Booking Aeroplan flights for someone else

[momof2gr8kids]

My mom has aeroplan points that will expire end of 2012 if they are not used. She won't be able to travel, so has generously offered them to us.
There are enough points for all of us to fly to Orlando.

I am sooo excited about this. I know she can transfer points to us, but there is a cost to it. Can she just book the flights for us?

Anyone have experience with this?

TIA

 

[ccudmore]

You can book Aeroplan flights in anyone's name using your points. You can also transfer them to someone but it costs a small fee to do so. You're better off to just have your mom book your flights and use her points directly.

 

[Gigi22]

Agreed with the PP. If you transfer the points, the person on the receiving end has to pay a set fee per point. From my experience trying to book 2 tickets through Aeroplan, you should be aware that Aeroplan will sometimes charge a different number of points for each ticket. When I tried to book 2 tickets to MCO last year, I got a good rate on the first ticket (I was booking Business Class tickets)--but got really whacked on the points for the second ticket. You should have a plan to deal with this, should this happen to you. We decided to book 1 ticket through Aeroplan and go through the Air Canada website to purchase the other ticket, and retain the lion's share of our Aeroplan points for another trip. Your mileage may vary.

 

[MikeyNS]

Why not go swipe her aeroplan card at Esso just to ensure that the points won't expire? I don't think the 7-year point expiration is in effect yet, so I'm guessing they're expiring due to no account activity in 12 months?

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Thanks.

I'm not sure why they are expiring. I did read it on her statement though and that's what it says. There is activity on her account, she has the gold visa and gets aeroplan points each month. She did have a trip booked last year that she had to cancel for health reasons. Maybe that's part of it?

We wouldn't be able to book dates until May or June anyways, so I guess we'll have to see what flights are available for those times. The thing is, I was saving my Air Miles for us to fly there as well, and have almost enough. So we could go that route as well. I like the AM flight options better - less layover time.

One thing I noticed was if we drove 3 hrs and flew out of the US our taxes and fees would be $29 compared to $160 from here.