# Why we dumped Aeoplan



## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We belong to Aeroplan, Delta Skymiles, and United Mileage Plus, among others. 

We got rid of our Aeroplan Visa card. We now put any Star Alliance points on to our United Mileage Plus. Trying to use up our Aeroplan miles.

Why? 

Priced a return flight from Calgary - Ft. Mac. on points. Aeroplan was charging $176. for the 'free ticket'. United Mileage plus was charging $65 (50USD) for the same flights, same days.

Even bigger discrepancy an Euope and Australia/Asia flights. Often as much as $350-$400 per ticket difference.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

ian said:


> We belong to Aeroplan, Delta Skymiles, and United Mileage Plus, among others.
> 
> We got rid of our Aeroplan Visa card. We now put any Star Alliance points on to our United Mileage Plus. Trying to use up our Aeroplan miles.
> 
> ...


We dumped all airline points plans except Westjet in favour of cashback.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We migrated to cashback cards as well. One exception is the SPG Amex card. Offer came from our old Marriott Visa. $125 year but comes with 75000 Marriott points. We will cancel after 11 months. 

We may pick up the Westjet card at some point.


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

I hate United with a passion and would certainly not be accumulating miles on that airline. I got rid of my CIBC Aeroplan Visas (I had two) several years ago when I was dumped onto TD, which is my bank anyway, and I turned down the credit cards they were offering. I currently have two no-fee credit cards with cashback.

Aeroplan used to be a great frequent flyer program about 20 years ago and then they started charging ridiculous fees on tickets. I have now used up almost all my remaining Aeroplan points recently. We will see what happens when Air Canada leaves Aeroplan. Rumour has it that Aeroplan Points will be redeemable on Amazon.ca. 

I like WestJet and their card is highly rated. The only reason I haven’t gotten one is the annual fee. Now that Im retired I’m just not flying enough to justify paying fees for these things!


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

We drove to Buffalo and paid $15 to go to San Francisco and just booked tickets to Hawaii from Buffalo on my aeroplan .I stopped using points from Canada about 2 years ago because the taxes are ridiculous .I bought my friend a ticket two years ago From Egypt to Las Vegas return for $46 using points yet they wanted $200 plus points to get me from Toronto so I flew westjet .I have started using my TD Rewards more and getting away from Aeroplan.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

*buffalo to sanfrancisco for 15 bucks!!??*


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

plus 25,000 point i have 800,000 left


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## potato69 (Mar 21, 2018)

marina628 said:


> plus 25,000 point i have 800,000 left


There are ways to sell aeroplan points for around 1.4 cents each. You're sitting on 11K+ right there. Nice little egg.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We are down to just over 100K. Goal is to empty it before AC bails and sets up their own program. We will do our best to use them on United where there is no onerous admin fee. I think we can use them on TAP as well. Unfortunately that loophole on Aeroplan Lufthansa tickets was closed a few years ago. If we go to Toronto in the fall we will United with a stop in Charlotte and get down to Hilton Head for a week or to FLL/MIA for a cruise.


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## milhouse (Nov 16, 2016)

We've got about 350k. The goal is try to book a mini-RTW in F-class and taking advantage of their 2 stopovers and some of the 10 max 24hr layovers before AC dumps Aeroplan in June 2020. We're about 70-80k points shy of an F-class itinerary through Asia. I don't know if I'm desperate enough to travel hack some points. We would have had enough if we weren't duped into spending our points on a crappy biz class flights to Florida when they were threatening to expire points after 7 years. 
I suspect there's going to be a mad rush to use points before the change. Even if Aeroplan gets a new airline partner, I can't see the travel rewards being as liberal with the stopovers as they are now.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

We have already redeemed a bunch for esso gift cards and best western gift cards ,I know we are doing 3 trips this year from Buffalo ,advantage of that is we also get to shop and bring stuff back home as well staying outside of the country for over a week.I never thought about selling them rather treat my family or friends to some trips.Another thing we have noticed is how difficult it is to get a Business class ticket to Europe , they fly you toronto - Montreal via business class then economy rest of the way .


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

Getting a business class ticket was another reason we dumped them. I got tired of either not getting a business seat or having business on only one leg of the trip. I found that the upgrade to business was a good deal. But....did you notice that the admin charges for a business seat are actually higher than an economy seat...on the same plane, same date. Ripoff.


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## WGZ (Feb 3, 2017)

Would you go AMEX? I got the scotia gold amex for the sign up bonus and first year fee waived. Might be a pump and dump after a year type of card for me though, then go to cash back.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I collected Aeroplan for years with Air Canada and United. The utility of those Aeroplan points has really diminished over the years. These days I struggle to ever find decent flights with few connections, and if I do find a flight, the points turn out to be worth less than 1.5 cent per mile.

After United beat up Dr. Dao, I stopped flying United entirely (including for business) which makes Aeroplan even less useful. Now I'm just eating through the points before they expire or are devalued completely.



potato69 said:


> There are ways to sell aeroplan points for around 1.4 cents each. You're sitting on 11K+ right there. Nice little egg.


Can you share more info on what to do with the points? I have about 14,000 left.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

james4beach said:


> I collected Aeroplan for years with Air Canada and United. The utility of those Aeroplan points has really diminished over the years. These days I struggle to ever find decent flights with few connections, and if I do find a flight, the points turn out to be worth less than 1.5 cent per mile.
> 
> After United beat up Dr. Dao, I stopped flying United entirely (including for business) which makes Aeroplan even less useful. Now I'm just eating through the points before they expire or are devalued completely.
> 
> ...


There's sites like flipmymiles.com and sellmymilesnow.com. The second one does list aeroplan. Not sure what you'd get. Maybe a buck per hundred miles? Better than redeeming for an AC gift card, which is what I will probably end up doing.
The websites seem slightly shady, so who knows.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Wow, Aeroplan is horrible and useless. For some flights I have coming up (two months away), if I redeem for flights through Aeroplan's web site the most I am getting is $0.0035 per mile.

The Air Canada gift cards look like better options. The 13,500 one converts at $0.0074 per mile, which is still awful, but double what I can get for a flight redemption.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

marina628 said:


> ... Another thing we have noticed is how difficult it is to get a Business class ticket to Europe , they fly you toronto - Montreal via business class then economy rest of the way.


Interesting ... I will have to check with my cousin in T.O.

The last I talked to her, she said her friend books tickets on Aeroplan to Australia as close to a year out as possible. She then calls continuously until she is able to upgrade to business class for all legs. 

My cousin does not have the patience so she either shifts her dates until she gets business class (being retired) or pays for that particular trip.


Cheers


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We use our travel agent to book Aeroplan flights. She seems to have a superior access than we can get.
e.g. Vcr to Mia
Our effort Vancouver to Saskatoon and overnight then to Toronto and connect to Miami
Her effort Vancouver to Toronto and connect to Miami same day

She also found half price business class to Europe on BA last year.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Maybe I just need to book further in advance. I looked at another flight, 5 months out.

If I just bought the flight directly from AC, it would cost $324. Aeroplan prices it at $109 + 12,500 miles.

Which means the 12,500 miles are worth $215, or $0.0172 per mile. OK that is a substantially higher value, more than double the gift cards. That's 1.7 cents per mile.


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## nobleea (Oct 11, 2013)

We tapped out of aeroplan last week. Didn't have many points, just over 50K, and I don't really travel for work. Most of our flights are on WJ or Flair.
The flights we do want are usually not available, or I could get a similar flight from Flair for the same price as the aeroplan taxes and fees. Plus, we need 3 tickets minimum, and soon to be 4 tickets this year when the son turns 2.

So I got $350 in Costco GC's and a $25 esso card. We can use these immediately, rather than hold on to the points for 2 years in the hopes of needing a flight that lines up with Aeroplan's availability, just to save (maybe) $60-100 pp.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Amazing, I was able to find a flight through Aeroplan (4 months away) and got effectively 2 cents per mile value on a US/Canada flight. That basically concludes my Aeroplan experience.

12,500 miles + $71 fee = flight that normally costs $330
Therefore, 12,500 miles = $259
And $259/12500 = $0.02072 per mile


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We have about 90K miles between us to burn. It will be on as many United flights as possible in order to avoid the high fees.. Probably two Calgary-Charlotte-Toronto round trips (why only visit the inlaws when you can stop in Hilton Head and Charleston on the way for the same points) and a few Ft. Mac trips.


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