Nine great ways to use 50,000 Aeroplan Points

The HSBC Star Alliance card comes with 50,000 Aeroplan Points for a limited time, when you choose Air Canada as your Status Airline. Aeroplan Points are quite powerful, but what can you do with them?

Though you can use Aeroplan Points on Virgin Australia, you’ll get far better value when booking with other partner airlines with premium cabins. Here are some of our favourite uses of Aeroplan Points.

1. Singapore Airlines Business Class to Singapore

Aeroplan members enjoy enhanced award availability on Singapore Airlines. Like the example below, we’ve seen some flights with up to eight Business Class awards!

With 45,000 Aeroplan Points, you can fly up to 5,000 miles with Singapore Airlines. This means you could fly routes such as Sydney-Singapore-Ho Chi Minh or Perth-Singapore-Taipei for the same price – just a bit more in taxes.

2. ANA Business Class to Tokyo

Unfortunately, ANA doesn’t release a lot of Business Class awards in advance. But if you’re flying within two weeks of departure, your chances of snagging one increase a lot.

With both Perth-Tokyo (Narita) and Sydney-Tokyo (Haneda) falling under 5,000 miles, you also only need to part with 45,000 Aeroplan Points to book this flight.

3. EVA Air Business Class to Taipei

An airline that flies under the radar a bit in Australia is EVA Air. But if Taipei is your destination, you’ll be well looked after in their ‘Royal Laural’ Business Class, featuring modern, fully-flat seats.

No surprises – an award seat costs 45,000 Aeroplan Points on the Brisbane-Taipei route.

4. Thai Airways Business Class to Bangkok

Thai Airways flies from Perth, Melbourne, and Sydney to Bangkok. Business Class award seats also cost 45,000 Aeroplan Points.

From Melbourne or Perth, add-on internal flights such as Bangkok-Phuket for no additional cost in points. (Unfortunately, from Sydney the points needed increases).

5. Return Economy with the above four airlines

Rather make your points go further? With all the options listed above, Economy award seats are 25,000 points one-way. With a 50,000-point balance, you’ll have enough for a return trip to pretty much anywhere in Asia.

6. Add a stopover for 5,000 more points

Another interesting feature of Aeroplan is the ability to add a stopover for 5,000 points. So for all the Business Class examples mentioned above, you can still fit in a stopover and spend exactly 50,000 points!

Read our guide to buying Aeroplan Points for more information.

7. Virgin Australia return to Queenstown, Nadi, Port Vila

If time is precious and you’re looking at a nearby escape, you could fly Virgin Australia short-haul Business Class to New Zealand or Fiji and back in Economy (or vice versa). Doing that would cost 42,500 Aeroplan Points.

Or, fly two people return in Economy on the same route for exactly 50,000 Aeroplan Points (that’s 25,000 points per person, plus fees and taxes).

Routes that work within this pricing include Sydney-Queenstown, Brisbane-Nadi and Brisbane-Port Vila.

8. Business Class between North America and Central/South America

Copa Airlines and Avianca are two South American airlines that are part of Star Alliance, so you can use Aeroplan Points with them. If you ever find yourself in that neck of the woods, you can fly Business Class for up to 4,500 miles in distance for 50,000 Aeroplan Points. United is also an option from North America.

Sample routes that fit the bill include Houston-Bogotá, Miami-Medellín and New York (JFK)-San Salvador.

9. Business Class within Europe or Africa

With plenty of Star Alliance carriers in Europe, plus South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and EgyptAir in Africa, 50,000 points can get you to many places.

Most intra-Europe Business Class flights are 20,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes, so you can easily fit in a return journey between cities such as London and Stockholm. Economy trips are usually 12,500 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes, so you’d have enough for two people return.

If you’re planning an adventurous African escape, you could fly from Johannesburg to Addis Ababa in Ethiopian Airlines’ modern Airbus A350-900 for 45,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes.

Special mentions for 60,000+ points

While these require more than 50,000 Aeroplan Points, you could also consider these options after you earn more points with your daily spending.

• Perth-Mauritius with Air Mauritius: 60,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes in Business Class, one-way. Economy costs 40,000 points one-way, so Business is worth the premium.
• Perth-Johannesburg with South African Airways: 80,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes in Business Class, one-way. Economy costs 50,000 points one-way.
• Sydney-Seoul with Asiana: 60,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes in Business Class, one-way. Economy costs 37,500 points one-way
• Travel up to 4,001 to 6,000 miles in distance within/between Europe and Africa: 60,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes in Business Class, one-way.
• Travel up to 5,001 to 7,000 miles in distance within/between Australia, Pacific Islands, New Zealand and Asia: 60,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes in Business Class, one-way.
• New York (Newark)-London with United: 60,000 Aeroplan Points + fees and taxes in Business Class, one-way. Also includes Boston, Washington and Chicago to London.