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In 2020, Air Canada revamped its Aeroplan mileage program, swapping its previous zone-based award charts for zone-and-distance ones. Luckily, Aeroplan’s generous policy on stopovers remained a part of the program. Adding stopovers for just 5,000 extra Aeroplan points allows travelers to build highly customized itineraries for their travels, all as part of the same award.
While a seemingly unlimited number of options exist, I outline just a few examples below of how to make the most of Aeroplan stopovers and open-jaw awards.
Aeroplan Stopover Award Basics
Before jumping straight into itinerary examples, it is important to highlight a number of key items regarding rules for Aeroplan stopovers:
- Aeroplan awards are priced by each one-way journey.
- Stopovers are only permitted for Aeroplan award travel outside Canada and the United States.
- Stopovers are distinct from layovers, which can last up to 24 hours without needing to pay for a stopover (except in the U.S. and Canada, where most “maximum layover” times are 4 hours unless there is no option for a shorter connection). See our layover vs. stopover explainer.
- Aeroplan charges 5,000 points for any and all stopovers.
- Stopovers cannot last more than 45 days.
The fact that adding a stopover to a trip costs just 5,000 points, regardless of trip length, represents incredible value on its own. And, as I’ll demonstrate, sometimes adding a stopover can even save points!
Travelers can book Aeroplan stopover awards over the phone or via aircanada.com — after the latter was added in 2022.
Examples Aeroplan Stopover Awards
Saunter through South America
The first secret stopover sweet spot worth highlighting stays entirely in South America. The original Aeroplan award chart treated flights within South America indiscriminately. However, Aeroplan’s revised award chart prices travel within the region into two categories based on distance:
If a trip within South America will span more than 1,600 miles in South America, it already costs the most it possibly can. Adding a 5,000-point stopover to such a trip pushes total mileage costs to 25,000 in economy class and 40,000 points in business class.
For example, the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador are a wildlife lover’s dream destination. But, South America offers much more than the diverse species of the Galápagos.
Utilizing the rules for Aeroplan stopovers, travelers could fly between the Galápagos and Buenos Aires, stopping in Sao Paolo, Brazil along the way to experience a third country. You can even work in an overnight layover in Panama to check out a fourth country.
This journey spans over 5,500 miles in total. Cash costs for one-way travel between these two locations can be $700 or more, and adding a stopover would only increase the cost. Spending 25,000 Aeroplan points instead (and factoring in the taxes and fees on the award ticket) leads to a redemption upward of 2.0 cents per point! That's better than the 1.28¢ per Aeroplan point AwardWallet users average in value from long-haul economy Aeroplan awards.
Additionally, we ran into a quirk you should know about when researching examples for South America. Copa Airlines is based in Panama — which is technically in the North America region. However, it flies to numerous places in South America. Multiple itineraries offered flights from one South America region to another using Copa Airlines (like the one above). However, this involves transiting outside of one region to then return to this region in the end. Pricing followed what we expect for “within South America” awards.
Unexpectedly, the same trip from the Galápagos to Buenos Aires with a stopover in Panama City priced out in accordance with the “within South America” award chart. This points to a potential flexibility among routing rules within the Aeroplan program.
Adventure across the Atlantic
A second secret stopover sweet spot of Aeroplan's updated award chart spans three continents instead of just one. Under the new region definitions, the entirety of Europe and Africa falls under the “Atlantic” region.
That means that travelers starting in North America will use the same Aeroplan award chart whether their final destination is in Europe or in Africa. And, thanks to an award chart quirk, visiting two locations across the Atlantic with a stopover can wind up cheaper than booking each flight separately.
For instance, let's examine an itinerary taking travelers from Chicago to Addis Ababa via Frankfurt. Such a journey spans 7,662 miles: 4,344 miles from Chicago to Frankfurt and another 3,318 from Frankfurt to Addis Ababa.
Aeroplan prices this kind of trip at 55,000 points in economy class or 90,000 points in business class. Note that the total points cost is comparable whether traveling direct between Chicago and Addis Ababa or transiting through Frankfurt.
The stop in Frankfurt adds just 85 miles to the total travel distance. Making the layover into a stopover would add 5,000 miles regardless of class of cabin — turning the total points requirement into 60,000 for economy or 95,000 for business.
Meanwhile, booking the two flight segments separately increases the total points cost of the trip.
By booking separately, instead of booking together with a stopover, the total trip cost would be 65,000 points in economy class or 115,000 points in business class. In this case, the stopover saves travelers as much as 20,000 points per passenger!
Fly more to spend less
Aeroplan notoriously allows for flexible (and sometimes illogical) award trip routings. Particularly, when flying from North America to Southeast Asia, eastbound or westbound travel is permitted. Savvy travelers can take advantage of this program quirk on long trips between these regions.
For instance, take a sample journey from Chicago to Bangalore, India. This trip between North America and Atlantic regions (yes, the Atlantic region includes the Indian Subcontinent) with a connection in Germany clocks in at just under 9,000 miles of flying. Award costs on this route are 70,000 points in economy and 110,000 points in business for one-way travel.
Now for the fun part: instead of ending the journey in Bangalore, adding an extra segment to the trip and making time spent in Bangalore simply a stopover could actually decrease the overall trip cost. Thai Airways offers service between Bangalore and Bangkok on an A350 with nice, lie-flat seats in business class.
Such a segment spans 1,550 miles, making the total trip distance just under 10,500 miles. Bangkok belongs to the Pacific region, where a one-way journey from North America between 8,001 – 11,000 miles costs just 60,000 points in economy or 87,500 in business. The stopover in Bangalore adds another 5,000 points to these amounts.
When you compare this to the simple award itinerary to Bangalore, you see the net points cost decreases as a result of adding the Bangalore to Bangkok segment — even after adding the 5,000-point cost for the stopover. By using the rules for stopovers, economy class travelers save Aeroplan 5,000 points in this scenario. Business class travelers save 17,500. Plus, you get to visit a second destination!
Maximizing Aeroplan Open Jaw Awards
Open-jaw awards are nothing new to Aeroplan. For those unfamiliar, an open jaw is when a round-trip itinerary flies to one destination on the outbound but returns from a separate city. Think of flying from your home airport to London and then flying back home from Paris.
What has changed is the way in which open jaws can be utilized within the Aeroplan program. This is due to Aeroplan’s adoption of distance-based award costs in conjunction with award regions. Again, there will be countless examples of how travelers can take advantage of open-jaw awards. I think the example below paints a clear picture of how this open-jaw sweet spot works.
Imagine a trip beginning in Seattle with planned stops in Taipei, Tokyo, and Seoul. All three cities enjoy direct service to/from Seattle, although not all direct flights are equal. The order of these cities ends up mattering, as well as the way in which things are booked.
Let’s start with an outbound journey from Seattle to Seoul with a stopover in Tokyo, coupled with a return journey from Seoul to Seattle with a stopover in Taipei.
Booked without an open-jaw
This itinerary does not utilize any open jaw, and as a result the total trip points cost would be as follows:
- Seattle – Tokyo – Seoul
- 50,000 points for economy class
- 75,000 points for business class
- Add 5,000 points for the stopover in Tokyo
- Seoul – Taipei – Seattle
- 50,000 points for economy class
- 75,000 points for business class
- Add 5,000 points for the stopover in Taipei
- Overall trip cost: 110,000 in economy or 160,000 in business
Now, let’s look at the exact same trip but with an open jaw between Tokyo and Seoul.
Booked with an open-jaw
This itinerary does make use of an open jaw. In doing so, it saves on points:
- Seattle – Tokyo
- 35,000 points for economy class
- 55,000 points for business class
- Seoul – Taipei – Seattle
- 50,000 points for economy class
- 75,000 points for business class
- Extra 5,000 points for the stopover in Taipei
- Overall trip cost: 90,000 in economy (-20,000 points) or 135,000 in business (-25,000 points)
In total, skipping the 750-mile flight between Tokyo and Seoul saves travelers anywhere from 20,000 to 25,000 Aeroplan points, depending on the class of service. Getting between Tokyo and Seoul separately is quite easy. Travelers can utilize relatively inexpensive cash fares to get between the two — or a litany of points and miles options.
Best Ways to Earn Aeroplan Points
Aeroplan points can be earned and redeemed on nearly 50 Aeroplan airline partners — including any Star Alliance airline (as Air Canada is a Star Alliance member) as well as a large number of non-alliance Aeroplan partners. Fortunately, many options exist for transferring points to Aeroplan, as well.
U.S. travelers can also earn Aeroplan points directly through the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
The $95 annual fee for this Aeroplan Card pays for itself for anyone who regularly flies Air Canada and checks a bag. Cardholders and up to eight companions on the same reservation may check one bag for free when travel originates on Air Canada.
Interestingly enough, even scarce travelers may be interested in this card thanks to its inclusion in the Chase Pay Yourself Back program. The redemption rate of 1.25 cents per point might be less than what travelers could recognize when redeeming points for flights. However, this feature effectively creates a “floor” redemption value and lets those without any travel plans still extract value from the points they earn.
- Earn 75,000 bonus points
- Earn 75K bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- $95 Annual Fee
- Redeem points for both international and domestic flights with the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
- Fly to another continent and travel the world with the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
- Earn 3X points for each dollar spent at grocery stores, on dining at restaurants, and Air Canada directly. Earn 1X point for each dollar spent on all other purchases.
- 500 bonus points for every $2,000 you spend in a calendar month - up to 1,500 points per month.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 3x points directly with Air Canada
- 3x points on dining, including takeout and eligible delivery services
- 3x points at grocery stores
- 1x point on all other purchases
Since Air Canada is based in Canada, the Aeroplan program also offers fantastic co-branded cards for Canadian flyers:
- American Express® AeroplanPlus®* Platinum Card
- American Express AeroplanPlus Corporate Platinum Card
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Platinum
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Business
Our Take
Aeroplan preserved its generous policy on stopovers when it refreshed its award program. That policy can be very award-traveler-friendly. Just 5,000 points per stopover allows Aeroplan members to see more destinations for less.
Additionally, strategic open jaws offer travelers another opportunity to save points when traveling. While this article provides just a flavor of the possibilities with stopovers and open jaws, it provides all the ideas necessary to cook up a personalized trip with Aeroplan. Remember, tools such as gcmap.com are incredible resources for calculating total trip distances.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Aeroplan® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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