1st Class Gekko

As an SE you can get a revenue seat opened up at the lowest redemption levels. I did this in Aug when I wanted to travel on AC 033/034 to HNL but only 1 J seat was available. All in all a great redemption value for the distance (60k)

Siempre Viajando

Of course, for travel within Canada stick with AC. Or better yet fly WestJet domestic, OneWorld int'l and bank the miles with AAdvantage...?

Likewise it's difficult for me to comment on how it works for AC*SEs in practice, as I haven't been one for several years. Judging by the OPs comments things aren't perfect but of course this appears to be mostly a website problem.

On AA, I've booked a bunch of flights for me and others this year, most recently between YYZ, MIA and LIR. All flights most days were wide open at the MileSAAver level, in Y and J. Surprisingly I even had availability booking flights for my parents to Costa Rica in late November, around American Thanksgiving when you expect every flight on every US-based airline to be booked full months in advance. And this all on the website which as I said in my earlier post works very well.

The other issue for the OP to consider is the accumulation of miles. If you're doing a lot of international long-hauls they'll pile up a lot faster if you fly as an EXP on OneWorld than if you fly as Elite/SE on Star Alliance (I stand to be corrected if SEs accumulate more miles than Es, but I believe that AC is like AA in that SEs/EXPs accumulate no faster than Es/Plats).

TRAVELSIG

Hey, first of all welcome to FT. Despite what you may think, the Air Canada board is actually quite friendly and usually, in my experience, full of good advice. Now, a few assumptions
95% of your travel is transborder from yyz I believe.
The 250plus K you refer to are flying (ie status miles) as opposed to cc, hotel etc
You want to also be able to give travel to family members on a regular basis

This being said, a few questions to consider:
Which airlines fly to your USA destinations? You may want to look over on those airline boards; as you probably know airlines typically have a few extra little perks for their own members as opposed to Alliance partners

Whose actual planes do you fly on? For example, if you end up on a lot of UA planes, and are flying last minute fares (which is probably the case with 250K a year for most), then you can get upgraded almost all the time

Are you planning to do this for a few years? Although slim, the benefits of being a Million Miler for life can be better than nothing and offered by a couple of different USA carriers

Do you fly TransAtlantic or Transpacific, even for leisure? If you are a transatlantic person and based in YYZ, you may want to look at LH Miles and More as you will easily qualify for Senator level by the looks of things. Others like the BMI program, which is positive if you fly on a lot of F/C fares. The BA/AA programs are also fairly interesting. Transpac most likely means joining a oneworld program and going with CX, BA, AA etc, or look at the Skyteam NW program (although really poor for upgrades Transpac), or the STAR UA program (especially good if you get to GlobalServices status which is a distinct possibility if your tickets are on UA and booked in F,C,Z,Y or B).

Finally, the AC SE program does work for some of us, even though the website doesn't at all. To get REAL award availability, call up, pay the $30 per person (hopefully the money goes to fixing their website ) and get any seat you want as others have mentioned for class reward levels within N.A.

Cheers!

acysb87

Not 100% accurate.No seat can be created if none are avialable for sale.

shore9

I know that. However, an SE can get a seat in Y even if it is oversold, they just have to pay Y fare.

danwhy

Hi PunishedEd,

I have been able to book all 5 award flights I have taken in the last 2 years as classic price. I guess I have won the lottery 5 times. Did I have to plan ahead? Yes.

Do you have recent experience that leads you to agree that one can't redeem AP miles at classic price? Even today I'm looking at flying in executive class to NYC in february and am having no trouble finding all exec class 40k awards. I'm curious what flights you haven't been able to get recently.

ProudEdmontonian

I don't plan my trips the day that seats are released for future travel but when I do look most of the time it's usually the greater mile choices or - here's what is really sad - so-called Classic availability with several connections at odd times and over more than one day. I don't consider having to take 3 flights between YEG and YUL with long layovers rewards....

Saying that, I did manage a couple of months ago to get a Classic to YYZ and back non-stop for my stepson comiing up but at less than desirable times.

seanthepilot

We've had to edit/delete a number of posts for drifting Off Topic.

Trying not to confuse the original topic, the OP says he is Super Elite, therefore has "Instant KK" available. The deleted discussion of general award availability would be more appropriate in a new thread.

Please stay on the topic of whether Aeroplan represents value to the OP's heavy transborder travel or whether he should use another strategy/carrier.

Thanks, seanthepilot, AC Moderator.