Air Canada Aeroplan/Altitude or others in Star Alliance

[ozoceanview]

Hi All,
I am flying a Canada a couple of times this year in business class and will likely use Air Canada due to their direct connections. I am a platinum on Qantas which is of no use of course. Does anyone have experience on how much status or points I would get (round trips to Calgary and Toronto). I find their website impenetrable. As an alternative is there a better option for membership with another Star Alliance carrier? Is there a status match on offer? (travelling in March and May)

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to posting on AFF @ozoceanview

I used to commute to Calgary from Australia and got up to '100K Super Elite' (P1 equivalent, but better) - but that was when Aeroplan was a separate organisation and it wasn't a great scheme. But now its merged back with Air Canada, I think its got better again. What don't you understand on their web site? (HA! I see its down for 'maintenance' right now)

Check for a Turkish Airlines status match (search AFF).

United might be a decent alternative to Aeroplan - I'm not sure if it had a $$spend hurdle or flights taken, but you might be able to do either with a bit of planning.

 

[Mattg]

There is a guide to the requirements for earning status in various different Star Alliance programs here: The Best Programs to Earn Star Alliance Status

FWIW, Asiana Club seems to be the best overall. Turkish Airlines is also good and does have a status challenge (see here) but you need to actually fly on Turkish Airlines to complete the challenge.

If you would like to try and attain status with Aeroplan/Air Canada, they do offer a status challenge. As you already have Qantas Platinum status, you can send an email to [email protected] and include a photo of your Qantas Frequent Flyer card with your name, status and expiry date visible. Explain that you're going to be travelling frequently in business class to Canada and would like to give their airline/frequent flyer program a try. Once the challenge is approved, you get to keep your benefits for 3 months and can extend your status by earning a certain amount of Altitude Qualifying Miles on Air Canada flights within those 3 months. Worth a try!

 

[ozoceanview]

Welcome to posting on AFF @ozoceanview

I used to commute to Calgary from Australia and got up to '100K Super Elite' (P1 equivalent, but better) - but that was when Aeroplan was a separate organisation and it wasn't a great scheme. But now its merged back with Air Canada, I think its got better again. What don't you understand on their web site? (HA! I see its down for 'maintenance' right now)

Check for a Turkish Airlines status match (search AFF).

United might be a decent alternative to Aeroplan - I'm not sure if it had a $$spend hurdle or flights taken, but you might be able to do either with a bit of planning.

Thanks RooFlyer. The main obscurity in the Aeroplan information is how many flights does it take to get some status. I am flying business class (J) Brisbane-vancouver-calgary-saskatoon-vnacouver-BNE, then in May BNE-Vancouver-Toronto-Van-BNE I have been accumulating United miles in the past (no expiry) but of course it does nothing for status.

 

[ozoceanview]

There is a guide to the requirements for earning status in various different Star Alliance programs here: The Best Programs to Earn Star Alliance Status

FWIW, Asiana Club seems to be the best overall. Turkish Airlines is also good and does have a status challenge (see here) but you need to actually fly on Turkish Airlines to complete the challenge.

If you would like to try and attain status with Aeroplan/Air Canada, they do offer a status challenge. As you already have Qantas Platinum status, you can send an email to [email protected] and include a photo of your Qantas Frequent Flyer card with your name, status and expiry date visible. Explain that you're going to be travelling frequently in business class to Canada and would like to give their airline/frequent flyer program a try. Once the challenge is approved, you get to keep your benefits for 3 months and can extend your status by earning a certain amount of Altitude Qualifying Miles on Air Canada flights within those 3 months. Worth a try!

Thanks for the information and link Mattg. Ironically in that link they only one missing was Air Canada! Maybe I dont have to worry about status too much as I am usually flying business class so have access to check-in and lounges. So the points/miles are the biggest thing. And I have just realised that in this region United points are hard to use since Singapore and Thai seem to refuse to provide business class redemption for united points. So much for Star Alliance alliances!

 

[Mattg]

Thanks for the information and link Mattg. Ironically in that link they only one missing was Air Canada! Maybe I dont have to worry about status too much as I am usually flying business class so have access to check-in and lounges. So the points/miles are the biggest thing. And I have just realised that in this region United points are hard to use since Singapore and Thai seem to refuse to provide business class redemption for united points. So much for Star Alliance alliances!

If you mainly want to earn redeemable miles (and aren't too concerned about status), I would look at KrisFlyer. Very good value Star Alliance redemptions to pretty much everywhere except the Americas, and they keep a lot of SQ J/F award availability for their own members. (That said, if you plan to redeem miles to fly to Canada, maybe Aeroplan is a better option after all.)

Unfortunately there is no "one size fits all" answer here... there are many variables.