Amazing Business Class Prices to Europe, South America, and Japan using Aeroplan's Point Buying Promotion!

Urgent Travel Notice! 📣 This is The Canadian Jetsetter. We have intercepted some must see flight deals and are swooping in for a bonus announcement. 🌍

I am sure many of you got an email from Air Canada Aeroplan announcing that you can get a up to a 75% bonus when purchasing Aeroplan points until July 12th 2023.

Buying points can be a confusing topic but we are here to demystify the process and show you how to unlock deals that are just not possible without them.

This is going to be an extremely valuable email for those looking to fly business class, but there are amazing ways to use this promotion to your advantage in economy class too. I am going to show you how to score awesome flights on Air Canada and some fun/crazy flights on their partner airlines too.

I’m going to keep the jokes to a minimum and deliver a clear and concise guide on how to use this promotion to your advantage. Let’s fly!

The Bonus Offer

This offer was sent out by email. Unfortunately, I believe you can only get this offer if you are already signed up for the Aeroplan program and received an email with the offer. I polled the people I know who use Aeroplan and everyone got the email (hit reply if you collect Aeroplan and didn’t get it).

The offer states:

• Buy 5,000-29,000 points, receive a 50% bonus

• Buy 30,000+ points, receive a 75% bonus

• Plus, get an extra 15% bonus during the next two points buying promotions

How I’m thinking about this:

• I would only consider buying points if I am buying 30,000 or more for points flights that I have already found and am going to book them immediately after buying the points (I will help with this below)

  • Why? Award seats often sell quick and change in price frequently. There are new ones coming up all the time but you can’t count on the price staying the same

• I don’t think the extra 15% bonuses in the future unlocks any value. It’s too hard to predict what will be available seat wise and what the overall bonus-to-buy will be. If it ends up helping great - I’m not counting on that.

• I never recommend buying points without a plan to use them immediately!!

• Typically you get much more value out of points when flying business class vs economy. I ran out of time to cover economy options today but can put something together for tomorrow or Sunday if there is interest!

How Many Points Should I Buy?

It’s going to depend on how many you already have. I am going to assume you have none for simplicity (it will make it easier to compare against cash prices).

As always I recommend getting a credit card that earns Aeroplan or Membership Rewards so you can take advantage of these low dynamic rates on flights. I have a list of my favourite on this page.

For flight options below that arrive in one city and depart from another you can book them as two separate one-ways or book them as Multi-City.

Category #1 - Business Class from East Coast → Europe

• Business class is going to cost you 120,000 Aeroplan points (or slightly less) round trip plus $100-$300 in fees. That will cost $2,450 to buy with the bonus. Here are some great options you can take with this:

Option #1 - Toronto to Europe in Business Class late July (better get packing!!)

Toronto → Europe Direct on July 24th 2023

• Lisbon for 58.2K Aeroplan + $66 - 3 seats left (instead of cash for $7,524)

• Paris for 58.1K Aeroplan + $66 - 3 seats left (instead of cash for $7,230)

• Frankfurt for 58.4K Aeroplan + $66 - 3 seats left (instead of cash for $8,103)

• I’m going to stop posting the cash prices but you get the idea.

• For these specific flights you’re paying $1,291 for the points and fees (one-way) needed to book the business class seat instead of $7,000+ in cash

• If these dates don’t work try searching around in a similar timeframe. There is a good amount of availability

Return Options

Europe → Toronto Direct on August 2nd 2023

• Amsterdam to Toronto for 58K Aeroplan + $90 - 3 seats left

Europe → Toronto Direct on August 3rd 2023

• Amsterdam to Toronto for 58.3K Aeroplan + $90 - 4 seats left

The downside to booking on points Is you often need to be flexible with your arrival and departure airports.

I could only find return flights home through Amsterdam. Oh no - you will have to visit at least two beautiful European cities on your trip 🙃.

Option #2 - Montreal to Europe in Business Class late July 2023

Montreal → Europe Direct on July 19th 2023

• Lisbon for 58.8K Aeroplan + $67 - 2 seats left

• Paris for 60K Aeroplan + $67 - 3 seats left

• London for 60K Aeroplan + $67 - 1 seat on the early flight, 2 on the late flight

Europe → Montreal Direct on August 1st 2023

• Geneva to Montreal for 58.9K Aeroplan + $47 - 2 seats left

  • You can also find some interesting options to fly business on Swiss Air Geneva to London and then home from London for $100 more in fees. Just make sure you DO NOT BOOK MIXED CABIN. That means some of your flights will not be in business and it may be the transatlantic segment

• Amsterdam to Montreal for $58.6K Aeroplan + $90 - 2 seats left

Europe → Montreal Direct on August 2nd 2023

• Dublin to Montreal for 57.8K Aeroplan + $19 - 4 seats left

Category #2 - Toronto to UK/Ireland in Premium Economy August 2023

You will need to buy $1,750 dollars worth of points to go both ways in premium economy. (In cash they are charging that amount one way 🙃 ). The flights head home are from Dublin and you could spend a little more for full business class or a little less if you are ok with Economy on the daytime flight home.

There is some very unusual dynamic prices on Toronto to Manchester in Premium Economy - I have never seen them this low. Here’s an option to take advantage of that:

• Toronto → Manchester on August 5th 2023 for 34.2K Aeroplan + $66 in Premium Economy

• Dublin → Toronto on August 17th 2023 for 41.3K in Economy, 47.6K in Premium Economy, or 56.9K in Business (all + $19)

Category #3 - Vancouver to Tokyo via San Francisco in Business Class July 10th 2023

Demand to Japan is still crazy right now so I don’t have a round trip itinerary for you… but if you’re looking for a steal of a deal to get to Japan and book a cash flight as your departure this might be perfect for you. I also found a crazy business class option to get you home.

The departure flight leaves in 3 days… get packing really fast 😆 . These are on Air Canada down to San Francisco and on United Polaris Business Class to Tokyo (Make sure to arrive early at the Polaris Business lounge, enjoy!) Also, make sure you are not booking a mixed cabin. See the photo below for reference on what it should look like. (Note: click on the Business Class column and sort by lowest to find this flight).

• Vancouver to San Francisco to Tokyo for 55K Aeroplan + $122 

The cost for this would be $1,190 to buy the points and fly Business class to Tokyo. That’s an INSANE deal… It does come at a cost of being super last minute and having an awkward 10 hour overnight layover in San Francisco but the price in cash would be $4,000+. I’d say book a hotel with all the savings on your flight or try to get there even earlier via a a 5K Aeroplan point stopover.

Category #3 Continued - An Insane Way to Get Back to Canada

Tokyo → Zurich → Toronto July 20th 2023

I originally thought there was not way to get you back to Canada but I stumbled upon this crazy option. I realize this might be insane but it is also helpful in illustrating the power of points. Plus someone might actually want to do this - if you do it, we can and absolutely should be friends. (Note - sort by lowest business class to find this flight).

• Tokyo → Zurich → Toronto for 87.5K Aeroplan + $97 (sort by lowest business class to find this deal)

  • You are flying Tokyo to Zurich on Swiss Air in Business for 14 hours, you get a brief 19 hours in Zurich to stretch your legs then you are off to Toronto on Air Canada’s Business Class.

It will cost you $1,750 to buy the points needed to book these flights plus the $100 in fees. To book this option in cash it would likely be over $8,000.

I would never suggest this zany itinerary in economy or booking it in cash, but using points to book business class will give you room to stretch your legs, get amazing in-flight service and lounge access in all the airports! 

Category #4 - Toronto or Montreal to Buenos Aires in Business Class (Dates through July and August 2023)

You can get some great value going from Canada to South America in business class. Search around for dates/options but heres one I like:

• Toronto to Buenos Aires - July 12th 2023 - 4 seats available - 60K Aeroplan points + $66 (via Sao Palo)

Return Options:

• Buenos Aires - Sao Palo - Montreal - Toronto - July 29th 2023 - 1 seat available - 59.2K Aeroplan + $102

• Santiago to Toronto direct - July 27th - 3 seats left - 60K Aeroplan + $34

Again, we are looking at $2,450 plus $100 in fees to buy the necessary points and book these flights. To book in cash it would be about $5,724 for a multi-city flight booking with the exact same flights.

Holy smokes that was a lot of information. I will try to keep it more concise in the future but if you want to take a business class flight this summer these prices won’t be beat. This concept works for dates as far out as you can book (it just depends on if there are award seats available).

Final warning - I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some competition for these flight dates after I send this. One option I had written up was booked before I could even send this email 🫠.

Be aware you might buy points and someone else books the flights before you. The rates will then go up if someone else books it before you. You will be stuck with the Aeroplan points. Of course you can use them for other bookings but I claim no responsibility if you miss booking after buying points.

I am sharing this information as I think it can be super helpful and enlightening.

Happy travels everyone!!

Cheers, Graeme - The Canadian Jetsetter