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Right now 40k Starpoints plus taxes will get you a roundtrip economy class trip to Europe, 80k Starpoints will get you a roundtrip Business Class ticket, and 95k will get you a roundtrip First Class ticket.
Starpoints always transfer to dozens of airlines at a 1:1 rate with a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred. On top of that standard bonus, until August 15, 2016, Aeroplan is giving a bonus of up to 55k miles on transfers of hotel points to Aeroplan miles.
Transfers in from any of these partners count, and the best deal is to transfer in SPG Starpoints.
The normal transfer bonus on Starpoints-to-miles plus this special Aeroplan transfer bonus combine to mean you can get up to 59% more Aeroplan miles than you had Starpoints. You can redeem the Aeroplan miles on a cheap award chart on Air Canada flights or any Star Alliance carrier.
If you redeem to Western Europe on United, Swiss, Turkish, Brussels, Ethiopian, or Scandinavian flights, you’ll pay only 40k/80k/95k Starpoints roundtrip in economy/Business/First with no fuel surcharges.
- How can you take maximum advantage of this promotion?
- How can you avoid the fuel surcharges?
- Where do you search? How do you search?
- Where do you book?
- How good of a deal is 40k Starpoints to Europe or 95k Starpoints in First Class?
- What about the devaluation of Aeroplan’s award chart?
- How does Aeroplan’s award chart compare to United’s and other Star Alliance charts?
The Deal
Starpoints always transfer to dozens of airlines at a 1:1 rate. For every 20k Starpoints transferred, you get 5k bonus miles. My favorite airlines transfer partners are American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Asiana.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t consider Air Canada’s program, Aeroplan, because Aeroplan collects fuel surcharges on most partners, though not on flights operated by:
- United
- Singapore
- South African
- Egyptair
- Air China
- Ethiopian
- Avianca
- TACA
- Copa
- Swiss
- Turkish
- Brussels
- Scandinavian
Aeroplan is running a compelling promotion through August 15, 2016. Transfer hotel points and get bonus Aeroplan miles. All transfers from the listed partners will be summed to determine one’s bonus threshold.
The relevant transfers for Western Europe awards with Aeroplan miles are:
- 40k Starpoints transfer to 50k Aeroplan miles + 10k bonus Aeroplan miles for 60,000 total Aeroplan miles (50% bonus). This is exactly enough miles for a roundtrip economy award to Western Europe* from the continental US, Alaska, and Canada.
- 80k Starpoints transfer to 100k Aeroplan miles + 25k bonus Aeroplan miles for 125,000 total Aeroplan miles (56% bonus). This is more than enough miles for a roundtrip Business Class award to Western Europe* from the continental US, Alaska, and Canada (you only need 110,000 total, so you’d have 15,000 Aeroplan miles leftover).
- 95k Starpoints transfer to 115k Aeroplan miles + 25k bonus miles for 140,000 total Aeroplan miles (47% bonus). This is exactly enough miles for a roundtrip First Class award to Western Europe* from the continental US, Alaska, and Canada.
*Western Europe includes the countries defined as Europe 1 on the chart, Europe 2 is more expensive.
Similar deals are available to Southern South America. Check the award chart to see how many Aeroplan miles you need.
Two Caveats Before Transferring
- Aeroplan devalued their chart in 2015, so even though the transfer bonus makes for some pretty good deals, you may be able to book a flight for fewer Starpoints by transferring them to a Star Alliance carrier with a cheaper award chart than Aeroplan. Check out this comprehensive comparison of the Eight Best Star Alliance Award Charts for the award you have in mind before transferring.
- It can take up to two weeks for transfers from Starwood to Aeroplan to arrive. The exact award space you want may be gone by the time your Aeroplan miles are in your account.
Maximizing Aeroplan Awards
Aeroplan awards allow for two stopovers in addition to your destination.
Aeroplan collects fuel surcharges on most partners. For instance, fuel surcharges of over $500 per person per roundtrip are instituted on Lufthansa economy awards. Only fly partners listed in this article to avoid fuel surcharges.
Searching for Surcharge-Free Space
We want to book our Aeroplan award on partners on which no fuel surcharges are collected. The best place to search for space on United flights is united.com. On an advanced search, click the drop-down menu for My Search Preferences….
…and tick the box to search only United flights.
Search results will only display United flights. Normally the calendar would too, but there is a glitch with the United-only filter at the moment so the calendar isn’t reflecting United-only results in its color coding.
To search for other surcharge-free options to Europe like Swiss, Brussels, Turkish, Scandinavian, or Ethiopian, find routes that they fly and check Nonstop Flights Only on the united.com advanced search.
Once you’ve found your surcharge-free flights, head to aeroplan.com to book them. Aeroplan will have access to all Saver United space, and all partner space that shows up on united.com. You can mix-and-match these partner flights and still have no fuel surcharges.
Booking on Aeroplan.com
Booking the award space on aeroplan.com is easy. Search the dates and cabins you found on united.com. I found award space from Washington to Brussels and Copenhagen to Washington on united.com.
Then I searched for the space on aeroplan.com.
Each flight I found was the top result for the day I searched. I pieced it together for 60,000 Aeroplan miles + $50. That would be only 40k Starpoints at current rates.
Lufthansa First Class
Many people will want to use this deal to book Lufthansa First Class. I don’t recommend that.
Asiana miles can always book Lufthansa First Class for 50,000 Asiana miles one way between the United States and Europe. That’s 40,000 SPG points every day.
With this promotion you’d need 50,000 SPG points for a one way Lufthansa First Class booking with Aeroplan miles or 95,000 SPG points for a roundtrip. That’s no better than the everyday Asiana rate.
Asiana and Aeroplan collect the same fuel surcharges on Lufthansa flights– about $450.
Getting the Miles
The easiest way to get Starpoints is to get the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express with 25,000 bonus Starpoints after spending $3,000 in the first three months. The business version offers the same bonus, and you can get both.
Your Starpoints won’t arrive before this promotion ends, but we’ve seen similar promotions before, so you’ll have Starpoints in case this promotion returns.
Bottom Line
- Search for award space on united.com for Aeroplan partners on which Aeroplan doesn’t collect fuel surcharges.
- Open an Aeroplan account.
- Transfer the correct number of Starpoints to your Aeroplan account to book your dream award, taking into account the standard Starpoints to Aeroplan miles bonus (20k points = 25k miles) and the special limited time bonus being offered by Aeroplan until August 15,2016.
- When the points arrive, redo your search on aeroplan.com and book.
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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So if I’m reading this right, if my wife transfers SPG points to my account, then I convert 160K SPG points to Aeroplan, that would be 200K Aeroplan miles before the bonus, then get 55K bonus for a total of 255K Aeroplan miles? Then book 2 business class flights on Turkish airlines to Greece to avoid fuel surcharges?
You can do that, but note that you would have 25k Aeroplan miles leftover sitting in your Aeroplan account after the redemption (two Business Class tickets to Europe 2, Greece, would cost 230k Aeroplan miles). If you have another use for them soon, then great, but if not, maybe you only want to transfer 155k SPG points, which would would be 190k Aeroplan miles, and after the bonus you’d have 230k Aeroplan (exactly enough for two roundtrip Business tickets).
excellent advice sir. Thanks for your reply!
[…] This is not the only SPG transfer bonus at the moment, with Aeroplan offering something similar. […]