As some of you know, over the years our family has been able to take some pretty amazing trips with our kids through maximizing Aeroplan points. Not a week goes by that I don’t receive an e-mail or DM about how our family manages to travel internationally on a budget so I’ve asked Brad (the master travel planner in our family!) to explain things in more detail. He did write up a post a couple of years ago that I know was helpful for so many of you (I love e-mails from strangers telling me they’ve made it to Madrid/Hong-Kong/Reykjavik/etc thanks to our points tricks!) but since the points program with Aeroplan has changed somewhat, here’s the updated version. Take it away, Brad :)
Hi everyone! Alright here we go. As Em mentioned, the Aeroplan points program has undergone some significant changes over the past few years, but on the whole it's still pretty awesome. If you know how to use it right, it still offers the opportunity for heavily discounted travel, which makes all the difference when you’re buying five plane tickets for every family trip!
In a nutshell, the trick is to sign up for certain credit cards which offer disproportionally huge amounts of Aeroplan points as a sign-up bonus, which we then redeem for flights. All we end up paying is the credit card annual fee and the flight taxes. When done properly, it’s saved us tons of money on our flights.
For example, let’s say you wanted two return tickets to Europe, say from Toronto to Rome this September. Google Flights says it would cost $2,376.
Yet with the Aeroplan points that you would get from just three credit cards (Amex Gold, Amex Business Gold, and the CIBC Aeroplan Visa), it would bring that cost down to only $639.92 ($350 in fees for the two cards + $289.92 in flight taxes).
Not a bad way to save $1,700!
Incredibly, you would actually have enough points leftover for a roundtrip flight to Bermuda (if you live in Eastern Canada) or San Francisco (if you live out West).
Ok so what's the catch? (Because there’s always a catch!)
The catch is, you need to be able to spend a good chunk of change on these credit cards in the first 3-4 months. These cards require you to spend anywhere between $1,000 and $5,000 in purchases on the cards in order to qualify for the bonus points.
For most of us, these are very large amounts of money. But with some strategic planning, we’ve been able to do it many times over the years without increasing our household budget (I'll share some suggestions for this below).
The only other catch is that it helps to be organized. I use a simple Google Sheet to help me track how many points I need and when each card is due. Because the last thing you want is to waste the money you're saving on credit card missed payment fees :(
So if travel hacking sounds like something you’re up for, I’ve put together a handy step-by-step guide that simplifies the process.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The first thing to do is to check your credit score. Every credit card application you make lowers your score by about 5-7 points. Now, that’s out of a total of 900 possible points, so it’s not a huge number, but it’s still something to keep in mind.
Some other quick thoughts on credit for those interested:
- A score represents a moment in time and can change based on your behaviour.
- Missed or late payments or lots of maxed out credit accounts will lower your score.
- The best way to increase your score is to pay back debts on time and consistently.
- Scores typically range from 400 to 900, and 'good' scores are usually 660 and higher; anything over 750 is considered 'excellent'. So whether it’s 750 or 850 doesn’t really make a difference. For an institution like a bank or credit union looking at your credit, anything over 725 is a no-brainer.
If it might help allay your fears, Em and I have had DOZENS of cards over the years (I've seriously lost count, I have five on my desk in front of me right now lol) and her credit score is 861. Mine is 811.
So in my experience, the fears that opening many cards will trash your credit score are pretty overblown.
Also, if you don't already have an Aeroplan membership, you can sign up here (it's free).
STEP 1 - GETTING YOUR POINTS
In order to rack up the necessary points for your dream trip, you have to follow these steps:
- Apply for a given card(s)
- Meet the minimum spending requirements for the card
- Wait for the points to appear in your account (they say it can take up to 8 weeks but I usually see them within a few days)
- Cancel the card when the second year begins so you don’t pay the annual fee twice
These steps will lead you through applying for various credit cards, some which provide Aeroplan points directly, or American Express cards which earn 'Membership Rewards' points, which are transferable 1:1 to Aeroplan. (So when I use the term 'points', I'm referring to both Aeroplan points and Amex points, since they have the same value.)
Links to Credit Cards to Apply For:
Ok, start dreaming: where do you want to go? Figure out how many points you'll need, and then apply for the cards to make it happen.
Aeroplan uses a distance-based flight reward chart, meaning the more miles you want to travel, the more points required. Here's some examples, all for round-trip flights:
EASTERN CANADA
Toronto/Montreal to New Orleans/Miami/Bermuda/Havana: 20,000 pts
Toronto/Montreal to Costa Rica/Mexico/Panama City/Barbados/Punta Cana: 25,000 pts
Toronto/Montreal to Western Europe: 70,000 pts
Toronto/Montreal to Eastern Europe: 80,000 pts
FROM WESTERN CANADA
Vancouver/Calgary to San Francisco/Los Angeles/Las Vegas: 20,000 pts
Vancouver to Hawaii: 25,000 pts
Vancouver/Calgary to Tokyo: 70,000 pts
Vancouver/Calgary to most of Europe: 80,000 pts
If you want to see exactly how many points would be required for your desired destination, you can do that here (note that points shown there are for one-way flights).