Nov

New York City Using Aeroplan Points

Written by Neil Galloway

My wife and I have just booked our first trip every to New York City using Aeroplan points. We leave in March of 2008 and are staying there for a few nights.

I am quite happy with our deal as well. We used our Aeroplan points and received a very good return on them. I am really picky when I use my travel rewards like Aeroplan and Air Miles because I want to get the most money out of them as possible. I have already written articles about the value of an air mile and the value of an Aeroplan point.

Anyhow, I normally value an Aeroplan point around 1.6 cents each. Our flights to New York are giving me 1.96 cents each. That seems like a small difference, but it is 22% more value than I usually expect.

How Do I Calculate the Value Aeroplan Points?

It is a simple formula. Take the raw dollar amount of money you save by using Aeroplan points and divide it by the number of points you used. Make sure to take into account the taxes you will pay using Aeroplan and if you have an added cost because of the flight schedule.

The cheapest flight we could find from Calgary, Canada to New York City (any airport) for our dates was $624/person including taxes. For two tickets to New York using Aeroplan, it was 50,000 Aeroplan points and around $270 in taxes. This means the cost savings were $1,248 (2 tickets) minus the $270 in taxes with Aeroplan for $978 in savings. $978 divided by the 50,000 Aeroplan miles is 1.96 cents/mile.

Usually my decision to use Aeroplan is based off of the 1.6 cents/mile cutoff. If it is not at least that amount, I will just pay the full ticket price myself and save the Aeroplan points for later, but if it 1.6 or greater, then I will use them.

Travel Is A Good Aeroplan Use

You can use your Aeroplan miles for a lot of other things, but sometimes they are not really giving you much value back. With the increase in tickets costs relative to the increase in points needed to travel, Aeroplan points have really become more valuable for traveling.

What About A Hotel In New York

We ended up booking in at Hotel 31. We have had relatives stay there and give it a good recommendation. Around $116 a night for a room with a shared bath. It is walking distance to Time Square as well so we cannot complain.

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Category: Travel

1 Comments

Dave of Calgary Says:
2008-04-18 18:02:20
I had Aeroplan 43,000 air miles, which I collected over several years. The next thing I knew was there were deleted even though I was still using one of their partners Ing Insurance and had been using them for the last 4 years. Aeroplan customer service was very poor. You ask for head office fax numbers, which did not work or take faxes. You explain your situation but they do not care to listen. We have claimed the remainder Aeroplan air miles for petrol. I am no longer using any of their partner companies, they list them all. In June I am no longer using Ing Insurance as I feel they are all part of the betrayal of our trust and our loyalty. Aeroplan have become penny pinching and mean. They do not deserve to be trusted any more.