hoipolloi

I am very pleased with the pricing of award flights to Mexico and the Caribbean. I see 10K to 13K points for one ways from/to YUL in economy almost every day and that's a steal compared to legacy Aeroplan and other Star Alliance programs.

However this bargain could be temporary and caused by COVID-19.

celticanvil

I did some comparative searches after the new program/site was launched in November, and repeated them today (one month later). All I can say is that the devaluation has begun.

WestonC

Yikes! I just did a quick search for a 43 minute flight out and 43 minute flight back. It used to cost 15K points plus whatever fees (YMM-YEG return).
Just got a quote for 37K points plus $99

Definitely time to look at using points on other airlines.

canadiancow

That flight would not have been bookable at all before. The ones that were 15k before are available now for about 16.5k.

Or if you're SE MM with a black card, 10.4k.

nexusCFX

I've never seen any proof of this despite various assertions against various airlines, hotels, etc. The only thing I've ever seen is when people actually start a booking that pulls inventory that empties out a fare bucket for some period of time before it goes back.

This forum has several people far more knowledgeable than myself, but with the way fares are filed, etc, this idea that the airline spikes the price because you keep querying for a given flight or day seems infeasible.

mileageking

Came across a ridiculously high requirement......anyone want to spend 1.2M on a one-way mixed-cabin?

YOWgary

I've just searched the same three routes sixty or seventy times in two days.

Obviously all I can offer is an educated guess, but based on that experience, if Aeroplan are trying to dynamically increase your search-result prices when you show repeated interest in a specific flight, then whoever's writing that algorithm is doing a *terrible* job.

By search #60, I was still seeing exactly the same prices, and I've got screenshots to prove it.

MaxVO

There may be a difference between repeat idle searches and an interest to buy, and you may not know how to simulate one or the other. Other platforms know how to spot one or the other behavior -- e.g. Uber AI can easily tell whether you're checking prices or really need a ride.

WestonC

i have booked that route many times for 15K in the past. I am black card and I am being quoted what I indicated above. It’s crazy pricing.

24left

I'd say @mileageking wins for finding this amazing redemption value.

But it motivated me, so I did some window shopping on Aeroplan. I picked a random route, YYZ-ZRH on a random date sometime later next year.

This was one of the options it offered. I know similar interesting routings were available options on FPs. For some, the opportunity to fly YYZ-YVR-Europe would have generated some nice AQM and decent time in the air.

Can someone here explain why this would be an option for a reward ticket, not so much based on the routing but the mildly absurd points required....one way. If it makes sense to you, thanks in advance for explaining.

YOWgary

If I were to hazard a guess, I would note that the other main examples of bonkers-expensive J pricing have been on a few cases of routes where it's seemed pretty unlikely that those flights are going to operate as scheduled - like YVR-SYD this April.

When I look at YVR-ZRH in late June, the business pricing for that direct is consistently WAY higher than the routing through YYZ/YUL. I would personally be shocked to see nearly enough demand for a YVR-ZRH direct in 2021, period, and I'm wondering if the reason Y doesn't also cost a ton on those flights is that there's more and easier capacity to rebook Y pax through FRA or LHR (or YYZ or YUL) than there would be for J, so there's little risk in letting Y seats out the door now.

That's just me guessing though. I wouldn't be surprised to hear other, more plausible answers.

nexusCFX

Uber doesn't file prices in advance. It's derived on-demand based on a variety of factors. Airlines and hotels do file prices in advance. You can go to EF and see the fares filed by an airline on a route, and they have prices, dates, conditions, etc. As I said, to dynamically change prices by tracking user searches would be not impossible, but infeasible.

If this were actually a thing it would be so trivial to prove just by bringing up a private browser on a different IP that it would be well-documented by now.

Obviously with points, things are more flexible. However, I suspect that given how this all ties into the same concept of fare basis, fare buckets, etc, that the system is ultimately subject to most of the rigid factors that make this infeasible for cash tickets.

celticanvil

And very disappointed to see than the calendar view is gone now to. PITA to have to search manually day by day...but certainly not surprising: it's AC after all.

canadiancow

You're missing the point. The specific flight you looked at would not have been available in the old program. Only select flights were available before. Every flight is available now, albeit at prices that correlate to cash prices and fare class availability.

Every flight that would have been available before is available now around the low end of the published range.

Nitehawk

I'm not sure if that's true with advanced purchase requirements.

I once redeemed YYZ-RDU for 7500 miles one way (non priority). Cash price was over $1200. I think the new program will always price high $$$ flights high, even if there are lots of empty seats. Maybe I'm wrong?