Airmiles vs. Aeroplan vs. Avion

[Lizziejane]

I think I'm the lone person in Canada who is happy with Aeroplan miles! I have a CIBC aeroplan card and put everything on there (paying it off each month). I also travel a lot for work, and usually fly Air Canada, so it makes sense to collect as many miles as possible under one plan. I have to rent cars when I travel too, and Avis has a tie-in with Air Canada, so I get to rack up the miles pretty easily.

I can see how it might be a pain in the butt to redeem the miles for some people, but it's kind of hard to believe that I've just been lucky every time I go to book. In a 12 month period, I've booked 2 flights within Canada (only 3-4 weeks out); 2 seats to Vegas (had to book about 6 months out); and our big "score" was 4 seats to Orlando in January (booked that back in June).

Right now I rack up 75,000 to 100,000 miles per year. When my work travel cuts back, I will likely switch to Avion, as it won't make sense then to be obligated to one carrier only.

 

[shaycamp21]

We use Avion and we had enough points (30 000) last year to redeem and get one ticket (that's the catch even though 4 of us could fly for $750 on SW we could only redeem it for one ticket up to a $750 value). What we did to get around this loophole was to book the most expensive flight we could find on SW (I think it was a flight to Vegas around New Years) using our Avion points and then cancelled the flight and SW gave us a credit for the amount, which we were able to use to purchase roundtrip tickets for four of us out of Buffalo to Orlando. We now have accumulated enough points again so are looking forward to another free flight.

 

[Fellowship9798]

We use Avion and we had enough points (30 000) last year to redeem and get one ticket (that's the catch even though 4 of us could fly for $750 on SW we could only redeem it for one ticket up to a $750 value). What we did to get around this loophole was to book the most expensive flight we could find on SW (I think it was a flight to Vegas around New Years) using our Avion points and then cancelled the flight and SW gave us a credit for the amount, which we were able to use to purchase roundtrip tickets for four of us out of Buffalo to Orlando. We now have accumulated enough points again so are looking forward to another free flight.

Wow, very clever. I like it!

(I hate short, one line posts like I just wrote but just had to comment on the creative thinking)

 

[mkmommy]

I have had good luck with Aeroplan. I just got back from Hawaii and I booked an Aeroplan flight only 4 months before I wanted to go, and I got the exact days I wanted. I guess it depends when you want to travel.

 

[nflder]

We use Aeroplan Each of our three trips to Orlando have been on Aeroplan points (3 tickets the first time/2 tics 2nd time/3 tics 3rd time). We usually accumulate enough points for 1 flight per year each. We also book about 10-12 months out to try to get the best flights but sometimes even that doesn't work for us. My only real complaint about aeroplan is that you can't book online when you are using two aeroplan numbers. You have to call aeroplan and then get charged an additional $30 per ticket.

 

[tmli]

This has been very informative as Bf and I are trying to decide about rewards programs etc and the best way to use points.

One thing that I am confused about is the taxes/fees charged when redeeming points for flights. So to further compare....what are the costs associated with exchanging reward points for a flight? If any.

 

[jeffd101]

This has been very informative as Bf and I are trying to decide about rewards programs etc and the best way to use points.

One thing that I am confused about is the taxes/fees charged when redeeming points for flights. So to further compare....what are the costs associated with exchanging reward points for a flight? If any.

I'm not sure how the Airmiles and Aeroplan charges work, but with our Avion redemption this past spring our bill was for the full flight charges less the quoted "bare bones' flight cost. So, in our case, a full fare all-in ticket was $459 - base fare was $360 - so we paid $99.

HTH!

 

[FayeW]

I am forced to collect aeroplan as that is the incentive offered through one of our suppliers at work. I have accumulated 24000 miles since May, so I should be able to get a free trip for the 4 of us within a couple of years. I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but I really hate this program. They had a great incentive program that they scrapped in favour of this, and I'm still bitter.

 

[nflder]

This has been very informative as Bf and I are trying to decide about rewards programs etc and the best way to use points.

One thing that I am confused about is the taxes/fees charged when redeeming points for flights. So to further compare....what are the costs associated with exchanging reward points for a flight? If any.

For our flights we had to pay airport taxes for each of the airports we were going to be landing in, fuel surcharge, security surcharge and going into the states charge. It totalled $122 per ticket.

 

[tmli]

thank you both for the info. That is in line with what I would have expected.

 

[bev r.]

We've been collecting Aeroplan points since 1998. Since then we have redeemed for tickets 4 times.
Twice to Florida (5 tickets)
1 time to Norway (4 tickets)
1 time to England (4 tickets)

We also collect airmiles, but collect slowly on this. I might have enough points for 1 short haul flight, for 2 people.

 

[nflder_in_ottawa]

Hi everyone,

I have had a CIBC Visa for quite some time and I was thinking about moving to the Aeroplan Visa - but I've been reading good things about the Avion card... are there any drawbacks to the Avion that haven't been mentioned?

I'd like to keep it to one card, and now seems like the time to make the choice. Any suggestions?

 

[F4disneyfan]

Airmiles was a joke so we used our miles to get some memory cards for our oldest daughters digital camera wenow use our TD Gold Travel Visa for everything. We have used it for our hotel stay for our 5 year old daughters hockey tournament in Burlington in March and we have hotels booked for our drive in Dec to Disney. We have enough miles to fly the 2 of us down in Dec but I decided driving would be more fun so we are driving. Our GTV has been nothing short of stellar for us and we can use it for anything travel related even rental cars etc.

 

[PreciousSadies]

I started collecting airmiles about 14 years ago. We also have aeroplan, too.
The last 5 years, or whenever the westjet mastercard, I switched to westjet airmiles where I get 1 mile for every $15 spent. Huge Difference! Before switching. We redeemed 1 flight to Calgary to Salt Lake City via airmiles. Now having gold west jet. We flew 4 From Calgary to Orlando, no problems getting flights! (cash in the difference towards 2 other flights...we are here now! YAHOO!). A year ago, flew to Calgary to Vancouver, 1 flight.
Summer of 2005, flew 6 to Calgary to LA, (to Disneyland) within 2 weeks prior to going, no problems getting 6 free flights!!
March 2004, flew 4 to Calgary, to Orlando!

Aeroplan, redeem 2 flights to Calgary to Phoenix. BUT, it was such a hassle to get a flight, and then once we did the crazy connections we had to put up with!...we had to go to Denver, to Phoenix, and then onthe way back, Phoenix, to San Fran, to Van,to Calgary....Now have enough for 2 flights to Hawaii...or elsewhere still collecting as DH travels...

 

[PreciousSadies]

Remember the westjet airmiles are only good for where westjet flys. I only needed 1400 or 1600 airmiles depending on the non/peak season to Orlando!
And I don't put everything on my mastercard, and have done fairly well.

 

[mamatojade]

We collect Airmiles and also recommend the gold Mosaik Mastercard that gives 1 miles for $15. I put everything on it and so far this year I have already earned enough miles on it to get one ticket on WestJet anywhere in North America.

 

[Momrow]

Hi everyone,

I have had a CIBC Visa for quite some time and I was thinking about moving to the Aeroplan Visa - but I've been reading good things about the Avion card... are there any drawbacks to the Avion that haven't been mentioned?

I'd like to keep it to one card, and now seems like the time to make the choice. Any suggestions?

If you travel for business on Air Canada, I would get he Aeroplan Visa, as you'd be getting points on both. If not, I've heard lots of good things about the Avion, I would go for that.

 

[BraMax]

I have both Airmiles and Aeroplan reward programs. I use my Airmiles more so because it is more common where I shop and such. I've never used mine for flights but I used it Nov '05 for ticketes into DL and then this past Feb I used my points for our admission into Seaworld. Now I'm saving them for our trip to WDW next Feb.

 

[mbb]

Great thread

Primarily, we use CIBC Visa Gold to collect Aeroplan..

I'll use our points for trips planned well in advance - generally 2 on points, 2 cash, or for flying out west to visit family.

We do use our Airmiles card to collect points...but still not enough to redeem WDW tix!! LOL!

...but y'all have me convinced to stop in at our RBC Branch for some Avion info

 

[nelljay1973]

Just so that everyone is well informed..CIBC also has a travel reward card...Aventura...think Avion but for CIBC!