Where Canadians SHOULD Travel Using Points (Best Deals)

Where Canadians SHOULD Travel Using Points (Best Deals)

imagine there’s two people sitting on
the very same flight one right next to
the other but one of these passengers
paid 70,000 points for their one-way
business class seat and the other one
paid 140,000 points for the exact same
seat the same product the same service
the same everything what’s going on in
this situation and how can you avoid
paying over the odds for the next time
you redeem points for a flight so that
you can stretch your points to go even
farther that’s what we’re going to talk
about in this video what are the best
destinations and different ways to
redeem your points as somebody living in
in Canada welcome to Prince of travel
we’re the leading platform empowering
every Global citizen to go further
better and the first thing I’ll need you
to keep in mind in this video is don’t
get locked into this idea of you have to
fly out of your home City if you’re
living in a smaller city you’ll almost
always need to connect somewhere before
catching a long haul flight to your
final destination and even if you live
in a major Hub like Toronto or Montreal
often times it’s easier to find the best
business class or first class deals if
you have the flexibility to connect in a
different city after all flexibility is
one of the key principles in the game of
th000 points and as more and more people
have gotten into the game more recently
the award availability has been harder
to come by and especially if you’re
traveling in a peak season like
summertime it’s often going to be easier
if you’re willing to connect through the
US let’s say as a Canadian to get access
to more options for flying across the
Atlantic or Pacific Oceans in first
class or business class what’s more at
the end of this video we’ll even share
with you how to fly to multiple places
without paying extra for multiple
flights so stay tuned for that now on
the most basic level the number of miles
or points that you’ll pay for any given
flight is determined by a host of
factors and the most common factors are
the geographic region that you’re flying
to and the distances involved as well as
things like the class of service that
you choose for example if you take a
look at the Air Canada Aeroplan
Redemption chart and within each
combination of geographic zones it’s
further broken down into how far you’re
flying and then which class of service
you’re flying in and then further broken
down by Air Canada or partner Airlines
now this isn’t all that difficult to
understand if you spend a little bit of
time with it but at some point there’s
even more factors that come into play
for example in the British Airways
Executive Club program there’s what’s
known as off peak and Peak pricing so
there’s a calendar that you’ll see On
Any Given year some dates are designated
as off peak some as Peak dates and on
the peak dates the prices will cost a
little bit more similarly if you look at
the Aeroplan chart you’ll see that Air
Canada flights always have a range of
points specified instead of a specific
amount of points this is what’s known as
Dynamic pricing and it means that the
pricing can fluctuate based on supply
and demand and it’s typically supposed
to be within these ranges most of the
times and outside of these ranges only
some of the times although given the
recent state of the travel industry
demand has way outstripped Supply and so
often times you’ll see Dynamic prices at
the very high end or even Above This
range and only sometimes at the lower
end of the range when you see an Air
Canada flight at the lowest end of the
dynamic range that means it’s a great
deal and you should jump on it as soon
as possible if that flight lines up with
your plans one extra thing to note here
is that we should be thankful there’s at
least a chart being published by
Aeroplan because lots of loyalty
programs around the world have abolished
their charts entirely and it’s just
based on guesswork and searching over
and over again that we get to figure out
what the prices in those loyalty
programs actually charge now there’s a
few third party tools out there that you
can use to help you search for award
seeds faster than just clicking on the
airlines websites award tool is one
example that helps you search for
flights across different date ranges all
at once meanwhile you can check out a as
the counterpart for hotel searches but a
has recently launched a flight tool
that’s in beta mode as well now let’s
start by talking about some examples of
domestic flights within Canada and then
we’ll move on to other destinations the
US North America Europe Asia and so on
domestic airfares have generally gone
down in recent years thanks to the
presence of lowcost carriers however
there’s still many good opportunities to
use your points on domestic flights
especially when you have widebody
aircraft with proper Life Flat business
class seats as you’ll often find on
Toronto Vancouver or Montreal Vancouver
routes but also routes like Toronto
Calgary or Toronto Edmonton and so on
and so forth now for these
transcontinental flights you’ll
sometimes find business class seats for
as low as 20,000 to 40,000 points one
way which is a pretty good deal when you
consider the cash cost is usually
upwards of $11,000 if you book one of
these flights you’ll get the full
business class experience including
priority check-in priority boarding
Maple Leaf Lounge access and then the
live flat seats on the widebody aircraft
make sure to choose the widebody
aircraft by the way because there’s also
Boeing 737s that are at the same price
and then you’ll be missing out because
you only have a recliner seat one caveat
is that these price points of 20 to
40,000 points may be difficult to find
because the way that Aeroplan Dynamic
pricing works it often goes upwards of
60,000 or 100,000 points if you’re not
the first one to snag that seat at the
lower lower price point so you do have
to be relatively flexible to find some
seats at that lower end but if you do
it’s such a good experience at a
reasonable deal and a great way to dip
your toes into the Life Flat luxury
experience and plus if you do find
yourself hit with Dynamic pricing you
can then take advantage of the power of
E upgrades to still get that LIF flat
seat we’ve got a whole dedicated video
on that topic so check it out here next
up if you’re going to the USA you can
still consider using a program like
aerop plan but you should also take a
look at us award programs with Delta Sky
miles the award pricing is quite dynamic
and is generally not considered the best
option but the program does offer Sky
miles deals every now and then which can
be a good deal if you’re just looking to
pop down to the US in a simple economy
class Redemption you can convert Delta
Sky miles from American Express
membership rewards in Canada at a ratio
of 1 to 0.75 so that’s a great way to
get access to the program meanwhile
United Mileage Plus also offers short
hul flights for as low as 5,000 Mi one
way and longer transcontinental flights
like Toronto to San Francisco can be
booked for as low as 15,000 mi Calgary
or Vancouver to San Francisco can be
even lower on the right dates as well so
that’s an interesting option to look
into United Mileage Plus not the easiest
type of points to earn in Canada but you
can convert your marrier bonvoy points
over to United at a ratio of two bonvoy
points to one United mile that’s a
preferential partnership between bonvoy
and United a better deal than converting
to other Airline programs though you’ll
still want to weigh up how much you
value those bonvoy points for potential
hotel stays versus how much you would
value half the amount of United miles
for that flight that you would book next
up let’s talk about Mexico Central
America and the Caribbean these are
popular places for Canadians to get away
and so you can easily fly to these
places on points one way or the other
for these Sun destinations flights from
many Canadian cities including Toronto
and Vancouver generally tend to be
pretty affordable and it might not be
worth using your Aeroplan points to book
these flights especially if you’re
getting booked on Air Canada’s lowcost
subsidiary Air Canada Rouge where the
experience isn’t quite as good as the
full service Air Canada flights
Therefore your best bet might well be to
look out for affordable fairs and then
use fixed value points that can be
applied to any travel purchase to offset
the cost of these fairs one example
might be to use the sco bank passport
Visa infinite card which earns plus
points that can be redeemed towards any
type of travel purchase right now the
card is offering a welcome bonus of
40,000 scene plus points worth $400
towards any travel including potentially
a flight down to the sun destination of
your choice alternatively you can look
for cheap fairs on WestJet flights and
then you can apply your WestJet dollars
towards that flight and only have to pay
for the taxes and fees right now the RBC
WestJet World Elite card will give you a
head start because it offers you up to
$450 WestJet dollars as a welcome bonus
that’s $450 towards a WestJet Fair down
to Mexico or the Caribbean and plus this
card also gives you a companion voucher
as an annual benefit so if you and your
spouse both get the card and you want to
bring your family of four on this trip
then that’s two primary passengers with
two companions that only have to pay for
the taxes and fees unlocking significant
Savings in addition to the welcome bonus
that can be applied to the fair now that
we’re done in this part of the world
let’s shift our attention over to Europe
and this is where it gets exciting
because right now there’s more ways than
ever to fly transatlantic especially in
premium cabins Air Canada and WestJet
have been adding more frequencies and
opening up new routes to their European
Network and then there’s also lower cost
Airlines like Condor or Euro wings and
they’ve been serving Canadian cities as
well including some previously
underserved routes like Calgary and
Halifax directly to Frankfurt more
importantly Air France km and their
loyalty program Flying Blue have been
making waves in Canada and they’re one
of the best ways to redeem miles on your
way to Europe right now they’ve recently
launched a co-branded credit card with
Brim Financial allowing you to earn
Flying Blue Miles regularly on your
day-to-day purchases and you can redeem
Flying Blue miles from any Canadian city
over to Europe for only 50,000 mil
thanks to the recently harmonized award
pricing under the Flying Blue program
doesn’t matter if you’re flying from
Vancouver or Calgary or Quebec City or
Toronto over to Paris or Amsterdam
that’s going to cost you 50,000 mies
plus about $300 in fees what’s more
there’s the promo rewards rotating
monthly which means every and then
there’s going to be some routes that are
discounted even further up to 25% this
month in April 2024 Montreal to Europe
awards are 25% off so that’s only 37,500
Mi one way in business class now don’t
overlook Aeroplan as well for flights
over to Europe if we go back to the
Chart we’ll see that partner Airlines on
the way to the Atlantic Zone cost as few
as 60 to 70,000 points one way and with
Aeroplan the search charges are a lot
lower so between Aeroplan and flying
blue you’ve got a wealth of options for
redeeming flights for a premium Life
Flat seat on the way to Europe for your
next trip and now let’s shift our
attention to the rest of the world for
flights to places like Asia southeast
Asia Australia South America these
flights will generally originate out of
Canada’s main hubs Toronto Montreal and
Vancouver so if you live somewhere else
you’ll need to take what’s known as a
positioning flight or drive to one of
the hubs and start your journey
thankfully there’s many airlines
launching new routes to Canada these
days so you’ve got a wealth of options
if you headed to the Middle East the
Indian subcontinent or Africa your best
choice is going to be kater Airways Q
suit the world’s best business class
it’s also one of the best Suites spots
in the game because you can book this
flight for as few as 70 to 90,000 cair
Airways avios and you can earn these
avios by transferring one to one from
RBC Avon points which happens to be one
of the easiest points to earn in Canada
thanks to the RBC Avon Visa infinite
cards right now this card is offering a
welcome bonus of up to 55,000 points all
on its own 35,000 points upon approval
and 20,000 points upon spending $5,000
in the first 6 months so if you’re going
to those parts of the world I’d
recommend using Q sues to get there
either from their flight out of Montreal
or from one of the US Gateway cities
that they serve if you want to venture
to Southeast Asia one of the best sweet
spots is 87,500 Aeroplan points to fly
all the way to Southeast Asia on any
routing up to 11,000 mi in distance
flown so you can take your pick among
Asia’s top airlines many of which are
among the world’s best or if you’re
flying out of the East Coast you can
even fly the long way around through
Europe and fly with someone like Turkish
Airlines or Lanza or swiss or Air India
piece it all together as long as the
overall distance is under 11,000 Mi
that’s going to cost you only 87 7,500
points a very good deal for such a long
distance if you’re going to Australia
sometimes you can find Air Canada
business class for the lower end of the
dynamic pricing but often times you may
need to connect through Asia or
southeast Asia if you want a sweet spot
deal on points and if you’re going to
South America then often times Air
Canada business class is the best option
there’s generally more favorable Dynamic
pricing on these South America routes
but if you can’t find it they can always
connect through somewhere like Central
America or Colombia with Airlines like
kopa Airlines or aanka both star
alliance members bookable through
Aeroplan now again to be successful with
maximizing travel on Miles and points
you need to be flexible you got to be
flexible in terms of the destination you
want to go to the routing you want to
take the dates that you can travel on
the more flexible the better and what
more don’t be locked into just one
loyalty program maybe at the start it’s
worth dabbling in one but as you grow in
this game you want to be involved in
different programs and leverage your
transferable points like American
Express to have access to multiple
options all at once we talk a lot about
Aeroplan in Canada but programs like
British Airways Air France km flying
blue and Cath Pacific asan miles all
play a key role and you can unlock
access to a lot of these programs not
only through American Express membership
rewards but by getting their own
co-branded credit cards as well the RBC
British Airways Visa infinite the brim
Financial air friends card and the new
Cathy Pacific card with Neo however at
the end of the day Aeroplan is still
undeniably the best program for
Canadians and I’ll share with you one
very attractive element of Aeroplan that
lets you get a lot more out of the same
trip that’s the fact that On Any Given
oneway flight booking you can add a
stopover for only 5,000 extra aerop plan
points the stop can be 1 day it can be 2
days it can be one week it can be up to
45 days long allowing you to take an
extra trip or see a new part of the
world out of that same flight booking
that you otherwise wouldn’t have gone to
for example let’s take the Sweet Spot of
flying from Toronto to Southeast Asia
for 87,500 points one way in business
class all the way if you’re to route
through Europe you can stop in Europe
for up to a month’s time if you wanted
to and build this entire trip getting to
visit two different parts of the world
for only 92,000 500 points on the way
back you could do the same you could
even do a stop over in Australia if you
wanted to visit that part of the world
for up to 45 days and then fly all the
way back to North America as long as the
overall distance is again within that
distance limit that’s the sheer level of
flexibility that Aeroplan points can
help you unlock and when you combine
that with Aeroplan extremely impressive
list of Airline Partners the biggest set
of Partners out of any loyalty program
in the world and you can really build
some incredible trips that really speaks
to every element of your heart’s desire
as a traveler just by maximizing your
aop plan points now if you found this
valuable and you’re excited to get
started or continue on your journey then
you want to make sure to avoid the key
common mistakes that I often see people
making when it’s time to maximize their
points check out this video to learn
which mistakes to avoid the things I
wish I knew when I was first starting
out and I’ll see you over in that video

📥 Where should you travel using your points? We show you each week (for free) with our newsletter that shows the best travel deals → https://bit.ly/3Q9HEMU
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🇨🇦 Where Canadians SHOULD Travel Using Points (Best Deals)

What are the best destinations to visit on points and miles? What are the best Airlines and flights to take using points?

The short answer is, “it depends”. But don’t worry because the long answer is much more interesting, let alone a lot more valuable 💰

In fact, by not knowing what we cover in this video, you could spend 140,000 points on your next trip while the person sitting next to you spends just 70,000.

So if you want to travel further by spending less, watch this as you’ll learn:

1️⃣ The Most Important Miles & Points Rule: once you discover this, you instantly access hundreds of amazing destinations around the world.

2️⃣ How To Find Your Travel Sweet Spot: whether you wish to go to the US, South America, Europe, or beyond, we break down the strategies you need; including 👇

3️⃣ The Best Cards To Utilize: depending on your travel plans, different cards offer different value – in this video, we help you find the card you need.

4️⃣ One of The Best Travel Tips You’ll Ever Uncover: this single strategy allows you to tick two, three, and maybe even four bucket list destinations in one go 😲

A few tweaks to your Miles & Points strategies can pay dividends, as those discussed in this video show. When you combine them with the market’s best current cards (see below), you transform how you travel ✈️
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🫶 Don’t forget to leave a comment sharing your favourite places to travel to using points.

👍 If you find this video helpful, give it a “like” and share it with others who might benefit.

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WATCH NEXT
🍿 DO NOT make these mistakes → https://youtu.be/Bb5qbzwQc00?si=GDIdqFChwNRbZai2
🍿 Upgrade to Business Class every time → https://youtu.be/uisgFIoDs-s?si=kvnmX8IsNnaR1PwH
🍿 Get free lounge access → https://youtu.be/qP375_AEhYc?si=rogbX57JGIOWy4V-

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