For those of you sitting on Aeroplan miles and considering a trip up to 330 days in the future, it might be wise to get your trip booked before July 15th. On Friday, the many award rates changes and some awards will go up dramatically in price.
For example, right now a first class award from North America to Asia is 120K miles. On this ticket, you can route through Europe, choose two stopovers and an open-jaw, and even make the trip into a mini-RTW journey. On Friday, that award jumps from 120K to 175K. A business class award on the same route will jump from 100K to 125K.
Other regions that will see an increase in required miles include the South Pacific, South America, Mexico, and Hawaii. In other words, the only regions that will remain unchanged (after dropping earlier this year) are awards to the Middle East, Africa, and the Indian Subcontinent.
For whatever reasons, those awards used to be outrageously high and remain pricey. For example, a first class award from North America to India is 210,000 miles r/t. But book an award to Asia via India before midnight ET on Thursday (Aeroplan call centers are not open 24 hours) and the same trip plus additional legs to Asia can be had for only 120K miles (even after the award chart changes, it will still be cheaper to add on segments to Asia).
Aeroplan figures that most people are not savvy enough to book an award to Asia the long way if they want to stop in the Middle East or Indian Subcontinent, but you can make your miles go a long way if you carefully plan out your itinerary.
I just booked the following first class itinerary for a client at the 120K level with stopovers in Paris, Istanbul, and Bangkok:
Check out the Aeroplan award chart here. If the UPGRD Concierge Service can be of assistance to you before (or after) the award changes, please send us a note at award@upgrd.com or learn more about our services here.
How do i use my aeroplan miles to book a cruise( to say Alaska) in June or July, this year.