Thanks for reading this trip report! Because I am posting the numerous parts of this report while I'm travelling, they will be published over the course of the next couple weeks. Enjoy!
Every Sunday I will take some reader questions and post the answers here:
If I cancel a credit card, will I lose the points associated with it?
Depends, but usually no. Most credit card promotions are tied with a separate points program (i.e. Marriott credit card is tied to your Marriott points account.) If you close those credit cards after the points have been deposited into your rewards account, the points are safe, as they’re separate companies (credit card issuer and reward program). Note that this only applies if you cancel the card after the points are deposited. If the points you’re waiting on have not been deposited into the separate reward program, and you cancel the credit card, you’ll probably forfeit those points.
The next couple weeks are quite busy for me. This weekend I’m visiting the family in Ottawa, where I will be getting a fancy-pants suit for my real world life. After that, I’m off to Hong Kong and South Africa on Cathay Pacific First Class. I will be writing the trip report throughout the course of the next couple weeks, including an instalment on how I booked it coming out soon. However, considering my real-world business, my posting will go down, and considerably down while I’m on safari etc from Jul 16-Jul 30. Nonetheless, I will continue to post during this busy time, just with less frequency. As always, I only post original content, which takes awhile to think about and write.
Air India has now officially joined the Star Alliance, and as of today, Air India flights are bookable with Aeroplan. Taking a quick peek at the inventory, there is considerable inventory in First and Business class. Even better, Aeroplan is not charging YQ on Air India flights! Normally to get to India from Canada, the most convenient routing was with Lufthansa, which charges a huge YQ fee, or on the direct with United, which was hard to find availability on. With AI joining the circus, we can get to India without paying extraordinary fees!
One of the best redemption opportunities is the mini-round-the-world (mini-RTW) option that Aeroplan has. Note that these redemptions are not the same as Aeroplan around-the-world option, which allows five stopovers. The mini-RTW allows two stopovers, like one stop in Asia, and another in Europe. The mini-RTW is not an official program, so if you ask an Aeroplan agent about it they’ll probably say it doesn’t exist.
Aegean Airlines is a Star Alliance partner airline based out of Greece. There’s nothing remarkable about the airline itself, and it doesn’t even fly to North America. However, they have the most generous status granting mechanism out of any Star Alliance partner airline.
