Best use of Air Canada Aeroplan points across Star Alliance

Overview

Air Canada Aeroplan points are valuable for much more than just travel on Air Canada itself. You can redeem them for seats aboard many of its Star Alliance partners, meaning you can get just about anywhere with Aeroplan points.

Air Canada Aeroplan uses quite an elaborate award chart to price its award flights. The amount of points you pay will depend on:

• The region of your origin flight
• The region of your destination flight
• The specific airline you fly
• Your total flight distance

You can check out Aeroplan's full award chart here to learn its intricacies.

In short, you'll typically get a better deal if you fly on Aeroplan partners instead of on Air Canada metal. That's because the cost for Air Canada flights are dynamic, meaning their prices can vary by tens of thousands of points. Some partners get the same treatment, but for the most part, award prices aboard partners are fixed.

Let's take a look at some of the best uses of Air Canada Aeroplan points across Star Alliance.

Midwest to Europe in business class

Aeroplan offers a great deal for flights between North America and Europe with a distance of 4,000 miles or less. Fly to Western Europe, and you could easily make that work from East Coast and Midwest cities like Chicago (ORD) to Edinburgh (EDI) and Toronto (YYZ) to Frankfurt (FRA).

Let's take a look at a flight from Newark (EWR) to Zurich on SWISS. You'll pay 60,000 points and $79 CAD in fees.

This flight otherwise costs $3,469. Subtract the award fees, and you're looking at a value of more than 5.6 cents per point.

SWISS has been one of my favorite business class products to fly to Europe. And when you fly from Zurich in business class, you'll get access to its exclusive business class lounge, as well, another feature that adds more value to that inexpensive 60,000-point ticket.

Houston to Tokyo in ANA business class

When you're faced with a 14-hour nonstop flight, you can take the frugal route and book a cramped coach seat, or you can burn a few more points and book a fancy lie-flat seat. ANA is one of the best airlines in the world, both in terms of hard product and onboard service, so to fly its incredible business class on the long journey from Houston (IAH) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) is a treat, even for premium cabin connoisseurs. It's one of the best ways to get to the other side of the Pacific Rim without having to punch your thighs for circulation.

This flight costs as little as 85,000 Aeroplan points and $79 CAD. That's like paying around 6,000 points per hour in business class.

This same seat regularly costs over $4,200, meaning you'd get over 4.8 cents in value when booking this itinerary.

Short hops within the U.S.

Aeroplan points can be great for hopping around the U.S. on short- and medium-haul flights. Award prices start at 6,000 points for select routes under 500 miles, but plan on paying more. For anything under 1,500 miles in distance, you'll likely pay between 10,000 and 15,000 points.

That can still be a great deal. Air Canada and United Airlines serve just about everywhere within the U.S. It's an especially great tool for reaching small airports that otherwise gouge you in cash in exchange for convenience, such as Orange County (SNA) or Bozeman (BZN).

Here's a flight between Chicago (ORD) and Vail (EGE) during ski season. You'll pay just 15,000 points and $47 CAD.

The same flight costs $354. After award fees, you'll get a value of more than 2.1 cents per point.

Frankfurt to Nairobi in business class

Air Canada's award chart charges business class flights with a distance between 2,001 and 4,000 miles at just 40,000 points when flying within Europe, Africa, and much of Asia. Any longer than that, and you'll pay a steep 70,000 points.

A flight from Frankfurt (FRA) to Nairobi (NBO) is 3,915 miles in length, making this one of the farthest trips you can fly while still paying just 40,000 points for lie-flat business class. Just note the $232 CAD in taxes and fees.

This same example seat on this lengthy eight-hour flight costs $2,864. After accounting for award fees, this gives you a whopping 6.7 cents per point in value, making it one of the best uses of Aeroplan points.

5,000-point stopovers

Aeroplan allows you to add a stopover (up to 45 days!) for just 5,000 points on a one-way trip, or two stopovers on a round-trip. This gives you the opportunity to see multiple destinations for nearly the same price as a standard itinerary. Just note that the stopover can't occur within the U.S. or Canada.

To get your creative juices flowing, let's say you plan to book a flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Auckland, New Zealand (AKL). You can use Aeroplan points to add a stopover in Tahiti (PPT) for just 5,000 extra points (55,000 points and $186 CAD total for coach) and spend a week or so in Bora Bora before continuing your trip.

This trip would cost over $1,200 in cash, giving you a respectable value of more than 1.9 cents per point.

ExpertFlyer can help you track Aeroplan-eligible award inventory

ExpertFlyer doesn't currently support tracking for a handful of Star Alliance carriers, including United Airlines and SWISS. However, you can still use the tool to track the availability of several bucket-list trips, such as those with Air New Zealand, Turkish Airlines, and Air Canada.

Navigate to the Awards & Upgrades tab and enter your travel information. In the "Airline" box, enter the airline you'd like to fly (instead of the airline whose points you're using to book).

As an example, we'll search for a flight from Vancouver (YVR) to Auckland (AKL). Air Canada is the operating carrier, so we'll enter that into our search.

Click enter, and we're then shown a page with relevant search results. The "Availability" column shows how many seats are available in our desired fare bucket. We can then go to Aeroplan to book the flight.

If there is no award inventory, or if you need more than what's currently available, tap the bell in the "Actions" column to set an alert. You'll then get an email if and when the specific number of seats you've requested are released.

Bottom line

The best use of Air Canada Aeroplan points across Star Alliance is typically for business class on long-haul routes such as the U.S. to Europe and Asia, or Europe to Africa. You can also make good use of points by booking short- and medium-haul flights within the U.S. on routes that typically demand high cash prices. And don't forget about Aeroplan's generous stopover policy, allowing you to add an extra destination each way for a meager 5,000-point upcharge.