Air Canada has already done some inventive stuff while we aren’t traveling due to COVID-19, namely their bold Travel at Home promotion allowing you to earn of boost your Air Canada Altitude status without getting on a plane. Now, they have a new promo starting on the dot at 10am Eastern time tomorrow to buy Aeroplan miles at just a penny each.
In this article
Buy Aeroplan Miles Starting at 1 cent Per Mile
Gary at View from the Wing breaks down what these bonus figures mean for those in the USA, which are not subject to tax.
- A 115% bonus equates to 1 US cent per mile, even
- A 90% bonus equates to 1.1 US cents per mile
- A 65% bonus equates to 1.3 cents cents per mile
Here’s the link to bookmark.
What’s the Catch? Is it a Good Deal?
You’ll need to have your finger on the trigger at 10am ET tomorrow, Thursday May 7th.
1 cent per mile is a steal, even now while we aren’t traveling, and while many won’t buy miles at any price, many will be buyers here.
I nearly always advise to never buy miles – and I’m a bit on my fence myself. Gary mentioned he’s a buyer at 1 cent and even 1.1 cents.
That makes sense to me. As long as you avoid the carriers with carrier imposed surcharges, you can get a great deal on business class flights, like 55,000 miles one way to Europe on United, TAP Portugal, Swiss and Turkish Airlines. You do need to avoid Lufthansa Group airlines like Lufthansa and Austrian as well as Air Canada itself (ironically).
At 1 cent per mile, you would be buying a round trip to Europe in Business Class for $1,100 plus whatever taxes and fees correspond to your route and carrier. Considering that (outside of TAP Portugal which has frequent one-way deals from Europe to the US under $1,000 one way) you rarely see a round trip to Europe in Business Class under around $2,000, this could make a ton of sense.
On the other hand, you could book that through Turkish for 45,000 miles – if you have a stash of Citi Thank You points, possibly earned via the Citi Trifecta.
So Am I a Buyer?
I don’t think so. But that is only because you can transfer in from both American Express Membership Rewards points and Capital One miles – two currencies that I have plenty of. The conundrum I’d have, near term, however, is that in my mind that would mean I’m only getting 1 – 1.1 cents in value from the Amex points (Capital One transfers at 2:1.5 so reduce by 1/4).
So based on that, I’m almost tempted to pick up 55,000 or 110,000 Aeroplan miles. Aeroplan miles expire after 12 months of inactivity, but it’s easy enough to transfer in 1,000 points to keep them alive if need be.
The wildcard is that with Aeroplan having been sold back to Air Canada, the award charts could change. And that could change all the math in a hurry.
Right now, due to COVID, I have a bunch of miles orphaned at Singapore Airlines, Avianca, and Virgin Atlantic. I’m a bit hesitant to have more miles when my whole mantra is to accrue and save transferable bank points to preserve the “optionality” on where I transfer them when I need them – to whatever airline that may be.
Will you jump on this deal?
Let me know here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
