you search AAA-BBB return, or AAA-CCC return, you can book any fare class you like.
If you run a multi-city search with AAA-BBB outbound and CCC-AAA return, you can book any fare class you like, but it'll force you into Economy Standard on the return, with no ability to select Flex or Latitude, though it *will* allow a few Business Lowest bookings that don't correspond to any availability pattern I can see.
.
I've replicated the same issue identically on multiple routes, works the same each time, and twice now I've called in to have an agent do the booking, they've had to go back to the Help Desk twice to get it pushed through, and the tickets still show up as Latitude (X) but work just like regular Latitude (can be eUpped, refunded etc).
Basically, if you search AAA-BBB return, or AAA-CCC return, you can book any fare class you like.
If you run a multi-city search with AAA-BBB outbound and CCC-AAA return, you can book any fare class you like, but it'll force you into Economy Standard on the return, with no ability to select Flex or Latitude, though it *will* allow a few Business Lowest bookings that don't correspond to any availability pattern I can see.
.
May 12, 2021, 8:28 am
#1390
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: 16,765
Application of a Priority Reward is a big one. Avoiding multiple $39 partner booking fees. For those who aren't SE, once change/cancellation fees come back, paying one fee instead of multiple fees. Ability to use a change on one bound to help make changes to another bound... There are a few reasons.
May 12, 2021, 1:41 pm
#1391
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: YOW
Programs: AC SE, FOTSG Platinum
Posts: 5,725
Application of a Priority Reward is a big one. Avoiding multiple $39 partner booking fees. For those who aren't SE, once change/cancellation fees come back, paying one fee instead of multiple fees. Ability to use a change on one bound to help make changes to another bound... There are a few reasons.
May 12, 2021, 3:43 pm
#1392
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: AC MM E50 , Former SPG, now Marriott LT Plat
Posts: 6,261
Application of a Priority Reward is a big one. Avoiding multiple $39 partner booking fees. For those who aren't SE, once change/cancellation fees come back, paying one fee instead of multiple fees. Ability to use a change on one bound to help make changes to another bound... There are a few reasons.
for me to find out the unused portion was non-refundable. I have been very leery of round-trips since.
May 12, 2021, 3:51 pm
#1393
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: 44,316
I'm not sure that's still the case under the new program.
May 12, 2021, 8:12 pm
#1394
Join Date: Jan 2021
Programs: Aeroplan
Posts: 459
Let's say I want to book YYZ-EWR-FRA-CPH with all segments on partner airlines, the total in J should be 60K according to the Aeroplan website but if I try to piece together that flight using the multi-city tool (YYZ-EWR, EWR-FRA-CPH), the total is over 75K. Would an agent be able to piece together the itinerary for 60k if I call in?
May 12, 2021, 8:19 pm
#1395
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2009
Location: FRA / YEG
Programs: AC Super Elite, Radisson Platinum, Accor Platinum
Posts: 11,874
Let's say I want to book YYZ-EWR-FRA-CPH with all segments on partner airlines, the total in J should be 60K according to the Aeroplan website but if I try to piece together that flight using the multi-city tool (YYZ-EWR, EWR-FRA-CPH), the total is over 75K. Would an agent be able to piece together the itinerary for 60k if I call in?
If the first segment were on AC, the price could be marginally lower or (substantially) higher based on dynamic pricing of the 1st segment.