Update: Aeroplan has removed the multi-city price option. Looks like deal is dead.
Yesterday I talked about the new Aeroplan pricing system and the new method that the computer uses to auto-validate routings. Many things have changed, yet during the engine swap something very interesting has happened. I looked into it further, and it just turned out be one of the greatest pricing “curiosities” Aeroplan has ever seen.
Right now, every single itinerary is pricing to the amount of your first stopover, regardless of the final destination. As you can imagine, this is huge. In effect, you can travel anywhere in the world for the price of a domestic award. If you currently have Aeroplan points sitting around (such as from the American Express Business Gold Rewards Card), this is an unbeatable opportunity to use them.
Look at Toronto to Montreal… to Paris. For the same price as a domestic round trip.
Toronto to Montreal to Paris to Toronto for the same price as a domestic award
The “original” price will show on the first screen, but when you click through, the lower price is displayed instead. In order to click through to book, you’ll need at least 50% of the miles required of the “original” price. Of course if you begin/end in other zones, you can get a business or first class “mini-RTW” for the price of a simple domestic.
Of course this is not going to last, but this will go down as one of the biggest “sale” fares I have ever seen.
Earning Aeroplan Miles
Just as a recap, the best ways to earn Aeroplan miles are by flying, credit cards or transferring them from American Express Membership Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest. Current credit card offers useful for accruing Aeroplan include:
- American Express Business Gold Rewards Card – 40,000 Membership Rewards after $5000 spend within first three months, first year $0 annual fee
- American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card – 25,000 Membership Rewards points after $500 spend within the first three months, first year $0 annual fee
- American Express AeroPlus Gold Card – 26,000 Aeroplan miles after after $500 spend within the first three months
Alternative cards include the American Express Platinum Card (Canada) which comes with a 60,000 point signup bonus, as well as the Starwood Preferred Guest Card (Canada) which comes with a 10,000 point signup bonus.
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Thanks for the hot tip Jeff (surprised it’s not on BBM group?)
Sadly the above route priced at 50K + $1100 CAD (yes, AC YQ!!), but I’m gonna explore ways/destinations
I’d guess this bug is not found over the phone, so we’re stuck with online multi-city engine 🙁
Correct, that particular example shown was only for simplicity’s sake 😉
It works with Int’ routes too! Just tried RT HKG-SIN-SYD in Y for 20k! I wonder if they will honor it the ticket.
PHL YYZ SYD not working for me….
… but maybe it’s b/c I don’t have enough miles to click through
Yes, that’ll be the reason.
Is this only showing up if you have enough miles?
Correct.
Ugh… hate to transfer the miles in from Amex if it isn’t honored… what to do?
Looks like they fixed it..
Nevermind!
It works for me even if I don’t have enough miles. Strange…
You need at least 50% of the miles.
ok I see that’s why it worked I guess.
Do you need 50% of the full mileage cost or 50% of the reduced mileage cost to click through?
Of the full cost.
Wow, do you think you could just share this without pushing credit cards? Clearly signing up for a card at this point has no effect on booking this reward glitch.
Anyone take the plunge?
Can someone check if this works the other way round like Paris to YYZ to Paris also displays Domestic ?
Yes, it works starting in all continents, no, one ways do not work.
Ok thanks.
Also, if One way prices liek domestic too ?
i got the error page right before I enter my CC info 🙁
The site is quite buggy, you may need to try a few times.
CK, did you get one ticketed?
Yes.
dont have 50% of the higher amount to ticket asia 1 to north america for 30k miles in J….
Unfortunately you are out of luck 🙁
Is amex Points transfer instant ? Also what is the Top Up rate for Aeroplan miles ?
Top up rate is 3 cents per mile, but you can’t top up here at all. Transfers from American Express should be instant.
Thanks Again.
Glad to help.
Thanks Jeff! Just booked J class with BR/OZ with stopover in TPE from HKG-SYD. YQ was $427 CAD, but it is in J class so I am okay with that ;).
Congrats! Glad to help.
and for 30k only. What a steal 🙂
If it only priced to the first stop over, wouldn’t YYZ-YUL be 25K?
In economy class, or 50K in business class for a round trip within North America.
Check the award chart again, short-haul NA is 25K in business class r/t.
Short haul awards aren’t considered here, all awards originating from North America is at the “full” intra North America price. Sorry if I was unclear.
How much is JFK-LAX-ICN-JFK pricing out to in F with charges? Thanks! 11/14 on outbound, 11/23 on inbound.
Assuming availability, the same as an intra-North America first class award, which is 70K.
I can’t believe this is not in FT yet 😛
You snooze, you lose 😉
don’t have enough miles, can anyone help check what is final miles needed for
hkg-jfk, Nov 15- Dec 7?
thanks in adavance!
Should be the same as an intra Asia if you’re starting in HKG, but if you don’t have half the regular amount of miles you won’t be able to book this.
@Jack – I hope FT does not find out about this. FT always kills deals since they are so big 😉
dead. tried jfk to yyz to tlv and then tlv back on tk and it prices out at 165. I had 138k in the account.
Hmm. Not seeing it on a EUROPE2-EUROPE2-YUL. I have enough points 🙁
Thanks for the head’s up! ^^
Getting error messages everytime i try to book.
Error messages are fairly common, you will need to try a few times in some cases. Although readers reported the deal being dead a little earlier upthread.
It would be smart for people to have the routing go through the US at some point to get DOT protection.
UH UH
“THERE’S ONLY ONE MORE STEP TO COMPLETE YOUR FLIGHT RESERVATIONS!
Please contact the Aeroplan Contact Centre within the next 24 hours to complete your booking”
Just got the same! Too slow…
“THERE’S ONLY ONE MORE STEP TO COMPLETE YOUR FLIGHT RESERVATIONS!
Please contact the Aeroplan Contact Centre within the next 24 hours to complete your booking”
Just Booked another ticket from YYZ-HKG stopover in SFO for my mother! Happy Bday Mom! 🙂
Can I fly from New York to Sydney, Kingsford Smith, AU (SYD. In business for 50K? I have no Aeroplan miles but have a lot of American Express and Starwood. How long does the transfer take??
thanks
The transfer from American Express should be instant, though you might be hard pressed to find availability online on that route.
Just booked USA-Europe 2 round-trip without a hitch, 50k miles in J. Thanks, and please keep this off of FT since Air Canada reps review the Aeroplan forum regularly.
Happy to help.
What was your itinerary? Trying to get to Paris from DC….not having any luck.
That’s weird, my domestic stopover is in DC. Its LAX-IAD (stop) IAD-FRA-xxx, and then same on return without the stopover. FWIW, my Dulles stopover isn’t even the full 24 hours.
Thank you. Do you know if I can link my American express and serch for flights before I transfer?
Yes you can search for flights with no miles in your account.
I do believe that this is dead. Or it is YVR-CDG for Aug 2015 dates.
I checked a few minutes ago, it is still working up until the second page at least.
Before transferring a bunch of miles, can someone tell me wha the mileage would be for IAD-HAN Openjaw SGN-IAD?
THANKS
Its showing up as 300,00 in business for 2 people and $629.40 but I do not have miles in my account to click through. Would someone mind checking this for me before i transfer miles?
thanks
Are you pricing this with a stopover? Otherwise you will be charged the ordinary mileage amount.
I priced it as a multi-city. Would that work and would I be able to view the mistake fare without transferring the miles first? Thanks
You will not be able to click through without transferring miles. If you have a simple open jaw but no stopover, this will not work.
Got it, what about this: IAD-HAN (stopover) – SGN- IAD?
THANKS
No, since it prices to your first stopover, this will be no different than a regular award to Asia. You will need to stop in North America.
Before transferring a bunch of miles, can someone tell me wha the mileage would be for IAD-HAN Openjaw SGN-IAD?
THANKS
The reason it requests agent intervention is the fees/taxes cannot be calculated. Any theories on that?
UNABLE TO CALCULATE AIRPORT TAXES, FEES & SURCHARGES ONLINE
Airport taxes, fees and surcharges for the destinations you selected will have to be calculated manually. Once you finish your booking, you will be instructed to call the Aeroplan Contact Centre in order to complete your reservation.
No matter how many times I log out and log back in still cant click through to book using multi-city – frustrating.
Trying a simple YYZ-YVR-HKG-YYZ route.
You would not be able to book that with a stopover online.
Thanks so much, booked a SFO-LAX(stop)-SYD-SFO for 25k miles. You made my day :))
Glad to hear it!
Thank you. Do you know if I can link my American express and search for flights before I transfer?
Can stopovers ordinarily be booked online?
Yes.
someone posted on FT…
I’m trying to do lga-Phil/iad-Fco but it won’t price it for me. Do you happen to know why lga itineraries do not work?
If certain legs are greyed out, it means you are likely running into MPM issues. Otherwise, website errors do occur and you will need to try again.
looks like they disabled multi city
Multi-city search has been removed
What were your total taxes and fees? $0?
NYC-BOS-TXL-NYC I’m getting $700+ in taxes and fees.
not working JFK to BKK. Regular price of 150K points. Too bad.
I was going to say…I cannot find multicity
I was able to get in before they cut it off apparently, flight leaves in two weeks, we’ll see what happens!
I think i will file a complaint to Transport Canada over this!
I can still get the multi-flight but the miles are back to normal.
Not offering multi-city anymore:(
for future reference everybody – this is how you avoid monster fees.
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/01/09/booking-aeroplan-awards-without-fuel-surcharges/
Darn. Two hours too late! Multi-city is removed.
It’s not fair that us OLD people weren’t fast enough. AC really owes us now!
I got it to confirm with a return leg via United. It would not work with entire itinerary on AC.
Thanks Jeff. Unfortunately I snoozed and loosed!
However – a note to the person who always had a problem paying – the AC website NEVER works for me if I use Internet Explore – ONLY if I use Firefox. May be a glitch as I am on Vista but I think the same thing applies on Windows 7 and definitely was a problem on Windows 98.
So use Firefox, not IE.
Thanks again
Thanks for the tip. Liquidated 85 percent of my miles
Jeff, do you know if they allow ticket change for the same mileage?
Most likely, if you attempt to change the ticket, it’ll reprice and you’ll be asked to pay additional miles (since the sale ended), although your miles may vary.
Aeroplan honor your ticket? What itinerary did you get?
I see this deal on FT at least 24-48 hours before on here. I would be curious to know how many tickets yreffej (and other bloggers) booked before he published this trick.
If you look at the FT “thread” that was opened, it credits me as the original source. I found this myself.