Canadian Travel Hacking: Flight tickets with Aeroplan
Traveling can be expensive but if you adopt the right strategies, you can actually find ways to have huge savings. In general, booking early, picking affordable destinations, and choosing AirBnBs or guesthouses for accommodation will help you keep the budget lower. However, one of the best strategies we use to save money on our travels is through travel hacking the largest expense on the trip, flight tickets. Below we’ll give you a rundown of what Canadian travel hacking is and how you can implement this method.
What is Canadian travel hacking?
Travel hacking refers to the practice of strategically leveraging various methods, such as credit card rewards, frequent flyer programs, loyalty points, and other travel-related perks, to maximize the value and minimize the cost of traveling. The method of travel hacking is different depending on which country you are in, but in this post, we’ll focus on Canada and Aeroplan. This method can be used to book hotel stays, car rentals, or activities, but we feel the redemption value is greatest with flights.
Is travel hacking worth it?
An example of our latest redemption was for the Business class layflat seats on Singapore Airlines from Montreal to Ho Chi Minh City. We used 87,500 points each + about 150$ per person to redeem this itinerary that would’ve otherwise cost us about 9000$ per person! This is about a 10c/point redemption, which is amazing!
In comparison, most cash-back credit cards provide only 1-2% return, normally meaning 1c/”point”. As a reference, saving up 87,500 points took about 6-8 months to accumulate.
So you can see how Canada travel hacking with points can be very advantageous.
For this tutorial, we will be mostly talking about Aeroplan points since it has the best redemption value for Canadians.
The 3 steps of travel hacking flights in Canada
There are three main steps to do to travel hack flights. The first two involve accumulating points and the last, are strategies for redeeming and getting the best value with your points:
1) Signup bonuses with credit cards
2) Accumulation of points through spending
3) Redemption of points for flight ticket
1) Signup bonuses in Canada
One of the easiest and quickest methods of accumulating points is through credit card signup bonuses. When you sign up for a credit card, there are oftentimes promotions that give you a large sum of points after surpassing minimum spending.
As an example, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card we use provided around 50,000 points after spending 3000$ within 3 months (that was the promotion at the time of signing up). This is usually enough to fly roundtrip to Europe. With the cost of everything nowadays, this shouldn’t be too hard to achieve. The current promotion with TD may vary.
The bonuses are usually provided in a few phases:
For example (this is the current promotion at the time of writing):
- 10k points after your first purchase
- then 20k after 5000$ of spending within 180 days
- and a final 10k after spending 7,500$ within 12 months.
What’s great also is that with the promotion, usually, you will have the first-year credit card fee waived. This means that by simply putting your regular monthly spending on the new credit card, you can earn just about a roundtrip Europe flight ticket already.
Recommended Credit Cards in Canada for Aeroplan points
The credit card we recommend the most is TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite for accumulating Aeroplan points. Make sure to put ALL your spending on the card as every dollar spent will help you accumulate points.
Another card we would recommend is the American Express Cobalt. They do have a 12$ monthly fee, but the perks outweigh the costs. When we signed up for the Cobalt card, the promotion provided 2500 points for every month that we exceeded 500$ spending (the current promotion is less but you can always wait for when the promotion is better again).
It might not sound like much right now but you will see further down how all this adds up. Amex points are also very flexible and can be transferred to other loyalty programs including hotel stays and Aeroplan.
2) Accumulation of points
The 50k signup bonus is a great start to accumulating enough points, but the next step is earning points through regular spending.
TD Aeroplan credit card point accumulation
For the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card, this is simple. Just put all your spending on that card. Try to minimize charging anything on your debit card as it earns you no points.
The point accumulation value varies depending on the card you get. Sometimes they will provide 1.5x points on gas and travel-related expenses, and 1x points for everything else.
This means that if you spend 50$ on gas, you will earn 75 points. If you spend 100$ on non-qualifying purchases, then you will earn 100 points. This point accumulation stacks on top of the signup bonus so your minimum spending will also earn you points.
American Express Cobalt point accumulation
With the previously mentioned American Express Cobalt Card, the main perk is actually how it earns points on regular spending. Particularly beneficial is that it earns 5x points on groceries and restaurants.
Typically a couple or family can spend 100-300$ per week on groceries so that means you can earn 500-1500 points per week! The same applies to restaurants.
This means that you will earn 2500 points with Cobalt for exceeding 500$ spending (promotional bonus), and on top of that earn another 2000-6000 points from the grocery and restaurant spending, giving a total of up to 8500 points per month, or 102,000 points per year! Right there you have enough points to redeem that business class flight!
🎁 A great way of milking this further is by purchasing Gas gift cards from the grocery store. In this way, you will also earn 5x points for your spending on gas! Under normal circumstances, Gas only earns 2x points.
As you can probably tell, the points accumulated through the 5x redemption are the reason why the 12$ monthly fee is worth it.
If you are a family or couple, you can combine your Aeroplan accounts into a family plan so you can share the points.
3) Redemption of points for flight tickets
This is the fun and exciting part where all your hard work pays off!
Searching for flights
To redeem your points, you will need to search for flights on the official Air Canada Aeroplan website. Although generally point redemption values are based on distance and the zone of the country you are going to, the values still fluctuate depending on the day of departure.
As an example, when we redeemed our business class tickets on Singapore Airlines, our redemption value was 87,500 points but all the other days of the entire month were close to 130,000-150,000points! That’s almost double! And after we bought those seats, the points cost for the same flight business class seats went up to 120,000 points.
So it pays to search for your flights far in advance as there will be more options and usually better value. There is no secret trick here, it comes down to taking your time and clicking through different combinations of dates and flight routes.
Also, make sure to pay attention to not only the point value but also how much additional fees there are. Sometimes the point value may be good, but it costs 700$ in additional fees. To figure out if the flight redemption is worth it, check out the following section.
Value of the point redemption
Since every flight route will have its own point cost as well as additional fee costs, it is important to have an objective way to figure out if the redemption is worth it. This is where the point redemption value formula comes in.
As a rule of thumb, if you get a value of:
- > 2¢/point, is considered a satisfactory redemption ⭐
- > 4¢/point, then it is a great redemption ⭐⭐
- > 8¢/point is considered a rare and excellent redemption ⭐⭐⭐
To figure out how much your redemption value is, follow this formula:
So that is the regular cost of the flight if you were to book it without points, minus the fees you pay during your Aeroplan point redemption, divided by the total number of Aeroplan points used. You then multiply that total by 100 and you will get the redemption value in cents per point.
Example: As an example from our Business class flight seats (we used 87,500 points and had to pay 150$ in airline fees. The normal cost of the flight as determined on the Singapore Airlines website for the exact same flight was 9200$):
9200$ – 150$ / 87,500 points = 0.1034 x 100 = 10.34c/point
To find the best value, make sure to click through every day of the week to see how many points your flight costs. Different itineraries, airlines, and flight times will each have their point value cost.
Applicability of points
In this tutorial, we mostly go through Aeroplan points since it is the most flexible and valuable flight loyalty program we have in Canada. With Aeroplan points, we can redeem points to book flights with any of the 26 Star Alliance partners.
These include main companies such as Lufthansa, United Airlines, and Swiss Air, but also more distant airlines such as Egyptair, Eva Air, Turkish Airlines, and Ethiopian Airlines.
If you are also collecting points through Cobalt, then you will have the option of transferring the points 1:1 to Aeroplan, or maybe another airline’s loyalty program.
Want some inspiration for future travel experiences? Check out these popular posts below:
5k Layover hack
Another awesome perk of Aeroplan is that you can add an extended layover on an “on-route” destination for only 5k more points. For example, If flying from Montreal to Vietnam, one of the optional itineraries is to fly to Japan and then switch airlines to arrive in Vietnam.
Since Japan is considered “on-route” to the destination, you can add a multi-day layover in Japan by simply paying 5k more Aeroplan points. You can extend your stay there for up to 30 days in this way. This is an awesome way to get more value with your points and to visit an extra country on the way to your destination. It’s like paying for two separate plane tickets with one Aeroplan redemption!
It is not always clear-cut how Aeroplan determines whether the destination is “on-route” so you will need to try it out in their system. Normally, if the country/airport is one of the layovers when you search for a flight redemption on Aeroplan, then usually the 5k layover can be used.
Can you travel hack for hotel stays?
Yes, you certainly can. However, we feel that the redemption value is better with flights. In most cases, you will get only around 1-2c/point with hotel stay redemptions. Also, the way we see it is that with hotels, you always have options of staying at more budget accommodation whereas, for flights, the prices are quite fixed and expensive.
For this reason, we prefer to spend our points on an expense that is always costly and that we have no alternative way to save on.
If you are interested in checking out redemption values, you can look at Hotel loyalty programs such as Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and Radisson Rewards. You can transfer your American Express Cobalt points to these programs.
Tips for Canadian travel hacking
Here are some additional tips to help you accumulate points more smartly:
- You can take advantage of different signup bonuses with different credit cards but I wouldn’t sign up for more than 2-3 cards maximum per year. Since you will need to cancel the card normally after the first free year, it can end up affecting your credit score.
- For Aeroplan points, the credit card companies you should pay attention to are TD, CIBC, and American Express.
- Since after the first year, you will need to pay the credit card annual fee, we would normally recommend that you cancel the card. You can also try to call the credit card company and see if they are willing to waive the fee for another year.
- After cancelling the credit card, if later on they have another signup bonus promotion, make sure to read the fine print for the conditions. Many credit cards will not give you the signup bonus again if you’ve signed up for the card in the previous 12 months.
- Make sure to take advantage of the free checked luggage benefit for your Aeroplan flights.
- You can also send a referral code to your partner/family/friends. If they sign up, you will earn 5,000-10,000 points.
Using WISE card worldwide
When taking cash out of an ATM while abroad, you will most likely be charged both a foreign exchange fee and a foreign transaction fee by that country’s ATM. With my Canadian card, this can easily be 3-4$ + 2.75% + a markup on the exchange rate charged by my bank, and then another 3-5$ charged by the foreign ATM.
This can be really costly. For this reason, we recommend using WISE card which has only minimal fees and just about no foreign currency exchange markup. This helps me save at least 5-7$ every time I take out money from an ATM. If you want to see our full review of the card showing exactly how WISE can help you save, check out our WISE Travel card comparison post.
Summary: Canada Travel hacking flight tickets with points
And there you have it!
By smartly signing up for the right credit cards, putting your inevitable daily spending on that credit card, and then strategically looking for well-valued flight tickets, you can have huge savings on the biggest expense in traveling.
We have applied these techniques in the past 6 years or so and have already been able to redeem for over 6 flights for two people! Yes, travel hacking requires some additional prep work and keeping track, but the payoff is certainly worth it! I mean just imagine, travel hacking has brought us to Tokyo in Japan, to Cappadocia in Turkey, to Antigua in Guatemala, and through Vietnam!
In our case, it has saved us over 30,000$ in flight ticket costs over the past 5 years.
Looking for more travel inspiration?
Incredible volcanoes and ancient Mayan civilizations: Tikal and Antigua in Guatemala.
Hiking in the Andes and discovering Machu Picchu: Travel itinerary in Peru, hiking to Machu Picchu
Exploring ancient cave dwellings and riding hot air balloons in Cappadocia
Exploring and sailing on the Turkish Coast
Hiking in one of the US’s best national parks and road tripping through Utah
Discover Vietnam and the exciting northern Ha Giang Loop, as well as the Unesco city of Hoi An.
Discover Japan through the bustling city of Tokyo, the ancient culture of Kyoto, savouring the food of Osaka, the bowing deers of Nara, or off-the-beaten path on the coast of Izu Peninsula.
Venture into the sand dunes of Sossusvlei in Namibia and kayak with seals in Swakopmund!