Aeroplan Variable Pricing - Post your search results here
 

As we all get our heads around the new variable pricing model, I thought it might be useful to have a thread similar to "Post Your LMU Offer", so we can share data points and start to get a sense of just how "dynamic" the pricing will be.

I would suggest posting as follows:

DATE, ORIGIN AND DESTINATION
AC Status and any credit cards that offer preferred pricing

- Route, including connections
- Operating carrier(s)
- Dates
- Cost In Points Econ / PE / BIZ
- Fees etc.
- Priority Reward, if applicable

So, for example:

Jan 11, 2021 - YYZ-CPH
75K, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite

YYZ - LHR - CPH
Air Canada + SAS
40K / 64.9K / 70K + $114
Priority 20K / 32.5K / 70K

YYZ - SFO - CPH
Air Canada + SAS
55K / 70K / 85K + $122
Priority 27.5K / 30K / 70K


Nov 23, 2020 - YOW - YVR
75K, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite
Air Canada
24K / 64.4K / 29.8K for YOW-YYZ-YVR, all biz, E75 and 789, dep 16:00 arr 19:45
37.1K / na / 59.6K for YOW-YYZ-YVR, biz on YOW-YYZ only, dep 12:00
38.5K / 68.1K / 107.8K for YOW-YYZ-YVR, all biz, E75 and 789, dep 06:00 arr 10:12

YVR-PVG NOVEMBER 29, 2020.
Air Canada(E50K + Visa Infinity)

​​​​199K Points + $55 Economy


Yes you read that right.
BTW AC's own reward chart guided an upper range of 65K

Apr 05, 2021 - YVR - TYO
75K, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite

YVR-NRT, Air Canada direct
27.4 / 33.6 / 45.3 + $53
Priority 13.7 / 16.8 / 45.3 + $53

YVR-YYZ-HND, Air Canada
171.9 / 77 / 51.8
Priority 86 / 38.5 / 51.8 + $57
(no typos, econ is higher)

YVR-YYC-NRT, Air Canada
31.4 / 33.6 / 79.7 + $53



Feb 15, 2021 - YYZ-HKG
YVR-HKG, Air Canada direct
36.1 / 49.8 / 69 + $55

YYZ-YVR-HKG, Air Canada
36.9 / 49.8 / 116.4 + $55

YYZ-YOW-YVR-HKG, Air Canada
161.8 / 136.3 / 457.4 + $55

YYZ-YUL-YVR-HKG, Air Canada
37.1 / 55.7 / 141.5 + $55

- on those last two, flying YYZ-YOW-YVR or YYZ-YUL-YVR, twenty minutes apart, more than doubles the cost of the award
- not sure how the taxes and fees are identical with an extra airport in the mix


Mon, Feb 15 - IST-HKG
IST - HKG, TK Direct
na / na / 60K + $75

IST-YYZ-HKG, TK + AC
60 / 80 / 100 + $80

IST-ZRH-HKG, TK + LX
50 / na / 80 + $98

IST-AMS-YYZ-HKG, TK + AC + AC
na / na / 100 + $80



Oct 20, 2021 - YVR-PER
YVR-NRT-PER, Air Canada / ANA
60 / 75 / 85 + $144
Priority 30 / 37.5 / 85 + $144


Oct 20, 2021 - YOW-SYD
YOW-YVR-SYD, Air Canada
na / na / 615,000 + $88

YOW-YWG-YVR-SYD, Air Canada
56.5 / 57.1 / 541,800 + $88

YOW-YYZ-HND-SYD, AC+AC+ANA
57.3 / 90 / 117.6 + $148

YOW-YYZ-HND-SYD, AC+AC+ANA, leaving YOW 1 hour earlier than above
56.5 / 57.1 / 119.1 + $148

That's 615,000 points, where AC's published chart lists NA-Pac, <11,000 miles, at 85K-200K max.

Here's something interesting...

Dec 28 - Jan 4 YVR-PVR
Business class (Jetz)

Under old program booked: 60k + $170

New program: $155 for tax/fees

Points required for Business - Lowest:
No status: 56,000
25k + TD Infinite card: 46,600
100K + CIBC Aerogold Business: 46,100
100K + No CC: 47,100

Credit card discount is more substantial than 100k status?

For reference, as SE with no CC (yet), it's 200k.

Reposting here.

Based on mine and some other folks exploration before AP went live - Summary is as follows.

• significant difference between No Status and P25K - 10-30%
• P25 Vs E35, E50, SE100 - around 5-10% at max
• VI (Core) provides another 1-2 % gains around 200-250 miles on some samples
• VIP (Premium) gives another small gain
• E35 with VIP Card was Exactly same as E50 + VI card (no change in say 5 scenarios) - Also very similar to SE100 with a VI Card

Again, our exploration was limited wrt E75 & SE100 as we don't have a lot of super elites.

For travel hackers aka AP collectors, 100K AP (without AQS, AQM, AQD) will continue to give P25K status as a continued benefit. So pretty good deal for locking discounted award pricing.

Also, SkipLagging can provide significant arbitrage gains. :)

No status, with CC 199.2k

No status, w/ CC, 47.1K


Based on these 2 limited DPs, it seems like CC discount outweighs any kind of status?

From the wild disparities we're already seeing, the only way to get any sense of the effect of status or CC is to compare the exact same flights and dates.

For example, flying YYZ-YUL-YVR-HKG rather than YYZ-YOW-YVR-HKG, departing and arriving at exactly the same dates and times, can produce massively different results, where one is nearly 3x the other. Point is, introducing ANY disparity between flights skews the data beyond any point of fair comparison.

I've found a few curiosities where the variable pricing is lower than the base amount. With crappy overnight layovers, though. Sample below:

Dec 13, 2020 YYC-PRG
YYC-YOW-YYZ-FRA-PRG (AC/LH)
33.8/48/53.4 + $150

P25K + CC

My understanding is AC / AP rewards significantly for any kinda association with the program.

So having a CC (mid tier) or P25K status gives you significant gains - its a way for AC to bind the loyalty in all three facets, travel, financial and misc spend (estore)

P25K can be obtained from travel or/and from misc spend (CC + estore or other offline Partners by earning 100K AP points) or holding a cobranded financial product. So a tight association is rewarded by a significant discount in AC award pricing.

Beyond that, the gains are meh at best. (Ie higher status or better credit card or multiple cards).

Do they provide more gains, Yes.

Are the gains significant- Not really

Would be interesting to see some DPs using the above city pairs/dates from one without status AND w/o CC.

May be a rare find though....

I'm working on this - I'm 75K with a CC, my wife is 35K with no CC, and my parents are FOTSGs. I'm running each search across multiple accounts to compare the differences, I'll have it tomorrow.

Proposal,

We all post same itineraries.

All below are based on E35 + VIP (Premium Card). Sorted from low to high

Peak (Dec 27th, 2020)

1) Domestic YUL - YVR

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...fb340eae69.png


2) Pacific

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1b207fd641.png


3) Atlantic

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a6b988df12.png


4) USA

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...323fcc1b8f.png

Off Peak (June 8, 2021)
1) Domestic YUL - YVR

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...856549510d.png


2)Pacific
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...4dff3c1e16.png


3) Atlantic

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...91824afcad.png


4) USA
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e782d0949e.png

But wouldn't you also need to know the actual cash fare for those same flights to properly compare? I know there will always be debate as to what value someone else sees from a point/mile, but these changes were meant to equalize some of that, so do they actually? A headache all 'round is what I see.

**Wasn't posting this to start a debate, just wondering if cash values of the flights quoted could also be posted.

Anyone have any ideas how they are going to implement redemptions for First Air? Was wondering if it was possible to get up north still..

I got 65K plus $55 for fees for YYZ-PEK on Aug. 31, 2021, direct on AC J.

P25K + CC (visa infinite privilege).

Pretty good considering the same flight was 75K plus $200-300 in fees before the new program.

I was wondering the same thing. Only recently did it become possible to search 5T via the Aeroplan website, rather than calling in, but just tried to book on the new AE/AC site and the only airport the search engine recognized was YFB. None of the other communities that I tried worked in the search engine. Hopefully they just need to be loaded into the system.. would be a pain to have to go back to phoning in the bookings..

(First Air = Canadian North now, btw)

Adding some peculiar pricing (which clearly violate the published award grid)

YUL - YHZ (2 random dates in 2021) (Positive)

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b0684e70dc.png


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ab54afbe27.jpg

YUL - YOW (Negative, almost 2X the published award rate)

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...904c9ca3ba.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...762119dd36.jpg


For Sept 10th, Cash Fare were

YUL - YHZ - 190-380$ range

YUL - YOW - 447$

Date pls ?

The play here will be to book Lat Y and use eupgrades for instant J or PY and eupgrade

After mistakenly cancelling (for which I got a full refund of taxes and points) my YXE-PVR flight on the APP, I had to rebook.
ORIGINAL BOOKING: YXE-PVR Dec 28 Business/Jetz 30,000 Points and $93.89
NEW BOOKING: YXE - PVR Dec 28 Business/Jetz 23,900 Points and $85.28
*without logging it to my account it was 29,200 points

No, I think the play there is to book PY for less than Standard ;)

There are different tiers now under each class. Business has lowest and flexible. Given the current cancellation policy due to covid, what's the point of going with flexible? Any flight booked under lowest before the end of the calendar year would be subject to the same no fee cancellation policy correct?

For Y/PY the upgrade requirements, seat selections, baggage are different.

There have been claims made that business flexible will allow SS access, when it opens again.

Interesting when moving your pointer over the Mixed cabin, you get a % of I assume mileage in J.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...9b5d31b0c5.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...416356f5bd.png

I like this, if only because it lets any flight nerd of suitable, uh, nerdity, identify at a glance which segments are in J - for example, this one would suggest that it's the YUL-TYO that's in J, and the YVR-YUL that's not.

Obviously, we'd be far better off with a filter, or better yet an account setting, that says "don't ever show me mixed cabins", but this is a start.

This leads me to so many questions.

Under the old program, I'd have no qualms taking YVR-YUL in not-J and YUL-TYO in J, because I'm confident I'd clear at the gate. But that's no longer possible.

But how do eUpgrades work now? Is it based on Standard, Flex, or Latitude for mixed cabin bookings? If I need 1 eUp to instantly get YVR-YYC in J, I wouldn't hesitate. If it's 5 eUps, 14 days out, I'm still personally fine because I always expire eUps, but it's a different decision.

I'm not confident in good news on this front.

For example, this week I had a PE award YOW-YYZ-YVR, but since there's no PE cabin on the YOW-YYZ, that leg got ticketed as an X-fare. I was able to instantly eUp the YYZ-YVR leg from PE to J, under the conditions applying to an N fare, but it wouldn't even let me request an eUp on YOW-YYZ unless I paid the $75 co-pay to upgrade from X.

I called in to discuss this with an agent, who took it to NRD and came back with the answer that yes, this is how it works now. Obviously that's the usual grain of salt by which three agents confirming a thing, doesn't make the thing true, I'm simply passing on the data I have so far.

After looking through a few Canada-EU routes, I'm fairly certain AC's pricing bias is for flights on AC metal, even if the TATL flight is on AC metal and intra-EU flight is on LH. They seem to be doing some sort of piece-wise pricing on segments rather than pricing everything as a partner award if a partner flight is involved.

Furthermore, it seems Rouge flights have a larger pricing bias over mainline or express routes. For example YVR-YYJ-YYZ-FRA-EU is consistently cheaper than YVR-YLW-YYC-FRA-EU in J.

Before YVR-EU in J was pricing at 115k + $835 and now similar route is about 130k + $200 without status/CC and 110k + $200 with P25k and TD Infinite CC.

Even if you do, say YYZ-WAW, looking at the LO direct, it prices at 40k/60k/70k one way. But YYZ-(AC)-YUL-(AC)-FRA-(LH)-WAW is 32.5k/47k/51.5k.

Was it booked before the 6th or after the 9th? I would expect these bookings to be coded differently now. And they've made it very clear that every booking is eUpgradable.

For example, I booked a 22k YYZ-SFO in I-class, and the fare basis is PWAEROEL. The "EL" means it will be treated as executive lowest. If a new redemption codes as "FL", it will be treated as Flex, regardless of whether it's in X. AERO presumably means Aeroplan.

I don't know if that was stated on AC's site, but the blogs were all very consistent on that.

For those of us who want to book a roundtrip, it appears that booking two one-way is cheaper in terms of points:

YYZ - HND - YYZ on one ticket: X points;
YYZ - HND, HND - YYZ two separate tickets: X- 5300 points.

Taxes and fees are the same.


Why would anyone book roundtrip ticket now using points?

As I said, the booking was eUpgradeable, but the absence of N-space on the regional flight forced that segment to be coded as X. The booking in question was made before the 6th, but when I search for the exact same itinerary now, it shows the exact same X-N combination.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5005f2697d.png


My understanding from the outset has been that mixed AC/partner awards will be pro-rated by percentage of mileage flown, but I would not be surprised to learn that this math is only applied when it *increases* the price - that is, if the AC segment is so cheap that it would lower the cost of the partner award, the minimum cost of the partner award remains as a price floor.

Sounds like I've got my next item to chase down with AC.

The consensus is there are big price reductions from 0 -> 25K and 25K -> 50K, and from no CC -> some CC. Beyond 50K and Core -> Premium card doesn't seem to make any difference or not much.

Where are you seeing a big price reduction from 25-50? So far, I'm finding the following to be pretty consistent:

- 10% reduction from FOTSG -> (25k or credit card)
- further 500-point-per-award reduction from there to (50 / 75 / SE / 35-with-premium-card)
- a further, but unpredictable, 0-to-400-point-per-award reduction from there to (SE with premium card)

Previously, the fare bases would have been XBP00 and NBP00.

For 25k points (actually 24,100, so the search results page seems to round up), I just booked your screenshot. It still books into X+N, but the fare basis for both segments is NAEROPL. It's now ticketing the same way a revenue ticket would.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...bc054d6712.png

The option to waitlist for YYZ-YVR is a little weird, but I'm sure they're working on these issues. But as you can clearly see, I can upgrade the whole thing for 4 credits.

I've seen 500 from SE to SE with mid-tier card.

While trying to change the outbound flight, my award ticket issued last week at 15,000 points + $160 taxes/fees for YYC-YVR was abitrarily cancelled by the system - I clicked through to change flight and instead - without any further action or confirmation - sent me to the "your flight has now been cancelled" page. Points didn't return to my account. Called Aeroplan who got the points reinstated and refund issued and told me to rebook.

Despite the "high" fare for YYC-YVR being shown as 10,000 points each way (with low at 6,000 each way) - trying to rebook any flights for my travel dates later this month = now over 31,000 roundtrip in lowest Economy. So more than double the cost now thanks to this glitch, and dynamic pricing that is way out of kilter from what I expected. 31,000 lowest Econo for YYC-YVR - crazy!

Yyc > nrt > yyc
 

Glad I booked the direct flights for 75k each under the old system. These are a big hike. NRT > YYC actually went up 1000 points since yesterday.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...70d7b492b8.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...1e837b1f9e.jpg

Because you'd use up twice as many priority awards with two o/w's (if you were going to use them at all)

YOWgary, thanks for doing this detailed study of different fares and routes and trying to figure out how this all works. As usual, AC could have made things clear by just telling us, but glad we have someone dedicated to sleuthing it out for us. I owe you a beer next time ;)

Happy to do it - thanks to COVID, I have a little spare time on my hands.

Until I can get AC to put me on contract to write training materials for this stuff, the more difficult they make the rules to understand, the more people are looking to hire an award-planning consultant! :D