Advice on booking to AMS with points for May 2022?
 

Newbie to the new Aeroplan system. We have points to use and want to book two return flights to Amsterdam May 2022 to connect with a cruise. When would you suggest booking? Any advice welcome

Where are you originating from? Any preferred carriers? What class of service? Any stopovers?

YEG. Economy flight. No specific carrier.

Before committing to redeeming Aeroplan for Y seats do check the non-stop KLM flights for $ as these would be way less hassle….save the miles for something else. KLM is much nicer in Y.

I'd fly AC and route through YYZ/YUL, then hop on Lufthansa to FRA and get a connector to AMS. Should cost 40K each in Y, one-way excluding AC dynamic pricing.

Space will be better in economy. This really isn't a "hard" flight to book online. Have you played around with the search engine?

Why would a person subject themselves to YYz and FRA? Yuck. At least route via YYC to FRA if you want to use miles….

Better idea for sure. I'd just pay cash and fly KLM

Best advice of all, right there.

But if OP insists on using Aeropesos, fly to YYZ and take a direct flight from there to AMS so it's just one connection.

Yes I would think YYZ and then direct flight best option. When is best time to book? Now or wait awhile. I am confused reference why paying to book with KLM would be best option? We have saved Aeroplan points for years and now have accumulated enough for Europe. Is there a better way to use our points?

Most people consider it a better value to use your points for business class redemptions. Those might be around double the points cost but most consider it worthwhile. This is especially true when the flight uses widebody aircraft, which have individual pods with lie flat beds.

If you don't have enough points to go round trip in business class, another option would be to pay for economy flights one way, and use points for business in the other direction. Given that choice, some would prefer business on the way there so you arrive fresh for your vacation. Others prefer to get better sleep when travelling East, and staying awake when travelling West, to combat jet lag. In your case, both these goals align.

In the early stages of planning, you might also want to consider adding a stopover for 5000 points. If you have any interest in spending a few days in London or Frankfurt, for example, this is an easy and inexpensive option. There are also other cities that would be possible.

There really isn't a "best" time. In general, flight prices rise as you get closer to the date of travel, but sometimes there are sales or other factors that bring them down (which are hard to predict), and the steepest increases are pretty close to the date of travel.

No one here can guarantee now is the best time to book, nor can they guarantee it will be better at a certain point in the future.

It's a question of value; international economy class ("Y") is often not good value. Just looking at some random dates, departing YYZ May 12 and returning on May 27...

• AC will sell you a cash ticket in Standard brand for $1,146 (Basic is $996)
• For the same flight in a Standard reward (substantially similar terms and conditions to a cash Standard fare) AC would charge $115 in taxes plus... just under 70K Aeroplan points for me with my status and credit card discounts, probably a little over 70K for you. So let's call it 70K.

So for 70K points, you're saving $1,031 in cash, which means your points are worth about 1.47 cents apiece (often known around here as "cpm" for "cents per mile").

But if you were buying a cash ticket, you could also buy a ticket from TAP, connecting through Lisbon, for $724. If you used that as the price to determine the value of the points, it would significantly reduce the value (0.87 cpm).

Historically, many FTers have aimed to get ≥2 cpm on their redemptions.

If you were to use points for business class ("J"), and you were open to a connecting itinerary on partner airlines, you could get a round trip ticket for 140K points and ~$200 in taxes. Relative to paying $3,200+ for such a ticket if you bought for cash, or redeeming points for you're getting a great deal: >2.1 cpm.

The finance guy in me will tell you that's a spurious calculation if you wouldn't actually purchase the J ticket for cash, but would acknowledge that for many people, points are a way to access experiences (e.g. international J travel) that they couldn't otherwise afford, and that there's value in that too.

Aeroplan tickets also have some interesting benefits. For instance, you can add a stopover for 5,000 points, such as spending a couple days in Munich on your way home from Amsterdam.

So ultimately it's up to you to do whatever you want with your miles, but just straight up redeeming an international Y flight is typically not the most value you can get out of them.

Thank you very much. Very good information. I have more to research now.