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Here in Part 7 of our Miles & Points for Beginners series, we’ll continue looking at options and strategies regarding the redemption phase of your points journey.

In Part 6, we went over how to define a “good deal,” how to assess if the award flights you find in your searches are providing you with good value, and how to balance all this information with your own personal travel priorities and desires.

In support of your hunt for good deals, this article will dive into redemption “sweet spots” to build your knowledge on these incredibly helpful and valuable award flight options.

By being tuned-in with existing and potential sweet spots, you’ll be even more well equipped to make high-value redemptions and to enjoy your first (and second and third) business class flight for close to free.

Loyalty Programs & Sweet Spots

As you begin to research different loyalty programs to invest in, and you build your knowledge on how to find award flights that represent a good deal, one of the most important things to look for in each program is their sweet spots.

When we say “sweet spot,” what we’re referring to is the best possible way (in terms of points or cash value) to book a particular flight, especially when compared to other programs. To help give you a good understanding of what a sweet spot entails, we’ll go over a number of examples throughout this article.

As you journey further into Miles & Points, knowing and leveraging sweet spots within each program will help you maximize your redemptions, save points, and have some outstanding experiences to boot.

Miles & Points can unlock incredible experiences

In many of our loyalty program guides, we list sweet spots and how to book them with points, but in this article, we’ll focus exclusively on a few of our favourite programs that are easily accessible, have excellent award pricing, and solid sweet spots.

We’ll also give you some insight into how to identify sweet spots in general, which builds nicely on Part 6’s lesson on “what’s a good deal.”

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air Canada’s Aeroplan is a versatile program that’s particularly easy to access in Canada since there are many co-branded credit cards, and since you can transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points (MR points) to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio.

Aeroplan also enjoys the benefit of over 45 airline partners, so there are redemption options in nearly all corners of the globe.

Aeroplan has more than 45 airline partners, including All Nippon Airways

As a hybrid distance- and zone-based program, Aeroplan redemptions become more expensive the further the total distance of the flights on your itinerary.

Accordingly, if you can arrange for your flights to remain within the first few distance bands of Aeroplan charts’ geographic zones, there are plenty of sweet spots to be found.

As we mentioned in Part 6 of this series, Aeroplan uses a dynamic pricing structure for Air Canada redemptions, so sweet spots are often award flights that cost as close to the low end of the points range as possible and fly as close to the maximum number of miles for any given distance band.

For redemptions with partner airlines, Aeroplan uses fixed pricing, and the sweet spots depend on award availability existing in the first place, and for redemptions to various parts of the world.

An example of a short-haul sweet spot within Canada is 12,500 points for a cross-country flight in economy, 19,000 points for a cross-country flight in premium economy, or 25,000 points for a cross-country flight in business class. Sometimes, you can even find flights for less than that.

For a medium-haul sweet spot in the Aeroplan program, you could look for opportunities in the North America to Atlantic zones chart.

Flights from Eastern Canada to Europe tend to measure under 4,000 miles, which means that a one-way business class flight can be booked for as few as 60,000 Aeroplan points on a partner airline, or sometimes with Air Canada (if you can find flights at the lower end of the dynamic range).

In terms of long-haul sweet spots, Aeroplan has a few notable opportunities between North America and Asia.

For only 55,000 Aeroplan points, you could potentially fly ANA business class from Vancouver or Seattle to Japan.

(At the time of writing, these can only be booked over the phone, so you’ll need to find ANA award availability on another Star Alliance program website (e.g., United MileagePlus), and then call Aeroplan to book it using Aeroplan points.)

Fly ANA business class from Vancouver to Tokyo for just 55,000 Aeroplan points

If you’re flexible and can wait until within a month of travel for last-minute award availability, you can also find United Airlines Polaris business class to fly from San Francisco to Tahiti for 55,000 points too.

If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, you should be aware of the so-called “Asia 3” sweet spot on the “Between North America and Pacific zones” chart, which refers to the third distance band on the chart.

Leveraging the third distance band on this chart gives you up to 11,000 miles to fly between North America and anywhere in Asia or the South Pacific, which is an exceedingly generous distance for the associated points range. By keeping your flight distance within this band, you’ll pay just 87,500 Aeroplan points to fly in business class with partner airlines.

This means that you can fly from North America to Australia over the Pacific, or take the long way around to Asia by flying through Europe or the Middle East, and you’ll still pay just 87,500 points (or sometimes less, if dynamic pricing skews in a favourable direction).

Additionally, if you’d like to explore a new country or city along the way, you can add a stopover for just Aeroplan 5,000 points more.

For these and many other reasons, Aeroplan is widely considered to be one of the best loyalty programs available, especially if you’re willing to put the time in to learn about how it works and the many sweet spots that lie within.

British Airways Executive Club

Another of our favourite programs is British Airways Executive Club.

This program is quite accessible in Canada since you can easily earn British Airways Avios through the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† or by transferring RBC Avion points or American Express MR points at a 1:1 ratio.

Avios points are flexible points that can help you access award flights within the oneworld alliance.

British Airways Executive Club gives you access to oneworld airlines, including Cathay Pacific

There are a number of excellent sweet spots within the British Airways loyalty program, which mostly involve non-stop flights. That’s because British Airways uses additive award pricing, which means that you pay for each segment that you book.

One sweet spot in the program shows up when you redeem points for short-haul flights within Europe (on British Airways or Iberia), within Asia (on Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines), and within Australia (on Qantas Airways).

For example, flying from London to Rome comes in at 11,750 Avios plus $1 (all figures in CAD) in taxes and fees. You could also choose to pay more in cash and less in Avios, since British Airways allows you to customize your redemptions.

A unique feature of the British Airways loyalty program is that there are multiple loyalty programs (Aer Lingus AerClub, Iberia Plus, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Finnair Plus, Vueling Club, and British Airways Executive Club) that use the same currency (Avios), and you can instantly convert them from one “flavour” to another at 1:1 ratio.

This feature allows you to access sweet spots within each one of the above airlines’ loyalty programs.

Most notably, the transferable Avios feature opens up access to one of the most sought-after sweet spots – Qatar Airways Qsuites.

By transferring points to Qatar Airways Privilege Club, you could access the following redemption sweet spots in the world’s best business class:

• North America to Doha: 70,000 Avios
• North America to elsewhere in the Middle East: 75,000 Avios
• North America to South East Asia: 95,000 Avios

Book Qatar Airways Qsuites for as few as 70,000 Avios

Another sweet spot example that can be easily accessed thanks to the ability to transfer Avios between different flavours is with Iberia Airlines.

By transferring Avios to Iberia Plus, you can book a one-way business class flight from the Eastern US to Madrid for only 34,000 Avios.

The ability to transfer Avios also lets you take advantage of booking award flights with airlines that have taxes and fees that are lower than those charged by other airlines.

For example, if you were to book a one-way business class flight from Finland to North America using Finnair Avios, it would cost 62,500 Avios, plus $140 or so in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flight using British Airways Avios, the taxes and fees would jump up to around $1,400.

That means that the little extra step of transferring your Avios can save you literally a thousand dollars or more.

It’s also important to note that there are often transfer bonuses at play when you move your points from RBC Avion or Amex MR points to British Airways Executive Club.

By timing your points transfer, you can leverage these bonuses to effectively book your award flight for less.

Air France KLM Flying Blue

The Air France KLM Flying Blue program is a bit harder to access in Canada since the transfer rate from American Express MR points is 1:0.75 and the only co-branded credit card in Canada is the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®.

Flying Blue uses a dynamic pricing model, so the cost of a route can change from day to day; however, although this makes the prices unpredictable, the benefit to this model is that every seat on a flight can be booked with Flying Blue miles.

Flying Blue also harmonized all award pricing between Europe and North America in October 2023, which means that a longer routing from Vancouver to Istanbul via Amsterdam will be priced in the same way as a much shorter non-stop flight from Toronto to Paris.

Fly Air France business class between North America and Europe

Despite being a bit difficult to earn in Canada, Flying Blue is still an excellent program with some great sweet spots.

In particular, Flying Blue offers the following “starting at” rates for flights from North America to Europe, which are amongst the best in the business:

• Economy: 20,000 Flying Blue miles
• Premium economy: 35,000 Flying Blue miles
• Business class: 50,000 Flying Blue miles

If you’re able to score any of these flights at this low end of the dynamic pricing range, you’ll have captured a sweet spot (and a fabulous trip to Europe).

Flying Blue also stands out among loyalty programs in that it offers monthly Promo Rewards which give a 25–50% discount on the already competitive award rates.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Flying Blue program, its sweet spots, and the monthly Promo Rewards, we keep updated guides on almost all the major airline loyalty programs.

In each guide, we dive into the loyalty program’s best sweet spots to help highlight key ways for you to get excellent value from your points.

Honourable Mentions

In addition to the most popular sweet spots listed above, there are a few more that you should be aware of as you continue your journey with miles and points.

Booking WestJet Flights with Delta SkyMiles

If you’re planning on booking a flight with WestJet using points, your first instinct might be to look at WestJet’s own loyalty program, WestJet Rewards.

While you can certainly book any WestJet flight using WestJet dollars, the truth is that there’s no way to get outsized value from this loyalty program. In fact, the best way to book WestJet flights with points may come as a bit of a surprise.

The best way to book WestJet flights with points is by using Delta SkyMiles

To access a great WestJet sweet spot, you’ll need to take advantage of the WestJet and Delta Air Lines partnership. Through this partnership you can earn and redeem each airlines’ miles and points on the other’s flights.

Additionally, the Delta SkyMiles loyalty program is a transfer partner with American Express Membership Rewards, and points can be transferred at a 1:0.75 ratio.

With Delta SkyMiles, you’ll pay a fixed price of 12,500 SkyMiles for any WestJet routing in Canada or the United States.

For example, you’ll pay just 12,500 SkyMiles (or 16,667 American Express MR points with the transfer ratio taken into consideration) to fly from Vancouver to Toronto, Calgary to Atlanta, Toronto to Los Angeles, and so on.

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In the last few months, AIR MILES has made a number of announcements, including new partnerships, new ways to earn AIR MILES, and the promise of more to come.

In May 2024, AIR MILES announced plans for an expanded partnership with Pharmasave, which was to come into place across Canada later this year. 

There’s now an official date attached to the announcement, and as of September 10, 2024, AIR MILES will roll out its partnership with Pharmasave across Canada.

AIR MILES Launches Canada-Wide Partnership with Pharmasave

AIR MILES is expanding its partnership with Pharmasave, one of Canada’s leading chains of independently owned and operated community pharmacies.

Starting September 10, 2024, AIR MILES collectors from all over Canada will be able to earn 1 AIR MILE per $10 spent at Pharmasave when using a linked Mastercard.

Elevated offers to drum up excitement about the partnership will be launched closer to the date as well.

AIR MILES is expanding its partnership with Pharmasave to Canada-wide

Currently, only Pharmasave locations in Atlantic Canada are participating in the AIR MILES program, but with this new development, purchases at the chain’s more than 870 locations across the country will soon be eligible.

Note that to earn AIR MILES on your Pharmasave purchases, you must individually register Mastercard products (including supplementary cards) through the website of AIR MILES Card Link.

This means only purchases made with a linked Mastercard will earn AIR MILES, and portions of a bill paid with other methods, such as direct insurance billing, will not earn any rewards.

You won’t need to show your AIR MILES card either, as your AIR MILES will automatically be earned based on the purchase on your linked Mastercard.

Exclusively available to Canadian-issued Mastercard products, AIR MILES Card Link lets you earn bonus miles on purchases at participating partners, which include VIA Rail, Sephora, Decathlon, and Dollarama. The AIR MILES you’ll receive are on top of what you’ll otherwise earn through the rewards program of your credit card and/or the merchant itself.

Adding Pharmasave under AIR MILES Card Link allows a “loophole” against the prohibition of rewards or incentives on prescriptions in most Canadian provinces and territories.

With AIR MILES Card Link, you’re earning rewards on your credit card spending, rather than on your prescriptions. This is akin to earning PC Optimum points on all Shoppers Drug Mart purchases, including prescriptions, when using a PC Financial World Elite Mastercard.

To maximize your rewards at Pharmasave further, you’ll need to consider the suite of AIR MILES credit cards issued by BMO.

For instance, the BMO AIR MILES®† World Elite®* Mastercard®* gives you 1 AIR MILE per $12 spent on all purchases. Therefore, you’ll earn 2.2 AIR MILES per $12 spent on Pharmasave purchases charged to the card.

To recall, AIR MILES can be redeemed at a rate of 95 AIR MILES = $10. Therefore, you’ll earn roughly 2% in value on your Pharmasave purchases this way.

A New Major Partner For AIR MILES

BMO has been steadily rebuilding AIR MILES since its acquisition in Spring 2023, luring collectors back into the program with frequent bonuses and promotions, such as Shop the Block. Moreover, it has added more ways to earn AIR MILES, such as the ability to earn bonus miles by scanning receipts.

But while AIR MILES has been gradually regaining its momentum, it was recently dealt with a major blow with the exit of one of its biggest partners, Metro grocery stores, effective July 21, 2024. As of this date, AIR MILES will be without a brick-and-mortar grocery partner.

Metro is exiting AIR MILES as of July 21, 2024

AIR MILES has been mitigating the setback by adding Instacart as a partner and increasing the earning on BMO AIR MILES credit cards at warehouse clubs and alcohol retailers.

This expanded partnership with Pharmasave certainly helps as well, keeping AIR MILES competitive with similar rewards programs like Scene+ and PC Optimum.

While there’s still a way to go to regain collectors’ trust, it’s reassuring to see that AIR MILES is headed on a better trajectory than it was prior to BMO’s takeover.

Conclusion

AIR MILES is expanding its partnership with Pharmasave, one of Canada’s leading chains of independently owned and operated community pharmacies.

Under the expanded partnership, AIR MILES collectors from all over Canada will be able to earn 1 AIR MILE for every $10 spent at Pharmasave when using a linked Mastercard. You’ll earn AIR MILES on all Pharmasave charges made to your Mastercard, including prescriptions.

To receive AIR MILES on your Pharmasave purchases, make sure your Canadian-issued Mastercard products (including supplementary cards) are individually registered through the AIR MILES Card Link website.

If you’re interested, be sure to link your cards before September 10, 2024, when the Canada-wide partnership is set to take effect.

The post AIR MILES Launches Canada-Wide Partnership with Pharmasave appeared first on Prince of Travel by Vittorio Salac.

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Since December 15, 2019, passengers travelling to, from, or within Canada have been covered by the Air Passenger Protection Regulations.

These regulations cover the ways in which airlines must communicate with passengers, provide minimum standards of treatment and compensation during flight disruptions, compensate passengers for lost, delayed, or damaged baggage, seat families together, and adhere to standards of carriage for the transportation of musical instruments.

All airlines flying to, from, or within Canada are subject to these regulations, with some differences in compensation between large and small carriers.

Let’s have a look at how these regulations can protect you, both in general and in the event of a disruption to your travel plans during the busy summer travel months.

Flight Disruptions

The Air Passenger Protection Regulations include provisions for what happens during flight disruptions on airlines flying to, from, or within Canada, covering both the compensation and the standards of treatment you are entitled to receive during a disruption.

Disruptions occur when you are delayed in getting to your final destination, and can occur for a host of reasons. 

Compensation

In the event of a delay in your arrival at your final destination, you may be entitled to receive compensation under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. Whether or not you are eligible depends on the size of the airline on which you’re flying, the length of delay you’ve faced, and, importantly, the cause of the delay.

Smaller airlines, such as Porter Airlines, are defined as carriers who have served less than two million passengers over the last two years. The level of compensation they must pay is less than that of large carriers, such as Air Canada, WestJet, or Flair Airlines, who are liable for higher levels of compensation.

The caveat here is that there are a host of situations whereby the reason for the delay may exclude you from being eligible for compensation. So, just because you were delayed in reaching your destination does not automatically net you some cold hard cash.

You are eligible for compensation if the reason for the delay is within the airline’s control. Examples of this include when flights are overbooked or oversold, when the delay is caused by routine maintenance to comply with legal requirements, or when a mechanical malfunction is identified during routine maintenance. 

In these cases, you are eligible for the following amounts of compensation:

• If you’re delayed by between three and six hours, you are eligible to receive at least $400 with large airlines and $125 with small airlines.

• If you’re delayed by between six and nine hours, you are eligible to receive at least $700 with large airlines and $250 with small airlines.

• If you’re delayed by nine or more hours, you are eligible to receive at least $1,000 with large airlines and $500 with small airlines.

However, you aren’t eligible for compensation if the cause of the delay is due to situations within the airline’s control but required for safety purposes (e.g. mechanical issues outside of what is covered above, any unforeseen event that is legally required to reduce risk to passengers, decisions made by the pilot or an airline’s Safety Management System).

Similarly, you aren’t eligible for compensation for situations outside of the airline’s control (e.g. unfavourable weather conditions, political/civil unrest, security threats, and a long list of other exclusions).

Passengers must be offered monetary compensation, but airlines may also offer vouchers or rebates that are of a higher value than the monetary compensation offered. Passengers have the right to choose which form of compensation they prefer. 

The reason for the delay is not always obvious, especially in the event of knock-on effects from other delays. Airlines will usually send you an email or text message with the reason for the delay, but you may want to use a paid service, such as ExpertFlyer, to verify the cause for the delay.

Under the “Flight Status” tab, enter in your flight information. Under the flight details, clicking on “View Additional Comments” will pull up information for the cause of the delay.

If you’re eligible for compensation, you have one year to file a claim with the airline, who has to respond to your claim within 30 days of submission. There isn’t any description of what happens if the airline doesn’t respond within that time period, so it remains unclear whether there is any penalty for untimely responses.

Standards of Treatment

The Air Passenger Protection Regulations also set out standards of treatment to which passengers are entitled in the event of a flight delay or cancellation.

After two hours of delays that are either within the airline’s control or within their control and required for safety purposes, passengers must be provided with food and drink “in reasonable quantities” and a means of communication (e.g. free Wi-Fi).

If the delay goes overnight, passengers must be offered a hotel or other comparable accommodation and free transportation to the accommodation.

If your flight is delayed by three or more hours or it’s cancelled altogether, airlines are required to rebook you on the next available flight. If the delay is within the airline’s control for any reason, and if the next available flight is nine or more hours after the original departure time, a large airline must rebook you on a different airline.

If you no longer need to travel because of a flight disruption that is within the airline’s control, you are entitled to a full refund as well as compensation ($125 for small airlines, $400 for large airlines) for the inconvenience. 

Lastly, if you are affected by a disruption outside of the airline’s control for more than three hours, you must be rebooked to complete your itinerary, either with the original airline or with a partner airline. You’re also entitled to a refund if the airline is unable to rebook you on another itinerary within 48 hours of the original departure time.

Denied Boarding

Denied boarding is when you are involuntarily removed from a flight, usually due to airlines overselling the cabin and there not being enough seats for everyone who is meant to be on the flight.

While rare, these situations can be quite unpleasant. The Air Passenger Protection Regulations stipulate standards of treatment and compensation for passengers affected in this manner.

Airlines usually look for passengers who will voluntarily give up their seat. If you’re not in a rush to reach your final destination, this can be a good opportunity to earn some cash, as well as a possible upgrade to a higher class of service.

Compensation applies to any passenger who is denied boarding for reasons within the airline’s control and not required for safety. There is no minimum delay in reaching your destination in this circumstance.

• If you are delayed between zero and six hours, you are entitled to at least $900
• If you are delayed between six and nine hours, you are entitled to at least $1,800
• If you are delayed by nine or more hours, you are entitled to at least $2,400

Typically, payment must be made immediately to the passenger who was denied boarding. Airlines have up to 48 hours to award the compensation, should they not be able to issue payment prior to the passenger’s new departure time.

In addition to the above, you are also entitled to standards of treatment, such as food and drink, Wi-Fi, and accommodation, as well as the option to refund your booking. 

In the very rare event that you’re bumped from a flight for reasons within the airline’s control but required for safety or for reasons outside of the airline’s control, no compensation is offered, but you must be offered standards of treatment as mentioned above.

Tarmac Delays

Tarmac delays occur when the plane’s doors have been shut, but it has not yet taken off. Tarmac delays may also occur after a plane lands, but before it docks at the gate.

The Air Passenger Protection Regulations outline standards of treatment that passengers must receive in the event of a tarmac delay, which include:

• Access to working lavatories
• Proper ventilation, heating, and cooling
• Food and drink
• The ability to communicate with people outside of the plane, free of charge, as is feasible

After a three hour tarmac delay at a Canadian airport, airlines must return to the gate so passengers can disembark. If the plane is likely to depart in the next 45 minutes, and if the airline can continue to provide the standards of treatment, it may remain on the tarmac.

There is no extension to this time period, so in other words, there may be a tarmac delay for up to three hours and forty five minutes, but not longer. 

Lost, Damaged, or Delayed Luggage

If your bags are lost, damaged, or delayed, the Air Passenger Protection Regulations stipulate what you’re entitled to claim. On most international flights, you’re also covered by the Montreal Convention.

If you arrive at your destination and notice that your bag is damaged or delayed, you must file a written claim with the airline within seven days of arrival. If you suspect your bag is lost, you must file a written claim with the airline within 21 days of arrival.

You are eligible to claim up to around $2,350 in damages if your bag is damaged, lost, or delayed. The airline must refund you for any checked baggage fees, too.

Contrary to popular belief, the damages you can claim are for anything reasonable that was in your suitcase that you needed at your destination that you don’t have because of the delay. 

Of course, this includes toiletries and other such essentials, but it also covers clothing and anything else that you can reasonably claim. Be sure to keep your receipts and be ready to justify your claim.

Seating of Children

For families, an important aspect of the regulations is how airlines are required to seat children under the age of 14 near a parent, guardian, or tutor at no cost. The required proximity to the adult depends on the age of the child:

• Children below the age of five must be seated next to their parent, guardian, or tutor.

• Children between five and eleven must be in the same row and separated by no more than one seat from their parent, guardian, or tutor.

• Children aged twelve and thirteen cannot be separated by more than one row from from their parent, guardian, or tutor.

Airlines are subject to fines of $25,000 for each incident when the above rules aren’t followed.

These rules seem very reasonable, and offer families greater peace of mind when planning for an already stressful experience, without incurring any extra seat selection fees.

Conclusion

The Air Passenger Protection Regulations define minimum standards of treatment and compensation for disruptions to air travel to, from, or within Canada. This marks a shift towards passengers having more rights when travelling by air.

It is a good idea to become familiar with these regulations so you can claim compensation when it’s due.

It is also a good idea to become familiar with other protections, such as the Montreal Convention, as they may provide greater levels of compensation than these regulations.

The post Air Passenger Protection Regulations: Your Rights on Canadian Flights appeared first on Prince of Travel by T.J. Dunn.

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