Air Canada Departs Aeroplan – 3 Things You Must Know

Aeroplan and Air Canada

The Date – The first thing you need to know is June 30, 2020 is that date when Air Canada terminates its contract from Aimia, which is the parent company of Aeroplan. After this date you will not be able to use Aeroplan to earn or redeem Air Canada or any other Star Alliance members’ points.

Aeroplan Points – The second thing you need to know is that your Aeroplan points after June 30, 2020 remain intact. Aeroplan points or miles will remain the same and they are not going anywhere. However, what you are losing is access to Air Canada or Star Alliance flights. Why this is so important? That’s in #3.

Flight Redemptions – The third and most important thing is that after June 30, 2020 you will not be able to redeem Aeroplan for flight resumptions for Air Canada or any Star Alliance members. Star Alliance is the world’s largest alliance and it has partners such as Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss Air and many others—28 total. Because Air Canada is a part of this alliance, Aeroplan has access to any alliance members for flight redemptions, especially for business class flights. Once Air Canada departs Aeroplan, you will lose that privilege and will not be able to redeem points for flights. You will still be able to redeem Aeroplan for gifts and merchandise but you will not get value out of your points.

Let me give you an example. My business class flight for my upcoming trip from Toronto to Dhaka gave me 7 cents per point return. You will never get this type of return redeeming for non-flight categories. So the best use for Aeroplan would be to redeem them for business class flights before the termination.

But be careful redeeming for business class flights, as some of the Star Alliance members charge hefty fuel surcharges. I have a video discussing the details of everything I mentioned here:

| Aeroplan & Air Canada Departure | 3 Things You Must Know Now |

How to Apply for Indian Tourist Visa

India Tourist Visa from Canada

For my upcoming trip to Asia in November, I just finished going through the process of applying for an Indian tourist visa. And I decided to write about it to give those who will be visiting India in the future some ideas. I will only mention my own experience obtaining a regular tourist visa.

There are other types of tourist visas (such as e-Visa, medical visa, etc.) and/or different procedures for obtaining them, which I am not talking about here. This process is applicable in Canada and possibly very similar to other European countries or the USA. The process and links mentioned below to obtain a visa from the country you are reading from could be very different. For that matter, the process in Canada may have totally changed by the time you are reading this. So check the Consulate General of India website first before starting your application.

To break it down to its simplest terms, here are the steps you need to go through to obtain an Indian tourist visa:

1. Except for a handful countries, citizens of most other countries require a visa before arriving in India. See the BLS link for those countries whose citizens can be issued a visa upon arrival. Link 1: http://www.blsindia-canada.com/touristvisa.php

2. You need to fill out and submit an online visa application and get a printout. Link 2: https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html Obtain other documents, such as an appropriate picture, passport, fees, and anything else mentioned under the Requirements tab on the Link 1 website.

3. BLS International, an outsourcing company, looks after India visa processing, and you need to submit everything required to BLS Centres assigned to your area. You can find your BLS Centre by visiting the Contact section under Link 1. If you have any questions, call BLS to clarify before going there.

4. Once you submit, your passport with visa will be mailed out to you or you can pick it up at BLS once available.

There is the option to mail out everything to BLS instead of physically going there, but I do not recommend this because everything will be delayed if they found any mistakes on your application. The benefits of physically submitting an online printout at BLS is that if there are any errors, BLS will tell you right away and you can correct it by submitting another online application on the same day if time permits.

My application was declined the first time, as I put Canada as place of issue instead of Gatineau. I had one hour left before the cut-off time for that day. I rushed to a computer store next door to resubmit online with a new printout (once you apply online it cannot be modified if there was a mistake and you need to redo the whole thing again) and was still able to make it.

The full process is not that difficult. However, with a Canadian passport I am not used to getting a visa because I can travel most places without a visa. For those few countries where a visa is required, I feel slightly weird about going through the process of obtaining it. I have a video on this as well for which I will provide a link on the top left of this article.

What Will Happen to Aeroplan Without Air Canada?

Air Canada Will Start Its Own Loyalty Program

Air Canada is leaving Aeroplan to launch its own frequent flyer program. Things will be business as usual until June 2020. After that, Air Canada and Aeroplan will travel their own paths. Today, I will talk about the future of Aeroplan and what to expect in light of this breakup.

Aeroplan has a network of 5 million members, 75 worldwide partners, and 150 brands. However, most of these members are in Aeroplan for Air Canada, not for Aeroplan itself. A lot of these members not even aware of that Aeroplan is not owned by Air Canada and is actually a separate program. It is questionable how many of these members will stick to Aeroplan once it is is no longer with Air Canada.

Aeroplan will lose access to Star Alliance partners and fantastic redemption opportunities through its partners. Star Alliance is the largest alliance of 27 airlines and some of its partners are airlines like Thai, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Air Canada. For example, my business-class flight from Toronto to Asia cost me only $61 instead of $4000/$5000 (watch the YouTube video for proof) and a fantastic redemption opportunity like this on Aeroplan is possible only because of being a member of Star Alliance through Air Canada. On its own without being part of an alliance, Aeroplan will lose lots of its members, as it will not have access to any alliance.

Aeroplan will be able to provide flight redemptions on its own like other proprietary programs such as Scotia Rewards program, BMO Rewards program, or Air Miles. However, it will no longer be able to provide significant value like before to redeem for business class flights.

Air Canada is leaving Frequent Flyer loyalty program Aeroplan. What it means for travel rewards credit cards & programs? How about frequent flyer partners? Financial author Ahmed Dawn's insights.

Banks and retailers will be reluctant to renew Aeroplan contracts once existing contracts expire. Aeroplan will have to work on new credit card partners and retailers to offer its programs once Air Canada leaves.

The end result will actually be good for consumers due to more competition. There will be new credit card offers with hefty sign-up bonuses from both Air Canada and Aeroplan as both of them will fiercely try to grab market share. Also there will be an extensive fight to secure retailers to offer Air Canada or Aeroplan points, thus more opportunities for consumers with more promotions and bonuses. I can’t wait to see all these after 2020.

What Is IHG Points Break?

Photo Courtesy: IHG.com

How to Travel Cheap Using IHG Points Break

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) Rewards Club is the loyalty program of hotels such as InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites, and Staybridge Suites. IHG has over 5000 hotels across the globe.

Usually it costs to stay 10,000 to 60,000 points per night. However, IHG runs a promotion every three months (called IHG Points Break) that lets members to stay in hotels for 5000 points only. About 170 IHG hotels participate in this program.

A participating hotel can be booked for a maximum of two stays/reservations for unlimited nights. For example, you can book 2 rooms in the same hotel or book 2 different dates to stay as many nights as you want (if it’s available) and they will be considered 2 reservations. However, that same hotel cannot have more than two reservations/bookings. You can view the list of hotels under points break here.

There are several ways you can accumulate IHG points. I will not go into detail on all of the possible ways to accumulate IHG points in this article. You can find out easily by searching online. My favourite way to earn IHG points is to buy them when they are on sale. At the regular rate, 5000 IHG points cost $67.50 US. However, IHG runs points sales often with 100% bonus points, making it 5000 points for around $34. This means that you are staying at a hotel for $34 per night.

If you act right away when IHG announces their next segment points break, you maybe able to get a hold of an expensive hotel for 5000 each night. The steep discount sometimes can be as high as 90%. To make the most out of IHG points or their points break, learn the ins and outs of the IHG Rewards Program and here is a good article to get you started: The Complete Guide to IHG Rewards

The Best Cheapest and Worst Days to Fly

Best and Worst Time to Fly

There are various factors that affect plane tickets. If you are flexible to choose when you want to fly, picking some days over others may be beneficial to your wallet.

Worst Time to Fly

Christmas and New Year Season – Those two weeks around Christmas and New Years should be avoided. Peak worst days at this time can be the long weekend or the weekend before holidays.

Spring Break – Though this season can vary based on where you are, in general early March to mid-May can be hectic to fly.

Summer – Summer is a bit tricky. It can be the low season for hot destinations and high season for cold destinations. Long weekends are the worst time to buy tickets. June, July, and August are in general peak time for summer destinations.

Thanksgiving – A couple of days before and after Thanksgiving are the worst time to fly. But the day of Thanksgiving itself offers great discounts if you can fly.

Worst Days to Fly

Fridays and Sundays are the most expensive days to fly.

Best Days to Fly

First Cheapest Days to Fly – Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Second Cheapest Days to Fly – Thursdays and Saturdays.

Best Time to Fly

Fly when most people don’t want to fly due to inconvenience. For example, very early in the morning, overnight flights (red-eyes), lunchtime, and dinnertime.

Last Word

Sometimes no rules will work if you want to take certain flights that only operate once a week or only certain days of the week. Also, if you have several legs of a continuous trip and can’t match the full trip to one of the cheaper days, try to make at least half the leg of the trip fall on the cheaper time frame to save money.