One of the best features of the Aeroplan Loyalty program is power Book a stopover for an additional 5,000 airplane points.
By taking advantage of the Aeroplan stopover, you can add more destinations to your journey and turn one trip into multiple trips at a modest extra cost.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about the stopover feature of Airplane.
Summary of the stopover rules of the airplane
Since the launch of the new airplane program in November 2020, there have been several ongoing changes to the stopover policy. The information below represents the current situation for airplane stopovers
The price of the stopover is 5,000 points
You are allowed to add a stopover to an intermediate point with a one-way bound for one Additional 5,000 airplane points Per passenger.
In a round-trip booking, which is basically just a two-way border, you are allowed two stopovers (one on each side) for a total of 10,000 airplane points.
Stopovers cannot occur in Canada or the United States
Stopover allowed everywhere Other than Canada or the United States. Booking a stopover between Canada or the United States will create two one-way borders, so it’s best to make two one-way bookings to get you started.
Stopovers are allowed elsewhere in North America, such as Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean.
Stopover can be up to 45 days
Stopover is limited Duration 45 days. This means that for any stop within 24 hours to 45 days, you will be charged an additional 5,000 points per person.
If the length of any stopover is more than 45 days, it will be considered as a separate booking and will be priced accordingly.
A connection must be more than 24 hours to be counted as a stopover. Less than 24 hours is considered a connection layovers Instead, and are not subject to additional point surcharges.
Stopovers must be booked through the Airplane Contact Center
At the moment, stopovers can only be booked over the phone via the Airplane Contact Center. In the future, it will be possible to book stopovers online on the Airplane website.
However, from October 1, 2021, and until this feature goes live online, Aeroplan will waive the usual $ 30 phone booking fee for travel, including stopovers.
From our experience, booking a stopover over the phone may not always be a smooth experience. You may have to try a few times before reaching out to an agent who can predict the value of the itinerary.
An example of a booking airplane stopover
To better understand how to maximize airplane stopovers, let’s take a look at a few sample routing.
One-way stopover
Consider a routing of Toronto-Istanbul-Singapore. If you don’t want to stop in Istanbul for more than 24 hours, it will be worth it 85,000 airplane points According to the North America-Pacific Awards Chart.
If you want to add a stopover of more than 24 hours and less than 45 days in Istanbul, the cost will increase by 5,000 points, paying the total. 90,000 airplane points For the whole ride.
If you try to book this itinerary online as a multi-city reward, the engine does not recognize Istanbul as a stopover point. Instead, it sets the price for a significantly higher cost of travel.
As you can see below, the Toronto-Istanbul-Singapore stopover costs 150,000 points (70,000 points + 80,000 points for the separate Toronto-Istanbul and Istanbul-Singapore awards), but more than 90,000 airplane points.
Until the online stopover booking feature is turned on, you will need to make a call to the Aeroplan Contact Center to complete this booking.
Two stopovers on a round trip
Suppose you want to go to Tokyo and Bangkok for summer vacation next year. You are flexible with routing, and consider flying through the Middle East on your outbound flight.
For your outbound flight, you board Etihad Airways from Toronto to Abu Dhabi, a 13-hour flight in its Dreamliner Business Class.
After staying in the UAE for a week or more, you then proceed to Bangkok, again boarding a Dreamliner of Etihad Airways.
Booked separately, these flights will cost 145,000 airplane points in business class. When booked as one-way with a stopover, however, the cost drops to just 90,000 points: 85,000 for a flight and 5,000 for a stopover.
Similarly, on the way back, you can fly from Bangkok to Tokyo in ANA Dreamliner Business Class, add a stopover of up to 45 days and then fly back to Toronto via Chicago, again in ANA Business Class but this time on a Boeing 777.
It will cost 120,000 airplane points to book them two-way, while booking one-way with a stopover will cost 90,000 points. In total, your round-the-world routing will cost 180,000 airplane points.
More applications to add stopovers are almost endless. In fact, stopovers can be a great way to plan a short trip to a new city or country that you will consider visiting in the future, giving you a taste of a new part of the world on your way to your final destination.
The logistics of airplane stopover booking
Once you have an idea of where you want to go, you will go through the booking process.
In my experience, booking a stopover requires more work than that. Aeroplan should address this annoyance after enabling the stopover feature on its online platform.
The best way to get to the booking stopover is to plan ahead, and then proceed with the stopover booking.
Start by finding a place of reward on the flight you want to take. Be sure to calculate the distance using the Great Circle Mapper, making sure you are not crossing more distance bands and spending more points unnecessarily.
When you find a flight that works, write down the date and flight number and start the booking process.
It is possible to book a flight online and then call an airplane to add a stopover flight, or to book everything over the phone, as the $ 30 booking fee for travel with stopover is currently waived.
I personally prefer the former method, as I want to be guaranteed to book at least one flight, and I have noticed that not all Aeroplan agents are familiar with the policy of waiving the 30 booking fee for stopovers.
After booking, call Aeroplan and specify that you would like to make a booking change. Give them a booking reference for the flight you just booked online and tell them you want to add another flight and make the original destination a stopover point for 5,000 points now.
Give the agent the flight number and date of the flight of your choice and the agent should be able to proceed with the correction in your booking. As mentioned above, sometimes you need to try some agent before the price of the booking should be as it should be.
Once it’s booked, you’ll be able to select your seat in all parts of the ride and then start looking forward to flying into it.
Is Aeroplan Stopover a good deal?
Across the airline loyalty program, it is fairly rare to allow stopovers on one-way bookings. Other programs, such as British Airways Avios, simply add distance and charge you accordingly.
Some other programs, such as the Alaska Mileage Plan, allow you to add stopovers to one-way flights at no extra charge, which is more convenient than Aeroplan’s 5,000 point “stopover fee”.
However, it is noteworthy that Airplane’s flexible routing policy allows travelers to cover a lot of ground on their way to their destination. This makes it possible to stop in Europe on the way to Asia or in the Middle East on the way to Australia, while Aeroplan’s 45+ partner airlines do mixed-and-match.
Indeed, the ever-expanding network of airplane partners adds even more impact to the already powerful program. As we have seen, carriers such as Oman Air, Virgin Australia, Etihad Airways and Vistara add to the wider Star Alliance global network accessible via Airplane Point.
Compare this with other airline programs, including the stopover feature: The Alaska Mileage Plan allows you to book a partner airline with Alaska Airlines, which is available at no additional charge but limits the overall usefulness of the feature.
Conclusion
Aeroplan’s stopover rules allow travelers to stay on one-way trips to most parts of the world for only 5,000 extra points.
Personally, I have used stopovers in many airplane bookings since the feature was first launched. I am grateful for how I can visit multiple countries on one trip without having to be unnecessarily penalized for booking separate routes.
Calling the Airplane Contact Center is a bit tricky, especially when the hold time is long and we wait for more powerful multi-city booking tools to make stopover booking easier on the Airplane website. .
