AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Aeroplan has added the ability to book stopover awards on its website. Until now, travelers needed to call Air Canada Aeroplan to book an award with a stopover — paying a fee to book over the phone. Currently, Air Canada labels the online booking functionality for Aeroplan stopover awards as in beta.
Being able to plan and book Aeroplan stopover awards directly from the site is making it much easier to take advantage of some of the program's best award sweet spots.
Aeroplan Stopover Awards Rules & Cost
You can book Aeroplan stopover awards subject to the following rules:
- Stopovers are permitted once per direction of travel
- An open jaw is not permitted as a stopover point.
- A stopover can be for a maximum of 45 days.
- Stopovers are not permitted within the U.S. and Canada.
Aeroplan charges an additional 5,000 Aeroplan points on top of the cost of your award to book a stopover. This can be exceptional value and, if you are clever, can even save you some points on some awards.
Booking an Aeroplan Stopover Award
Booking a stopover award is now very simple. First, open the Air Canada website and start a search as if you are going to book a regular itinerary. However, before entering your desired route, make sure to select the Multicity/stopover option and the book with points option.
Now you can enter your desired route. For example, we chose an itinerary with Air Canada partner Etihad Airways from Rome to Delhi with a weeklong stopover in Abu Dhabi.
With many flight options, you will need to select the first segment of the route from Rome to Abu Dhabi. We chose a business class award in business starting from 45,000 points plus C$94 in taxes and fees.
Now you can select the second segment, and there are a couple of flights from Abu Dhabi to Delhi. We chose the earlier option, which started at 20,000 points plus C$43 in taxes and fees.
If you have not signed into your account, you will be prompted to sign in and complete your booking. If you don't have enough points for your booking, you have the option to purchase the fares for cash or purchase points to complete your booking or a mix of points and cash.
One thing to remember when you try and book a stopover is to do your research for each flight independently first. Make sure you have the right dates and availability for each segment in your itinerary before putting them together and doing a stopover search.
Boosting Your Aeroplan Mileage Balance
If you find your account balance short of what's needed for an Aeroplan stopover award, you have several options to transfer flexible credit card points to Aeroplan. Fortunately, Aeroplan is one of those airlines that has multiple partnerships with several major credit card issuers. You can transfer points from the following programs to Air Canada Aeroplan.
- American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan at a ratio of 1:1
- Capital One miles transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan at a ratio of 1:1.
- Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan at a ratio of 1:1.
- Bilt Rewards points transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio.
- Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to Air Canada Aeroplan at a 3:1 ratio.
Our Take
Any development that makes it easier and more convenient to use your miles is excellent news. Historically booking stopovers was tricky and involved a phone call. Not only did you need to deal with an agent but you also had to pay a phone booking fee. And that fee isn't waived if you can book an award online!
Planning and searching in your own time to find the perfect stopover is a big boost for the Aeroplan program. Aeroplan is starting to make it one of the most attractive frequent flyer programs in North America!
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.