Right here in Half 7 of our Miles & Factors for Novices sequence, we’ll proceed taking a look at choices and techniques concerning the redemption section of your factors journey.
In Half 6, we went over outline a “whole lot,” assess if the award flights you discover in your searches are offering you with good worth, and steadiness all this data with your individual private journey priorities and needs.
In assist of your hunt for good offers, this text will dive into redemption “candy spots” to construct your information on these extremely useful and beneficial award flight choices.
By being tuned-in with present and potential candy spots, you’ll be much more properly outfitted to make high-value redemptions and to take pleasure in your first (and second and third) enterprise class flight for near free.
Loyalty Packages & Candy Spots
As you start to analysis completely different loyalty applications to spend money on, and also you construct your information on discover award flights that characterize a superb deal, one of the crucial necessary issues to search for in every program is their candy spots.
Once we say “candy spot,” what we’re referring to is the absolute best method (by way of factors or money worth) to guide a specific flight, particularly when in comparison with different applications. To assist in giving you a superb understanding of what a candy spot entails, we’ll go over plenty of examples all through this text.
As you journey additional into Miles & Factors, understanding and leveraging candy spots inside every program will show you how to maximize your redemptions, save factors, and have some excellent experiences in addition.
In lots of our loyalty program guides, we listing candy spots and guide them with factors, however on this article, we’ll focus completely on a number of of our favorite applications which are simply accessible, have wonderful award pricing, and strong candy spots.
We’ll additionally provide you with some perception into determine candy spots on the whole, which builds properly on Half 6’s lesson on “what’s a superb deal.”
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air Canada’s Aeroplan is a flexible program that’s significantly straightforward to entry in Canada since there are many co-branded bank cards, and since you’ll be able to switch your American Specific Membership Rewards factors (MR factors) to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio.
Aeroplan additionally enjoys the good thing about over 45 airline companions, so there are redemption choices in practically all corners of the globe.
As a hybrid distance- and zone-based program, Aeroplan redemptions turn into costlier the additional the entire distance of the flights in your itinerary.
Accordingly, if you happen to can prepare to your flights to stay inside the first few distance bands of Aeroplan charts’ geographic zones, there are many candy spots to be discovered.
As we talked about in Half 6 of this sequence, Aeroplan makes use of a dynamic pricing construction for Air Canada redemptions, so candy spots are sometimes award flights that value as near the low finish of the factors vary as potential and fly as near the utmost variety of miles for any given distance band.
For redemptions with associate airways, Aeroplan makes use of mounted pricing, and the candy spots depend upon award availability present within the first place, and for redemptions to varied components of the world.
An instance of a short-haul candy spot inside Canada is 12,500 factors for a cross-country flight in financial system, 19,000 factors for a cross-country flight in premium financial system, or 25,000 factors for a cross-country flight in enterprise class. Generally, you’ll be able to even discover flights for lower than that.
For a medium-haul candy spot within the Aeroplan program, you can search for alternatives within the North America to Atlantic zones chart.
Flights from Japanese Canada to Europe are likely to measure underneath 4,000 miles, which signifies that a one-way enterprise class flight will be booked for as few as 60,000 Aeroplan factors on a associate airline, or typically with Air Canada (if you’ll find flights on the decrease finish of the dynamic vary).
When it comes to long-haul candy spots, Aeroplan has a number of notable alternatives between North America and Asia.
For under 55,000 Aeroplan factors, you can probably fly ANA enterprise class from Vancouver or Seattle to Japan.
(On the time of writing, these can solely be booked over the telephone, so that you’ll want to search out ANA award availability on one other Star Alliance program web site (e.g., United MileagePlus), after which name Aeroplan to guide it utilizing Aeroplan factors.)
If you happen to’re versatile and may wait till inside a month of journey for last-minute award availability, you too can discover United Airways Polaris enterprise class to fly from San Francisco to Tahiti for 55,000 factors too.
If you happen to’re feeling a bit extra adventurous, you ought to be conscious of the so-called “Asia 3” candy spot on the “Between North America and Pacific zones” chart, which refers back to the third distance band on the chart.
Leveraging the third distance band on this chart provides you as much as 11,000 miles to fly between North America and anyplace in Asia or the South Pacific, which is an exceedingly beneficiant distance for the related factors vary. By retaining your flight distance inside this band, you’ll pay simply 87,500 Aeroplan factors to fly in enterprise class with associate airways.
This implies you could fly from North America to Australia over the Pacific, or take the great distance round to Asia by flying via Europe or the Center East, and also you’ll nonetheless pay simply 87,500 factors (or typically much less, if dynamic pricing skews in a beneficial course).
Moreover, if you happen to’d wish to discover a brand new nation or metropolis alongside the way in which, you’ll be able to add a stopover for simply Aeroplan 5,000 factors extra.
For these and lots of different causes, Aeroplan is broadly thought of to be the most effective loyalty applications obtainable, particularly if you happen to’re prepared to place the time in to find out about the way it works and the numerous candy spots that lie inside.
British Airways Government Membership
One other of our favorite applications is British Airways Government Membership.
This program is sort of accessible in Canada since you’ll be able to simply earn British Airways Avios via the RBC® British Airways Visa Infinite† or by transferring RBC Avion factors or American Specific MR factors at a 1:1 ratio.
Avios factors are versatile factors that may show you how to entry award flights inside the oneworld alliance.
There are a selection of wonderful candy spots inside the British Airways loyalty program, which largely contain continuous flights. That’s as a result of British Airways makes use of additive award pricing, which signifies that you pay for every section that you just guide.
One candy spot in this system reveals up whenever you redeem factors for short-haul flights inside Europe (on British Airways or Iberia), inside Asia (on Cathay Pacific or Japan Airways), and inside Australia (on Qantas Airways).
For instance, flying from London to Rome is available in at 11,750 Avios plus $1 (all figures in CAD) in taxes and costs. You might additionally select to pay extra in money and fewer in Avios, since British Airways means that you can customise your redemptions.
A singular characteristic of the British Airways loyalty program is that there are a number of loyalty applications (Aer Lingus AerClub, Iberia Plus, Qatar Airways Privilege Membership, Finnair Plus, Vueling Membership, and British Airways Government Membership) that use the identical forex (Avios), and you’ll immediately convert them from one “flavour” to a different at 1:1 ratio.
This characteristic means that you can entry candy spots inside every one of many above airways’ loyalty applications.
Most notably, the transferable Avios characteristic opens up entry to one of the crucial sought-after candy spots – Qatar Airways Qsuites.
By transferring factors to Qatar Airways Privilege Membership, you can entry the next redemption candy spots on the planet’s finest enterprise class:
- North America to Doha: 70,000 Avios
- North America to elsewhere within the Center East: 75,000 Avios
- North America to South East Asia: 95,000 Avios
One other candy spot instance that may be simply accessed due to the flexibility to switch Avios between completely different flavours is with Iberia Airways.
By transferring Avios to Iberia Plus, you’ll be able to guide a one-way enterprise class flight from the Japanese US to Madrid for less than 34,000 Avios.
The flexibility to switch Avios additionally enables you to make the most of reserving award flights with airways which have taxes and costs which are decrease than these charged by different airways.
For instance, if you happen to have been to guide a one-way enterprise class flight from Finland to North America utilizing Finnair Avios, it could value 62,500 Avios, plus $140 or so in taxes and costs.
If you happen to have been to guide the identical flight utilizing British Airways Avios, the taxes and costs would soar as much as round $1,400.
That signifies that the little additional step of transferring your Avios can prevent actually a thousand {dollars} or extra.
It’s additionally necessary to notice that there are sometimes switch bonuses at play whenever you transfer your factors from RBC Avion or Amex MR factors to British Airways Government Membership.
By timing your factors switch, you’ll be able to leverage these bonuses to successfully guide your award flight for much less.
Air France KLM Flying Blue
The Air France KLM Flying Blue program is a bit tougher to entry in Canada for the reason that switch charge from American Specific MR factors is 1:0.75 and the one co-branded bank card in Canada is the Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard®.
Flying Blue makes use of a dynamic pricing mannequin, so the price of a route can change from day after day; nevertheless, though this makes the costs unpredictable, the profit to this mannequin is that each seat on a flight will be booked with Flying Blue miles.
Flying Blue additionally harmonized all award pricing between Europe and North America in October 2023, which signifies that an extended routing from Vancouver to Istanbul through Amsterdam can be priced in the identical method as a a lot shorter continuous flight from Toronto to Paris.
Regardless of being a bit troublesome to earn in Canada, Flying Blue remains to be a superb program with some nice candy spots.
Particularly, Flying Blue presents the next “beginning at” charges for flights from North America to Europe, that are amongst the most effective within the enterprise:
- Economic system: 20,000 Flying Blue miles
- Premium financial system: 35,000 Flying Blue miles
- Enterprise class: 50,000 Flying Blue miles
If you happen to’re capable of rating any of those flights at this low finish of the dynamic pricing vary, you’ll have captured a candy spot (and a superb journey to Europe).
Flying Blue additionally stands out amongst loyalty applications in that it presents month-to-month Promo Rewards which give a 25–50% low cost on the already aggressive award charges.
If you happen to’re interested by studying extra in regards to the Flying Blue program, its candy spots, and the month-to-month Promo Rewards, we hold up to date guides on nearly all the most important airline loyalty applications.
In every information, we dive into the loyalty program’s finest candy spots to assist spotlight key methods so that you can get wonderful worth out of your factors.
Honourable Mentions
Along with the most well-liked candy spots listed above, there are a number of extra that you ought to be conscious of as you proceed your journey with miles and factors.
Reserving WestJet Flights with Delta SkyMiles
If you happen to’re planning on reserving a flight with WestJet utilizing factors, your first intuition could be to take a look at WestJet’s personal loyalty program, WestJet Rewards.
When you can actually guide any WestJet flight utilizing WestJet {dollars}, the reality is that there’s no option to get outsized worth from this loyalty program. The truth is, the easiest way to guide WestJet flights with factors might come as a little bit of a shock.
To entry a terrific WestJet candy spot, you’ll must make the most of the WestJet and Delta Air Traces partnership. Via this partnership you’ll be able to earn and redeem every airways’ miles and factors on the opposite’s flights.
Moreover, the Delta SkyMiles loyalty program is a switch associate with American Specific Membership Rewards, and factors will be transferred at a 1:0.75 ratio.
With Delta SkyMiles, you’ll pay a set worth of 12,500 SkyMiles for any WestJet routing in Canada or america.
For instance, you’ll pay simply 12,500 SkyMiles (or 16,667 American Specific MR factors with the switch ratio considered) to fly from Vancouver to Toronto, Calgary to Atlanta, Toronto to Los Angeles, and so forth.
If you happen to have been to guide the identical Vancouver to Toronto flight proven above with WestJet {dollars}, you’d must redeem at the very least 225 WestJet {dollars}.
With out going into the trivialities, suffice it to say that it’s a lot simpler to earn sufficient Delta SkyMiles to guide WestJet flights than it’s to earn sufficient WestJet {dollars}.
Money Candy Spots Exist, Too
As we talked about earlier on this sequence, it’s all the time a good suggestion to check the price in miles and factors with the price in money since typically it makes extra sense to pay money than to redeem factors.
One in all our favorite examples of that is reserving Emirates First Class, which is likely one of the most sought-after aviation merchandise on the market.
When you consider the Dom Perignon Champagne, limitless caviar, personal suite, and even having the ability to take a bathe within the sky, chances are you’ll suppose a flight like this might value a small fortune.
Whereas it’s actually true that long-haul flights in Emirates First Class can value upwards of $10,000, you could be stunned to study that you’ll be able to guide this expertise for lower than $2,000, with out utilizing factors.
Emirates has plenty of fifth-freedom flights between cities everywhere in the world. These are typically shorter flights; nevertheless, in addition they provide the identical expertise that you just’d get with longer flights.
For instance, you’ll be able to fly in Emirates First Class between Bangkok and Hong Kong for lower than $2,000 round-trip. Whereas that’s loads to pay for a pair of quick flights, it’s additionally one of many least expensive methods to take pleasure in the most effective First Class experiences on the market.
In whole, you’d get round six hours of flying time to eat as a lot caviar and sip on as a lot costly Champagne as you probably can, and also you’d additionally have the ability to benefit from the thrill of showering at 36,000 toes on each the flights.
After all, there are much more candy spots in these and different applications, in addition to many different money candy spots that you just’ll uncover alongside your points-collecting journey. Your job is to now set forth and immerse your self on the planet of Miles & Factors to get out of it greater than what you place in.
Hold Versatile Factors Versatile
Earlier on this sequence, we checked out why versatile factors matter, and largely, it’s for the sake of diversification.
As a normal rule, it’s finest to maintain your factors as versatile as potential. This implies holding factors in applications that mean you can switch these factors to a number of different airline loyalty applications as wanted.
In Canada, the 2 versatile factors applications are American Specific Membership Rewards and RBC Avion.
With versatile factors applications, when you’ve discovered a flight that you really want based mostly by yourself journey objectives, you’ll be able to then switch your factors over to your related loyalty account for speedy use.
For instance, when looking for award flights utilizing the applications we talked about above, you would possibly solely discover availability in a single program for the dates that you really want.
By retaining your factors in versatile applications like RBC Avion and American Specific Membership Rewards, you’ll be able to rapidly and simply switch your factors from the one program to the one with the flight availability moderately than being restricted to a singular program.
That is particularly necessary as a result of loyalty applications are consistently altering, and the devaluation of airline redemption choices is just about assured over the long-term.
If you happen to put all of your eggs in a single loyalty basket, you run the chance of dropping worth; nevertheless, by retaining a steadiness of versatile factors round, you’ll be able to assist defend towards these unavoidable shifts and transfer your factors to the most effective basket at the most effective time.
On condition that there are fairly a number of loyalty applications and a good variety of candy spots to select from, if you happen to’re ever in search of assist to nail down the most effective deal or if you happen to’d identical to some assist determining which candy spots are finest to your particular location and journey desires, our educated Factors Consultants could be more than pleased to assist!
Conclusion
Loyalty program candy spots are the most effective methods to leverage your factors for optimum worth.
As you look to make your first massive redemption (or your hundredth), understanding in regards to the candy spots may also help you get probably the most out of your hard-earned factors.
We hope you’re feeling much more outfitted to your Miles & Factors journey and that you just really feel like you may have the information to make an informed redemption choice.
Within the subsequent and remaining a part of this sequence, we’ll have a look at profit from your enterprise class flight redemption when you’re able to depart!
