This is a guest blog post from the founder of Frugal Flyer, Reed Sutton. Frugal Flyer helps Canadians reach their travel dreams on a budget, whether it be a family trip to Disneyland or a luxurious round-the-world vacation in business class.
Seeing the world is well worth the money, but it can be expensive, especially if you have a long bucket list of travel locations. Between flights, hotels, and other expenses, costs can add up quickly, especially when travelling outside of Canada. However, through understanding travel loyalty programs, there are ways you can easily reduce the cost of your next vacation.
Aeroplan is a loyalty program that is well-known within Canada and is integrated into the financial landscape via branded credit cards and partnered retailers. While most people are happy with slowly collecting points through their typical credit card spend, there are opportunities to take advantage of which can quickly accelerate your Aeroplan earning rate to assist you in working towards your next vacation.
Enter the Aeroplan eStore, where you can earn points for your usual online shopping.
Earning Aeroplan Points for Online Shopping
The Aeroplan eStore is an online shopping portal that provides shoppers with a rebate in points for every purchase made at their partnered retailers. At the time of writing, the eStore has almost 200 retailers, including many popular names such as Amazon, Apple, and Lenovo.
By signing into your Aeroplan and clicking through to a retailer via the eStore, you will earn Aeroplan points at a rate of 1 point per dollar spent when making purchases online. This becomes even more lucrative as there are opportunities to earn Aeroplan points at a significantly increased rate just for shopping around major holidays when promotions are running.
Considering that you would have been making these purchases anyways, having the opportunity to earn points back on your purchase is the icing on the cake. For example, during a particularly strong promotion, you could receive 10x Aeroplan points on a $1500 laptop purchase which would result in 15k Aeroplan. At our valuation of 2 cents per point, that is an easy $300 back in points towards your next vacation.
Redeeming Aeroplan Points for Flights & Travel Expenses
Aeroplan points can be redeemed for various travel expenses, such as flights, hotels, and rental cars. Being an airline-focused loyalty program, the best value for your Aeroplan points is to redeem them towards flights, whether it be domestically within Canada or internationally.
Aeroplan has multiple travel tools that can help you plan your next vacation on Aeroplan points. Through these tools, you can determine the number of points that you will need to make your travel dreams a reality.
At the end of the day, utilize your Aeroplan points for what best fits your travel goals. For some, they love the experience of taking fewer vacations but in a more luxurious manner which could include flying business class with lie-flat beds and champagne. For others, they would rather fly economy and have the opportunity to take more vacations during a year as a result of the reduced points cost.
No matter where your travels take you, always remember the Frugal Flyer way: Travel more, pay less.
Sean Cooper is the bestselling author of the book, Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians, available now on Amazon and at Chapters, Indigo and major bookstores, and as an Audiobook on Amazon, Audible and iTunes.