Ever wanted to become a frequent flyer and travel the world? Here’s how to use airline points for cheap flights with Air Canada. The flight mileage from Aeroplan can also be swapped with a point exchange program for flights all over the world.
Using Aeroplan Points for Flights
Once 15,000 Aeroplan points have been accumulated, frequent flyers can start booking cheap flights. This is for economy class flights; executive class require almost double the points. Not bad for collecting free points.
Booking Flights Through Aeroplan
The easy thing with booking cheap flights through the Aeroplan website, is that the points required and extra fees are very clear. Try doing mock travel plans and see what flights are available and how much they’ll cost.
For example, a flight from Vancouver to New York City will cost 25,000 points and $146.89 CAD in extra fees and taxes. That’s it: add a credit card and the flight is booked. The website will find the airline partner to use or connect to if Air Canada doesn’t fly there themselves.
Extra Fees on Flights
When using the Aeroplan website, the extra fees and taxes are laid out clearly. Before adding a credit card for the purchase, extra fees and taxes are spelled out and are the only fees charged. Travellers can get from North America to Europe by cashing in their points and paying less than $200.
Flights Within Canada
- As a general rule, provinces that lay side by side call for 15,000 points
- To get across Canada from British Columbia to the Maritimes, 25,000 are required
- Note that the above points are the lowest options: depending on the season, time of day and day of the week, these requirements can go up to double
Flights To, From and Within the United States
- For the most part, flights within the United States are 25,000 points
- Same for flights between Canada and the United States
- Hawaii costs more, at 40,000 points
Flights to Europe from North America
Depending on the departure city, points required for Europe start at 60,000 for cities in:
- Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Sweden
75,000 points are needed for countries like:
- Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, Czech Republic, Finland, Greenland, Croatia, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg, Western Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Yugoslavia
Flights to South America, Central America and Mexico
- Typically, flights to Central America and the Caribbean will require 40,000 points
- Flights to Mexico average 35,000
- 50,000 points are needed for most cities in South America
Flights Overseas
Getting overseas to countries outside of Europe require more points, for the most part. 75,000 are needed for:
- India, Israel, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, French Polynesia, Tonga and Western Samoa (from western cities in North America)
- The Middle East costs on average 105,000, as does northern Africa
- Southern Africa rises to about 130,000 points
Lori Henry - A travel writer, Lori flits between exploring the world with incessant curiosity and huddling over her laptop writing.
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