BREAKING: Aeroplan to Allow Bookings to Cuba
On April 16, 2012, Aeroplan blocked all redemptions to any Cuban city. Their reasoning was that Air Canada flights to Cuba were actually run by Air Canada Vacations, and they were looking to align their operations.
At that time, a very limited number of Star Alliance airlines flew to Cuba. I believe they were Air Canada, Copa, and Avianca. Now there are a number of new routes to Cuba, including on Air China from Montreal, Turkish Airlines, and United.
Considering the recent liberalization of US-Cuban relations, I asked my contact at Aeroplan whether they would allow redemptions to Cuba. This is the message I received:
Aeroplan Members will be able to redeem for travel rewards to all Cuban destinations serviced by Air Canada, Air Canada rouge and Star Alliance carriers shortly. These rewards will be bookable through Aeroplan’s Contact Centre and on aeroplan.com.
Stay tuned, I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
This is great news! Per the quote, I don’t know when this change will occur, but it looks like it will be soon. I fully expect Cuba will be placed in the ‘Carribean & Central America’ zone, meaning a round-trip economy redemption from North America would cost 40,000 Aeroplan miles. This isn’t the greatest use, considering flights to Cuba are usually inexpensive, but opens up the door for some interesting routes, such as Toronto – Istanbul – Havana – Toronto.
I’ll keep you guys updated when I hear more from Aeroplan. What do you think about Aeroplan allowing award redemptions to Cuba?
This is interesting information but I have a question. You mentioned interesting routes and then listed Toronto – Istanbul – Havana – Toronto route. Why would anyone ever book a route like this. I assume it must have something to do with Aeroplan point usage but I’m still lost.
To see Turkey and Cuba on the same ticket!
I knew I was a miles and points geek when I read the previous commenter’s message and thought… why would you NOT fly YYZ-IST-HAV-YYZ?!? All the extra opportunities! Especially Air China from YYZ in international J could be awesome.
I just tried from YYZ to HOG (Holguin) and no destination found.
I have 45k miles in my account and would like to travel some where warm and close to Toronto next week..
No luck so far..
Anyone miles savy can point to a direction ?
They haven’t opened up bookings yet. Per the article, the date will be announced shortly.