Flying With Air Canada Aeroplan Points and WDW... Any Benefit?

[AndyMcV]

Hi Gang

I just earned 26,000 aeroplan miles over the past few years. However I'm wondering if this is any real benefit to me regarding WDW. I think 25,000 points will give me a single round trip ticket to MCO from Toronto and I'd still have to pay the taxes on that ticket for what about $150.

Last June we flew Southwest out of Buffalo for the first time and our TOTAL cost for all 4 of us was under $800 taxes in. I checked for fun flying around my birthday this year to WDW and we can get flights for $72 each way for all of us out of Buffalo. Again this would total $576 plus the little taxes they charge... so say around $600 for all of us. Yes, that's $600 total.

....um, so what good is my 26,000 aeroplan points? I'm really wondering at this point. Have I missed anything?

Andy

 

[duckie0517]

My DH and I used our aeroplan points for 2 adult 7-day park hopper passes. Which we then upgraded to annual passes.

We find it is so much cheaper to fly out of Buffalo when we go to Florida.

Don't forget that if you use your points for a flight you must still pay for the taxes.

 

[disneynuts777]

Hi Gang

I just earned 26,000 aeroplan miles over the past few years. However I'm wondering if this is any real benefit to me regarding WDW. I think 25,000 points will give me a single round trip ticket to MCO from Toronto and I'd still have to pay the taxes on that ticket for what about $150.

Last June we flew Southwest out of Buffalo for the first time and our TOTAL cost for all 4 of us was under $800 taxes in. I checked for fun flying around my birthday this year to WDW and we can get flights for $72 each way for all of us out of Buffalo. Again this would total $576 plus the little taxes they charge... so say around $600 for all of us. Yes, that's $600 total.

....um, so what good is my 26,000 aeroplan points? I'm really wondering at this point. Have I missed anything?

Andy

25000 points might get you a return ticket to yyz. Most of these flights have you connecting through montreal. The last time I looked it was nearly 40000 points per ticket for a direct flight with return to yyz.
I find the points really useless for flights when the taxes on the tickets are more than if I just flew out of Buffalo.
We use our points for tickets to events, gift cards and yes....theme park tickets for WDW.
Fly out of Buffalo and save yourself some money and alot of hassle.

 

[MikeyNS]

...on the other side of the coin are some of us who don't have the ability to quickly drive to a close US airport (Bangor is 6 hours away from us), so we use Aeroplan and Avion flights religiously. I don't mind paying ~$150 in taxes per ticket. Plus the ability to plan way in advance (I'll be booking our flights for next March in a few weeks) allow us to get the 25,000pt tickets with no problem. To us using our points for flights are worth more than the value of a MYW ticket.

 

[I Run Long]

I've never found the appeal of Aeroplan points/Airmiles, etc. The amount of money you have to spend to get even one flight far exceeds the actual cost of the ticket. You get 1 point for every $1 you spend with Aeroplan credit cards for instance, so . . . . you would have to spend $25,000 to get 25000 miles. No thanks. I had a card, and I just cancelled it. Instead I've set up my own budget and put away a monthly amount towards "vacations". Trust me it will be a lot cheaper than spending money to get points only to spend yet more money to pay the taxes associated therewith.

 

[MikeyNS]

I'd have to disagree. We just put everything on our cards and pay them off every month.. it's not like we're going out there to see what we can spend just to get points. $25,000 worth of expenses, whether cash or on your card is still $25,000 worth of expenses.

 

[I Run Long]

I'd have to disagree. We just put everything on our cards and pay them off every month.. it's not like we're going out there to see what we can spend just to get points. $25,000 worth of expenses, whether cash or on your card is still $25,000 worth of expenses.

I totally get what you're saying but to spend the equivalent of $25,000 and get one ticket that is worth anywhere from $600 to $800 just doesn't make good financial sense.

 

[MikeyNS]

Interesting perspective! How so? I'd have to spend the $25,000 anyways and I get a ""free"" ticket out of it.

 

[I Run Long]

Interesting perspective! How so? I'd have to spend the $25,000 anyways and I get a ""free"" ticket out of it.

Exactly - it isn't really "free" is it - you've spent all that money to get that. Why not take that money - sock it away and get numerous trips. Like I said, I budget anywhere from $250-$350/month into a TFSA specifically for vacations. They give me interest (agreed it isn't much nowadays), I don't pay tax on the interest and when I have enough I go to WDW. No $125 yearly fee to have a the Aerogold card to collect the points, no extra fee to pay the taxes and on and on we go.

But . . . . if others are willing to go that route and it works for you I say go ahead. Me - I'll stash my money (maybe I should be using my mattress for other things now that I think of it) and save it towards the trip rather than collect those miles for that "free" flight.

 

[MikeyNS]

I guess I'm just being slow today. Sorry. It's Friday.
..but the money we spend on our CC are just our everyday expenses, which add up quite a bit. That doesn't account for any savings type of thing. Again if I'm going to spend $10,000 a year on groceries whether cash or credit, after 2.5 years I'm going to have enough for a flight (well, less than 2 years due to other things, but you get my drift!).. if I spent $10,000 in cash on groceries what would I have after the same amount of time?

 

[McKiggan]

I have to agree with Mikey. If I am spending the money on other necessary expenses (mortgage, groceries) why not get the additional benefit of points?

Since the money is being spent in any event, I can't "save" it to pay for a trip.

That being said, using AP points for popular destinations/times is a pain in the b*tt. It requires planning almost a year in advance and I recognize that most people are not in a position to do that.

Bottom line; what works for some may not work for others, your mileage may vary...

 

[I Run Long]

I guess I'm just being slow today. Sorry. It's Friday.
..but the money we spend on our CC are just our everyday expenses, which add up quite a bit. That doesn't account for any savings type of thing. Again if I'm going to spend $10,000 a year on groceries whether cash or credit, after 2.5 years I'm going to have enough for a flight (well, less than 2 years due to other things, but you get my drift!).. if I spent $10,000 in cash on groceries what would I have after the same amount of time?

I completely understand. I hope I don't come across as miss pushy - that's certainly not my intent. I guess for us I really like to keep our family budget under tight reins. I use the zero based budget principle - every dollar we earn gets assigned a job from groceries, to car repair and if we don't have cash we don't get it or do it. We budget and save for it first - just like the old days. So for us, that's means no credit card use and paying any and all of our debts as quickly as possible and not have any unnecessary expenditures like fees just to have a credit card. But like I said, I think people out there should do what works for them and them alone. I find any sort of rewards programs are not truly rewards - they're getting you somehow by perhaps getting you to shop at their store to get that particular award and at the same time tracking your spending habits for marketing purposes everytime you use your particular points card. Oh no, I just realized that I sound like a conspiracy theorist!

 

[I Run Long]

I have to agree with Mikey. If I am spending the money on other necessary expenses (mortgage, groceries) why not get the additional benefit of points?

Since the money is being spent in any event, I can't "save" it to pay for a trip.

That being said, using AP points for popular destinations/times is a pain in the b*tt. It requires planning almost a year in advance and I recognize that most people are not in a position to do that.

Bottom line; what works for some may not work for others, your mileage may vary...

Sorry - I'll stop my rant but I just wanted to point out in particular to mortgages that you aren't really getting your points for nothing. A little bit of a story here. When we negotiated our last mortgage 4 years ago I asked for the Aeroplan rewards points be attached to our mortgage. Our banker (CIBC) pointed out that she couldn't then match the lower interest we negotiated because as she put it, you pay a bit higher rate of interest to get those points. In effect, you are paying for those points. So . . . . you can choose to not get the Aeroplan points and pay less interest thus paying less overall, or you can get the points but end up paying more interest on your mortgage over the long term. Just a something to consider.

 

[angela1044]

We used the points for flights a few years ago and I would never do it again. We couldn't get a direct flight and actually had two stopovers on the way back. Plus, we had an infant and it was a huge hassle because he had to have a paper ticket. Overall a bad experience and it cost us as much as it would have been to fly from Buffalo-- just for the taxes.

This year we flew out of Buffalo and it was awesome.

I would use your points for your hotel room. We did that and it was great. Either that or your MYW passes.

I really don't think there is enough value in the flights.

 

[Sheribo]

We have used the points for travel to Orlando but it's actually easier for us to drive to Rochester ($144 return), leave our vehicle at the Holiday Inn Airport and fly. Love that airport and it's a direct flight.

In the future we will use our aeroplan points for park tickets or gift cards.

 

[TiggerCat]

My DH and I used our aeroplan points for 2 adult 7-day park hopper passes. Which we then upgraded to annual passes.

We find it is so much cheaper to fly out of Buffalo when we go to Florida.

Don't forget that if you use your points for a flight you must still pay for the taxes.

That's neat! How many points did you use to get the 7-day tickets and how much did it cost to upgrade to the annual pass?

TC.