Air Canada Aeorplan is one of the most useful frequent flyer programs out there, thanks to the reasonable award pricing, the huge number of airline partners, and the ability to have stopovers for 5,000 points, among other things. Unfortunately the program just became a bit less useful.
Continue reading: Aeroplan Award Chart Changes: Dynamic Pricing On More Partners
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It's a shame but not unexpected.
So what's the best StarAlliiance program now, for business class awards in particular?
Between North America and South South America it increased from 60K to 100K on Business and from 40K to 45K on Economy (United flights).
The Business class increase is outrageous (67%), economy is ok (12.5%)
All aeroplan is doing is showing basically the same saver rates as United, it’s a better deal to book with United directly now especially since you don’t have any cancellations fees on award bookings
I second that question, particularly for this if us who usually transfer MR points...
It's as if all airlines have decided to devalue their frequent flyer programmes/Miles game.
With Dynamic pricing close to the value of a cash ticket you wonder if it is even worth it collecting miles. Soon it'll be skypesos all around.
I have 100k in my aeroplan account because of a cancellation last year. Now worth a third less.
I checked some Canadian North flights from Iqaluit to Ottawa and Montreal yesterday and today to see if there would be more availability today.
And it looks like the answer is that there has been no change to availability, but award have risen from 10k one way for both routes to 18.1k for the Ottawa route and 17.7k for the Montreal route - and it's the same whichever day is chosen.
Etihad is back from being blocked!
At 150k for a 5 hour flight....
I wonder if the other blocked airlines will come back slowly with outrageous pricing as well.
Garbage airline and program
@Lucky. I know it is unrelated, but have you heard anything why LifeMiles website seem to be not working properly recently, like not showing any availability for months ahead for many routes? When I googled it, it said that there is a scheduled maintenance ending either on 3/28 or 4/28, but when I called Avianca, they do not know anything about it. They had plenty of availabilities for the days I looked at, but their LifeMiles website showed none.
Thank you.
Lifemiles also made some adjustments with the UA inventory pricing and moved some routes to that 80k transatlantic business. I would submit that these changes, happening at the same time, are not an accident.
I mean if you're looking to redeem on UA and can book round trip, ANA while annoying has pricing that no one comes close to.
While sad, it was a given since the points and miles game has moved from a niche hobby to pretty mainstream thanks to social media
I mean if you can’t tell what’s happening UA won’t let partners book for significantly cheaper than them. They will simply block ANA from having the space. Partner booking arbitrage is nearly dead at this point.
I’m curious by what you mean that you believe this is happening for a specific reason.
Lucky, Perhaps its time to review what Star Alliance is best for business class and/or first class redemptions. You have a lot of readers in North America and Europe. I would appreciate if you could give guidance based on whether you are Europe/UK based or North American based.
In my case I will be based in Italy starting this year. ITA is about to join Miles and More and Star Alliance next year. I fly business about 9x to Toronto Canada, 15X to London and 2 to 3 trips to one of or more of Asia/Africa/Caribbean/Mexico a year.
I am BA GGL but will not spend enough to maintain it. I am thinking of switching to Star Alliance. with the devaluation I am not sure AC is great but Miles and More just had a huge devaluation and I don't travel to the USA so UA does not seem to make sense.
Would love to see you update your review of Star Alliance from the point of view of Americans and European based readers.
I really enjoy your website. Thank you for all your efforts.
If you're based in Canada, Aeroplan is still the way to go since you're captive to AC, and some points on the table is better than no points on the table. And it still has decent redemptions for Canada domestic flights.
But otherwise, MileagePlus is the way to go for Star. No expiration, pooling, no redeposit fees, elite point earnings on redemption flights, no surcharges, but to name a few. Also, easier to gain elite status with partner flying. And can use for upgrades etc etc.
Yes, it's been devalued, but so have most all other mileage programs. Just condition your mind that miles are worth in the 1.0 to 1.1 range, and you won't be as disappointed.