I finally emptied my Aeroplan account. I will be cancelling my premium Aeroplan bank credit card. Why? It is called fuel surcharge. When Aeroplan is redeemed for 'reward' flights on Air Canada and several other Star Alliance members, fuel surcharges are added to the cost of the reward ticket.
So, if one was booking Calgary-London (march 5/19) on Air Canada, the fare would be $1013. If one used 60,000 Aeroplan reward points, that reward ticket would cost you $706. $432 dollars of this cost is 'Fuel Surcharge'. Not a very large saving. In fact, the redemption works out to about .5 percent. In the past, we would avoid this by booking Lufthansa to Europe since there was no fuel surcharge. Aeroplan has now 'fixed' this loophole. The only alternative for us is to get a reward flight on a United Flight via Chicago.
Another real example. We were about to book reward tickets this week. 2 people. Calgary-Santiago and return Buenos Aires-Calgary on Aeroplan AC reward tickets. The cost of these free tickets was 120,000 points and just under $1500 in 'fees'. The cost of a regular tickets would be approximately $2800. The redemption value would have been about 1.1 percent.
Instead we routed Calgary-Panama City (stopover)-Santiago and Buenos Aires-Calgary return. All flights United Airlines(and Copa). Cost was 120,000 points and $489. It would have cost an extra $1000. to fly AC, we would not have had the stopover, and the flights were longer. The redemption values works out to a much better 1.9 percent. Fortunately for us, Aeroplan has not figured out a way of adding 'fuel surcharges' to United/United partner flights. Not yet anyway..but stay tuned.
Clearly, the points have more value if you are redeeming business class tickets. Our experience is that business class tickets on Aeroplan/Star Alliance are much, much more difficult to obtain than they once were and often to do not provide business class seating on ALL legs of the trip. Unfortunately, I am no longer in a position to accumulate the large amount of miles that allow us to get business class rewards on flights.
Aeroplan has some changes coming up in Jan. One of those is apparently (so I have been told) a computer 'fix' so that they can add fuel surcharges to all Star Alliance flights-especially United.
So we look at it like this. We pay $170. year for two premium Aeroplan bank cards. For that, our redemption rate can be as low as .5 percent. We will probably move to a cash back card that gives us 1.5-2 percent return at a much lower card cost and far greater flexibility.
So, if one was booking Calgary-London (march 5/19) on Air Canada, the fare would be $1013. If one used 60,000 Aeroplan reward points, that reward ticket would cost you $706. $432 dollars of this cost is 'Fuel Surcharge'. Not a very large saving. In fact, the redemption works out to about .5 percent. In the past, we would avoid this by booking Lufthansa to Europe since there was no fuel surcharge. Aeroplan has now 'fixed' this loophole. The only alternative for us is to get a reward flight on a United Flight via Chicago.
Another real example. We were about to book reward tickets this week. 2 people. Calgary-Santiago and return Buenos Aires-Calgary on Aeroplan AC reward tickets. The cost of these free tickets was 120,000 points and just under $1500 in 'fees'. The cost of a regular tickets would be approximately $2800. The redemption value would have been about 1.1 percent.
Instead we routed Calgary-Panama City (stopover)-Santiago and Buenos Aires-Calgary return. All flights United Airlines(and Copa). Cost was 120,000 points and $489. It would have cost an extra $1000. to fly AC, we would not have had the stopover, and the flights were longer. The redemption values works out to a much better 1.9 percent. Fortunately for us, Aeroplan has not figured out a way of adding 'fuel surcharges' to United/United partner flights. Not yet anyway..but stay tuned.
Clearly, the points have more value if you are redeeming business class tickets. Our experience is that business class tickets on Aeroplan/Star Alliance are much, much more difficult to obtain than they once were and often to do not provide business class seating on ALL legs of the trip. Unfortunately, I am no longer in a position to accumulate the large amount of miles that allow us to get business class rewards on flights.
Aeroplan has some changes coming up in Jan. One of those is apparently (so I have been told) a computer 'fix' so that they can add fuel surcharges to all Star Alliance flights-especially United.
So we look at it like this. We pay $170. year for two premium Aeroplan bank cards. For that, our redemption rate can be as low as .5 percent. We will probably move to a cash back card that gives us 1.5-2 percent return at a much lower card cost and far greater flexibility.
