March Break 2022 may seem far away right now and the timeline for the resumption of leisure travel beyond Canada remains uncertain, but it still might be a good idea to explore your options if you tend to plan trips around the school calendar. I recently did some searching to see what shows up for Halifax departures using Aeroplan points.
Speculative Booking with the New Aeroplan
The revamped Aeroplan program was introduced in November of last year in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. Until the situation improves with widespread vaccination, Covid remains front and centre and the unpredictability of future restrictions is likely keeping people from planning travel. Air Canada is therefore allowing Aeroplan members to lock in reward flights that are fully cancellable with no penalty if booked by May 31, 2021. (It’s possible this policy will be extended further but that’s the current end date.) So, there’s no real downside to making a speculative booking if you have the points to do so.
What’s March Break Availability Like?
If you’re familiar with the previous incarnation of Aeroplan, you’d be understandably pessimistic about finding any good flights (or bad ones, for that matter) because March Break availability was notoriously non-existent for the most part.
However, the updated version of the program with its dynamic pricing structure changes things up significantly. And in light of the general reluctance by many Canadians to start booking trips, you could potentially score something decent.
In Nova Scotia, March Break is scheduled for March 14-18, 2022.
All of my searches were for two adults (points displayed are per person) and in cases where there are multiple options, I just chose what I considered to be optimal but of course you might choose differently.
Note that members who hold an Aeroplan credit card are entitled to preferred pricing on their Air Canada redemptions. This is typically a modest discount on the number of points required for a particular flight reward.
Halifax to London & Paris
In the old program, a round trip flight to “Europe 1” would be 60,000 miles and, if flying Air Canada, would often include a hefty fuel surcharge. Now, the point pricing is variable and the high surcharges are gone.
March 12, 2022
YHZ – LHR (non-stop)
33.4k + $67
March 19, 2022
CDG – YHZ (via YUL)
34.5k + $83
The cash price of this exact flight itinerary is $1072. But, a one-way Halifax to London Heathrow (non-stop or otherwise) on this date is only $326. Thus, you might prefer to pay for the outbound and just use points for the flight home. In fact, there is availability back from Paris in business class for 58.6k + $165 so you could have a comfortable transatlantic experience on wide-body plane before connecting onward to the short flight to Halifax.
(It’s around a 2.5 hour journey between London and Paris on the Eurostar – buy tickets well in advance for the best price.)
Halifax to Lisbon
Here’s another Europe idea although this one will incur the partner airline booking fee of $30 per ticket.
March 12, 2022
YHZ – LIS (via LHR)
35k + $129
March 19, 2022
LIS – YHZ (via BOS)
35k + $70
Cash fares Halifax to Lisbon on these dates are well over $1000, but very cheap (in the $400s) out of Boston. You could perhaps redeem some Air Miles or Aeroplan for positioning flights to/from BOS to take advantage of those but you run the risk of delays causing major problems when flying on separate tickets.
Halifax to Cancun
A business class option to Mexico:
March 12, 2022
YHZ – CUN (via YUL)
24.6k + $103
March 19, 2022
CUN – YHZ (via YUL)
24.7k + $42
This is a situation where the outbound flight in business class with a connection is not far off the points needed for the non-stop in economy. Unless you really want the non-stop, going business class seems the better value.
The inbound decision is less clear because there is a reasonable non-stop economy option. Or you might just decide to pay the $466 cash fare for the direct flight home.
(Be mindful of whether the segments between Montreal and Cancun are on an Air Canada wide-body plane versus the Rouge narrow-body.)
Halifax to Honolulu
Even under the new distance-based dynamic pricing structure, Hawaii comes in at fewer Aeroplan points than Europe despite the obvious disparity in length of journey flying from the Maritimes.
March 12, 2022
YHZ – HNL (via YYZ and YVR)
23.8k + $87
March 19, 2022
HNL – YHZ (via YYC)
22.1k + 7
The cheapest flights to Honolulu from Halifax are in the $800s and up, roughly in the same ballpark as flights to Vancouver. Yet reward flights to Vancouver require more points, at least on these dates.
This is an example where preferred pricing provides a legitimate discount. The outbound flight is only 17.5k + $87 and the inbound only 17.5k + $7 for Aeroplan credit card holders.
Halifax to Orlando
A flight anywhere in the continental United States and Canada was previously a flat 25,000 miles round trip or 12,500 one-way. But finding availability was next to impossible at popular travel times like March Break.
March 12, 2022
YHZ – MCO (via YUL)
13.7k + $97
March 19, 2022
MCO – YHZ (non-stop)
26.8k + $31
For this hypothetical booking exercise, I did not choose the non-stop for the outbound as it was 26.8k + $74 which seemed too much of a premium over connecting in Montreal for 13.7k. Indeed, there was an option to connect in Montreal and be in business class on the flight to Orlando for less than that at 25.6k.
I did select the non-stop for the flight home. Still, 41.1k is pretty steep compared to 25k under the old system. Of course, the reality is that there would likely be no availability at all under the old program. There was a better chance to find seats with Air Miles which switched to a dynamic pricing format a long time ago.
Again, this flight itinerary came in lower by a non-trivial amount when logged in as an Aeroplan credit card holder. The outbound was only 10k + $97 and the inbound with a connection was 13.9k + $31. When not logged in, the inbound with a connection is 19.3k + $31 so it didn’t seem entirely unreasonable to cough up the extra for the non-stop in that instance. When booking a real trip, things like departure and arrival times will also factor into the decision.
The cash fare for the flights above is $813 which is not surprising for Orlando on March Break. I would caution anyone pondering this destination though to think very carefully because I fear the theme parks will be swamped with people who had to delay their trips along with all the folks wanting to see the new attractions introduced as part of the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World.
Actually, if paying cash, I’d instead choose the $490 fare to Los Angeles and go to Disneyland in Anaheim and Universal Studios Hollywood.
Halifax to New York City
In the old Aeroplan you could fly to NYC from Halifax for 15,000 miles as a short-haul round trip but it had to be on Air Canada operated flights which required a connection in Montreal. To fly non-stop meant booking United to Newark which was 25,000 miles.
March 12, 2022
YHZ – EWR
10k + $113
March 19, 2022
EWR – YHZ
10k + $46
As you can see, the new program works out better for the non-stop at 20,000 instead of 25,000. There is a $30 fee for booking a partner airline but the point reduction sort of makes up for that. The cash price for this flight is only $458 though which is pretty good for a non-stop to New York so you might opt to save your points.
Want Some Aeroplan Points?
If you don’t have any or many Aeroplan points currently, the easiest way to acquire some is to apply for a credit card that earns Aeroplan points or a transferrable currency like Amex Membership Rewards that you can convert to Aeroplan.
TD, CIBC and Amex all offer such cards. If you apply for one that includes a Buddy Pass as part of its welcome bonus, you can choose to convert it to 30,000 Aeroplan points under an unpublished Aeroplan offer. The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite’s sign-up offer (including Buddy Pass) is scheduled to end May 30, 2021. The similar CIBC promo does not have an end date but might terminate at the same time and the generous conversion opportunity would no longer be available. So if you have any interest in an easy 50,000 Aeroplan points (20,000 sign-up plus 30,000 for the Buddy Pass conversion) be sure to apply for one of these cards before the end of the month. [UPDATE: the deadline to apply for a TD Aeroplan Visa that includes the Buddy Pass in its sign-up offer has now been extended to August 16, 2021]
Another way to get Aeroplan points is by converting your hotel loyalty points from various programs. Just be aware that those usually yield their highest value when used for free night redemptions.
If you shop online, watch for a bonus promotion from the Aeroplan eStore.
And don’t forget that the new Aeroplan allows for family pooling of points.
Search Tips
The Aeroplan website can be a little glitchy at times so if it says there are no flights available to a destination that obviously would have flights, try again. And if there are no return flight results, try the outbound and inbound as separate one-ways.
Depending on where you live in Nova Scotia, remember to check the options flying out of Moncton. I believe the New Brunswick March Break is usually the week prior to the one in NS so that could help with availability if the drive is not too inconvenient. That goes for cash fares as well.
Conclusion
It seems the Aeroplan availability out of Halifax is much improved for vacation periods like March Break. There’s no way to know if that’s mainly due to reduced interest in booking travel or because the new program is intended to offer more reasonable options than the old version.
If you suspect you’ll have the itch to travel on Aeroplan points in early 2022, it’s probably a good idea to lock in a speculative booking before the end of this month while the free cancellation policy is in effect. If it doesn’t work out, you can simply cancel and get your points and taxes/fees refunded. Or if you don’t have any Aeroplan points, it might be a worth getting familiar with the new program to see if it might aid your future travel aspirations.
To add : the Lisbon trip could also piggyback on your Halifax – London direct Air Canada flight. As someone who often travels with children, I’d sooner pay the 326$ to get to London without stopping. Maybe stay a night and then off to Lisbon using a cheap flight.
Adventurous travellers who don’t mind two stops should also consider Southern Spain (Sevilla perhaps). You could pay to fly to London and get a cheap direct flight to a city in Andalusia, then get home via TAP through Lisbon. I think that part of Europe is as warm a March temperature as you can expect.