It should be no secret that Air Canada Aeroplan is one of the most interesting frequent flyer programs out there. Even if you don’t plan to set foot in Canada, Aeroplan Points are quite useful in Australia, particularly for international travel.
Business Class to Asia costs 45,000 points in most cases, while a longer trip to Europe should only set you back 110,000 points. But from 1 June 2026, those prices will increase as part of a program change. To be fair, some awards will become cheaper. But the main ones we’re interested in will get more expensive.
As I needed to be in Europe for an event next month, it seemed like the best time to use up some Aeroplan Points at the lower rate, one final time. Here’s how it all went.
The Asia redemption
As I had found availability on a KLM Business reward flight from Beijing to Amsterdam using Qantas Points (thanks to Gyoza Flights), I just needed to find a way to get there with Aeroplan.
Thai Airways has been releasing more Business Class reward seats out of Perth, which is encouraging. Luckily, I found what I needed in one shot – Perth to Beijing in Business with a short transit in Bangkok. There was availability for two people on most dates.
Unfortunately, the combined distance exceeds 5,000 miles – the cut-off for the 45,000-point reward. Instead, I paid 60,000 Aeroplan Points + CA$138 for this ticket. Soon after, I locked in the KLM flight as well.
The Perth-Bangkok leg is on Thai Airways’ Boeing 787-9. The Bangkok-Beijing leg is on their new Airbus A321XLR with lie-flat seats, which should be an interesting flight.
The Europe redemption
Getting back from Europe was trickier, but I was happy to try out some weird and wacky routings. Also, big shoutout to my colleague, Wilson, for doing a lot of the legwork here in finding flights.
I knew that I wanted to fly Air Mauritius home to Perth, as it happens to be their only Australian destination. There is also lots of Business Class availability. But getting to Mauritius wasn’t as straightforward.
Attempt 1: using a stopover
After playing around, I stumbled across what would have been the perfect option. Turkish Airlines from Europe to Mauritius via a short transfer in Istanbul, followed by a one-day stopover on the island. It cost 110,000 points in Business (the standard Europe-Australia price) + 5,000 points for the stopover.
However, I couldn’t get it to ticket – there was an error before checkout. After searching the legs individually on United’s website, I saw no availability from Istanbul to Mauritius.
I resorted to calling Aeroplan (which took several hours on hold – that’s a whole other story), and they confirmed that it was a ‘phantom’ seat. This means that although it appeared on the website, it was never bookable. Unfortunately, this is a known issue with Aeroplan, so I hope they resolve it soon.
Attempt 2: routing via London
Thanks to Wilson’s searches on Seats.Aero, I also saw that Air Mauritius had wide-open availability from London or Paris to Mauritius. Unfortunately, the Paris dates wouldn’t connect to the Perth flight, so I opted for London. If I had booked it straight through, it would have cost 110,000 Aeroplan Points + CA$591.
Much of that cost was the UK’s Air Passenger Duty, which is now £253 (CA$469). Even though Point Hacks was covering my costs, I still felt a personal need to maximise points and minimise fees. Enter: a European connection. If this segment started outside of the UK and I only transited through, the APD wouldn’t apply.
After doing some more searches, I found an ITA Airways flight from Milan to London that would connect to the London-Mauritius-Perth route. The fees and taxes on that routing? Only CA$171.20 (+110,000 Aeroplan Points) for all three Business Class flights. You’re welcome, accountants.
As I was flexible in timings and where to fly from in Europe, this trick worked fine for me. But if you’re on a tight schedule or are travelling with a family, you might still prefer to pay for the APD and avoid an extra connection. That’s fine too – I don’t advocate for going out of your way if it makes your life harder.
One more note: By making a ‘multi-city’ booking and combining the Italy connection (15,000 points on its own) with the Air Mauritius flights (110,000 points), the points were added separately. I was being quoted 125,000 points + CA$171.20 online.
You need to call Air Canada to get all the flights priced at the lower rate of 110,000 points. I did this on the same phone call as above when enquiring about the Turkish Airlines routing. When it became apparent that wasn’t going to work, I proposed this itinerary instead, and they were able to book it for the lower rate (effectively making the ITA Airways connection ‘free’ in points).
Getting Aeroplan Points
In Australia, there are three main ways to earn Aeroplan Points. If you fly a lot, you can credit your partner airline flights to Aeroplan (including Singapore Airlines, United, Virgin Australia, Etihad, and so on).
For others, the easiest (but most expensive) way is to buy them from Aeroplan, especially when there is a bonus points sale on. Aim for a 100% bonus offer where possible, but 80-90% bonuses might be okay too. Just run the sums to compare the cost of buying vs the equivalent cash fare.
Finally, if you’re a business owner, you can put your expenses through Pay.com.au (which is affiliated with Point Hacks) and transfer your PayRewards points to Air Canada at a 2.5 to 1 rate.
Summing up
With Air Canada Aeroplan reward prices going up on many routes from 1 June 2026, there’s not much time left to book at current rates.
If you have some points stashed away (or a transfer away), consider using them for a booking in the next few weeks. Your travel can take place in 2027 and beyond – but flights need to be booked before 1 June to take advantage of the lower prices.
Even after that date, Aeroplan should still offer good value, so I’ll share some firsthand experiences from my upcoming flights with Thai Airways and Air Mauritius as flight reviews. Also, if anyone has suggestions on what to do during my daytime transit in Mauritius, please let me know!
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