Booking flights using Aeroplan points - any tips?

[peacefrogdog]

Hoping to use points to stay at Aulani next March break. The cost will only work if we use Aeroplan points to fly from Toronto to the west coast (either San Fran or LAX) and then pay for the flights from there to Honolulu and back.

It is too early to see if there is availability for March 2013 using Aeroplan points. However looking at the furthest I can book reward tickets online, there doesn't seem to be much availability.

We are a family of 5 - any tips on booking Aeroplan flight rewards in this case to LAX or SFO? Is booking early most likely to result in success? Are there certain travel days (e.g. weekday vs weekend) that are generally more available?

Would appreciate any tips.

 

[Gigi22]

If you are planning on travelling on AC to Hawaii, sign up with Air Canada to get automatic fare alerts for LAX and SFO--this lets you know when the dollar value of the second part of your trip drops. As for Aeroplan, there is a degree of fluctuation in the trip price in points. I have found better prices if I check Aeroplan late at night. You need to check the site regularly so that you get an idea of the best prices you can expect, and when they pop up.
Considering the length of a flight from Toronto to Hawaii, stopping on the west coast is a very good idea--especially flying economy. If I had travel plans like yours, I would try to spend several hours or a night in a hotel between flights.

 

[Tinkershelly]

Be very careful when checking out their itineraries. Aeroplan doesn't flag schedules with layovers that go until the next day. My friends were caught booking flights with a layover they thought was one hour and in fact it is 13 hours, overnight in Newark! And the fee to rebook four tickets was more than what they'd pay to stay in an hotel overnight in Newark, so that's what is going to happen.

And they wouldn't have caught it except I was booking reward flights for DH and myself to coordinate with them, searched for and found the same flights but Continental's rewards site (who I was booking with) put a red flag (literally a picture of a little red flag!) on those flights to make sure I knew it had an overnight layover.

They called Aeroplan less than an hour after booking and they were still subject to outrageous rebooking fees!

 

[tink&cinderella]

We use Aeroplan all the time and love it... A piece of advice, fly using Aeroplan from Buffalo... you only pay the tax.... way cheaper then Toronto.

 

[minnie56]

Booking as far out as allowable is the key to Aeroplan success...I've snagged some great executive class seats to Europe rtn but almost one year ahead.
Being flexible with days and times is a big plus.

As for using out of Buffalo..how does that work? I assume using Star Alliance flts?

 

[Tinkershelly]

We use Aeroplan all the time and love it... A piece of advice, fly using Aeroplan from Buffalo... you only pay the tax.... way cheaper then Toronto.

Oh yeah, the taxes on the Halifax-Orlando portion was $54.50 and the taxes on the Orlando-Halifax portion was $5.00!

 

[momof2gr8kids]

We use Aeroplan all the time and love it... A piece of advice, fly using Aeroplan from Buffalo... you only pay the tax.... way cheaper then Toronto.

Yes - when I priced out the taxes from home vs. a US airport a little ways away, it was $160 in taxes from here and $30 in taxes from the US - per person!

 

[minnie56]

Mostly I use Aeroplan for International flights and I like to treat myself to Executive class but I did just play around with some routes to Florida from Buffalo. All the options were with connections so making the travel time just under 8 hrs each way which I wouldn't do. I like non stop..also...by the time I factor in fuel and parking to Buffalo, the savings is minimal. Not enough to take less than ideal itineraries for me.

I don't 'do' Buffalo in the winter either...but when it works for you, I guess it certainly is a viable option.

 

[Tower]

We use Aeroplan all the time and love it... A piece of advice, fly using Aeroplan from Buffalo... you only pay the tax.... way cheaper then Toronto.

Agree 100%! We're doing that tomorrow and our family of 5 saves $400!
Also, another Aeroplan tip if you're interested. Aeroplan miles expire after 7 years from date of accumulation now, provided the account was active. I was called by Aeroplan that our itinerary had changed to lead to earlier departures from Buffalo. Due to a terminal illness in the family, it appeared as though we would have to forfeit our miles in order to stay with dying SIL. The thing was, since the change in time was more than I think 2 hours, we were credited our Aeroplan miles 100% with no penalty and departure taxes and Aeroplan fees refunded. The bonus was that this 125,000 miles was credited as 2011 miles leaving us with 7 years now to use these miles that were originally some of my original miles. That was a fluke, but it happens

We've since rebooked on Aeroplan miles for departure tomorrow and are using older miles again so I'm happy! Even happier that we're heading to the House of Mouse for a week!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

If you make your Aeroplan reservation online make sure there are seats available because this is what happened to my family and I the last time we used Aeroplan points when flying from Toronto - Orlando. When we checked in online to get our boarding passes I remember where it listed our seats it said the word "Gate" and not any number. Well when we arrived at Pearson to the check-in counter to get our luggage taged we were told that we had to go standby since we never had confirmed seats, we only had them for our flight home from Tampa - Toronto. Now I will admit it was our mistake for not seeing this on our confirmation because when we saw seat numbers 19A, 19B, 19C we assumed it was for both our flights and not just the one going home. However the Aeroplan site never said there was no seats available using our points and basically we had agreed to go standby, which we would never have done in the first place. Now the good thing is that ourselves and the other standby passengers got seats in Business Class since they were not purchased, so we made the 10:15 AM flight and didn't have to wait until 8:55 PM flight. However that was one experience I never want to go through again, plus it's hard for me to trust Aeroplan and their website if I ever were to use points with them again.

 

[drag n' fly]

The one thing that irks me when using Aeroplan Miles is you cannot upgrade using credits. Dh is Super Elite and has lots of upgrade credits. When flying to and from LAX in December, I was not able to use his upgrade credits because I used Aeroplan miles to book the seats..pfft lol

 

[mom_rules]

Isn't Aeroplan an AirCanada specific program?

I can't get any AirCanada Flights from Buffalo to anywhere in Florida.

How does it work?

 

[minnie56]

Aeroplan is Air Canada of any of it's Star Alliance partners..

Just enter BUF to MCO (or wherever) your dates and see what comes up..I myself didn't think of this as an Aeroplan option either but seems it is indeed available. I played with a few dates and got flights w/connections so I don't like that option but might be great for some!

 

[mom_rules]

Nope-tried everything and it wouldn't let me start and end with US destinations?

 

[minnie56]

Did you try different dates? I played around and it offered me various flight options from Buffalo...

 

[mom_rules]

I did and received an error message





From (City or Airport Code): *

BUF | Buffalo, NY, US

To (City or Airport Code): *


MCO | Orlando, FL, US


– The Leaving on city/airport cannot be found.
– The Returning city/airport cannot be found.

 

[minnie56]

Hmmm....maybe try another browser? I like Google-Chrome much better than Internet Explorer.

I just tried again..random date...but to give you an idea:

ClassicFlight and Star Alliance Flight Rewards

ECONOMYSorted by: Number of stops & departure timestarting from: 25 000 miles

DEPARTUREWed Feb 22, 2012
Buffalo (BUF)
Orlando (MCO)
Continental Airlines
06:15 - 17:16

Details 1 stop(s)
11h 01min

Economy
US Airways
07:10 - 18:28

Details 1 stop(s)
11h 18min

Economy
Continental Airlines
08:20 - 17:16

Details 1 stop(s)
8h 56min

Economy
US Airways
09:18 - 18:28

Details 1 stop(s)
9h 10min

Economy
US Airways
11:52 - 18:28

Details 1 stop(s)
6h 36min

Economy
Continental Airlines
12:20 - 17:16

Details 1 stop(s)
4h 56min

Economy
Continental Airlines
12:20 - 23:08

Details 1 stop(s)
10h 48min

Economy
Continental Airlines
14:09 - 23:08

Details 1 stop(s)
8h 59min

Economy
Continental Airlines
17:19 - 23:08

Details 1 stop(s)
5h 49min

Economy
RETURNWed Feb 29, 2012
Orlando (MCO)
Buffalo (BUF)
Continental Airlines
06:00 - 11:52

Details 1 stop(s)
5h 52min

Economy
Continental Airlines
06:00 - 13:38

Details 1 stop(s)
7h 38min

Economy
Continental Airlines
06:00 - 16:53

Details 1 stop(s)
10h 53min

Economy
US Airways
14:50 - 23:13

Details 1 stop(s)
8h 23min

Economy
US Airways
14:50 - 21:53

Details 2 stop(s)
7h 03min

Economy
US Airways
14:50 - 21:53

Details 2 stop(s)
7h 03min

Economy
Star Alliance
14:50 - 22:01

Details 2 stop(s)
7h 11min

Economy
Round-Trip Mileage
For 1 passenger(s)

 

[minnie56]

Of course--IMO those flight options are nasty!!!! LOL
I booked exactly those dates this past Sunday with WJ for $321 pp round trip-non stop and that is MUCH more preferable! By the time I would factor in fuel to Buffalo and back as well as parking..no thanks.

 

[mom_rules]

Of course--IMO those flight options are nasty!!!! LOL
I booked exactly those dates this past Sunday with WJ for $321 pp round trip-non stop and that is MUCH more preferable! By the time I would factor in fuel to Buffalo and back as well as parking..no thanks.

I agree!