Today’s Sunday Reader Question is: I have a flight to catch, but to connect there, I need to fly Air Canada. I don’t want to pay the Aeroplan fees that are charged with Air Canada. What do I do?
I just booked an award trip to Sydney, flying: Air Canada Business from Toronto YYZ to Los Angeles LAX, then United First Class LAX to Sydney SYD. I have 10 days in the region, then I fly back SYD to Seoul ICN on Asiana Business, and ICN to Montreal YUL via Istanbul IST on Turkish Business. I paid around ~$400 for this ticket, and 190,000 Aeroplan points.
There are two airlines that fly between Beijing PEK and Pyongyang FNJ: Koryo Airlines and Air China. While Koryo Airlines is cheaper than Air China, it isn’t the safest airline in the world. A r/t ticket with them costs approximately $700, while Air China is a bit more expensive (but safer).
Here's the process:
Email status.match@aircanada.ca the following information: A scan of your competitor's card, your Aeroplan number, and a screenshot of some sort of Air Canada flight activity that you've taken within 1 year on your Aeroplan page.
*When I first sent the email in April 2014, my AB card was active. When I got a re-request email, they asked for a new scan, and at that point, my AB card was inactive. I explained that, and it didn't seem to be an issue.
**This process took a very long time: 82 days to be exact! Just be patient, and reply with all the information they request, even if it's a repeat.
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.
