That's only if you fly Air Canada - it can be cheaper or the max rate, depending on the cost. Partner rewards are still fixed-rate. Read the Prince of Travel guide as it's very good at explaining how the new pricing system works. IMO there's still sweet spots (as there was before) for ticket redemption where you can get great value back. Most people don't bother doing their research, hence they get frustrated like donk. did.


Here's a coles notes from PoT.

Bringing this thread back now that travel is 'sort of' coming back.

I've been trying to look at flight redemptions via Aeroplan to Asia, and its horrendous in terms of sweet spots... I'm still shook about the no free stopovers :(

Aren't stopovers allowed if you just add 5000points to the cost (each one way)? Believe it won't auto-populate on the site and you have to manually call in for the booking though.

Has anyone ever used priority pass for lounge access?

Going to be travelling fairly extensively in sept in Europe, have at least 5-6 flights within a few months, just wondering if something like priority pass would be worth it

Can check on the PP website your potential airports if they have a lounge and if its worth. Some contract lounges have different access requirements, but for the most part they'll be member+1 guest at minimum on one card.

https://www.prioritypass.com/en/airport-lounges

Assuming you're getting the PP with a credit card, you'll have to watch out for different providers as well. American Express cards, especially the Platinum will provide you unlimited access to PP plus they have side contracts with other lounges and of course their own Centurion lounges.
Can browse through them before hand on the amex site: https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/e...d/lounges.html

One major limitation of the AMEX PP is that they do NOT include access to priority pass restaurants. Example, Stanley Park taphouse at YVR is considered a PP restaurant and you'll get a pretty good ~$37 Credit if you had a regular PP or one issued by another bank like CIBC/Scotia etc but NOT amex ones.

On to the big 5 bank issued PP's. They are usually not unlimited and include only the base membership and you pay each entry or include a number of set entries like 4, or 6. These DO include the aforementioned PP restuaurants and can easily pay for itself over and over with just a visit or two.

Now, PP is actually going to be dropped pretty soon by the big banks. Both VISA and MC are moving away from PP and contracting with Dragonpass instead. This is slated to happen sometime this summer. Can dig into the rabbithole much better on PoT's blog: https://princeoftravel.com/blog/visa...th-dragonpass/

Clear as mud? Yep. Great.

Yea its such a pain to manually call I feel like.. I guess you have to essentially find all of the one ways and provide that over the phone? I miss the old website and the easiness of booking...

Also, I tried looking at YVR to Asia for this summer (august area) round trip roughly 140,000 points :alone:

For the parents: On an Air Canada 789, which business class seating arrangement would you recommend for 2 parents and a 1 year old on the lap of one of them. 2 middle pods? Or a window plus middle pod. Or 2 window pods, one behind the other. It's been many years since I've flown in AC signature class, so I can't recall it exactly.

This might help: https://princeoftravel.com/guides/ai...ld-you-choose/

I've always gone with 2 middle seats if travelling with someone. Window seat if travelling alone.

1 year old in business class ffs..

1 window and 1 middle, or 2 windows. You can't get across the middle pods without going into the galley to cross - much more difficult. Make sure to share an aisle so that you can hand off the baby easier. Also, ask for a bassinet seat (not sure what the weight limitation is) because maybe your child might like sleeping there instead and you can have your hands free, or you can store baby related stuff in the bassinet if you don't end up putting the kid to sleep there.

EDIT: Also forgot, the middle divider on the 787s and 777s don't go down so you can't really see the person you're with if you're in 2 middle pods. The A330 dividers go down though for some reason.

<2 years are free (essentially, there are still fees and some taxes), so it's not like they're spending a lot money.

And even if the kid was 2+, what, children should fly in peasant class while the rich parents are at the front?

On one of my recent longhaul flights, I was in Economy and there was a nanny and a young child a few rows away. And the parents in business class would periodically come by to check on their kid.

^ those parents living the dream.

I know of someone who married into a rich family purely for the money, knowing she'll be treated like shit.

The husband sat in first class while the wife and 2 kids sat in Economy, lol.

Marries for money, sits in economy..... Pleb

Yes. Lol

Especially with these kids who are so young they are free. It’s one thing when you’re buying a kid their own seat is business class. It’s a completely different thing to bring a child so young they can’t even have their own seat lol

It’s called business class not family class FailFish

A perfect comparable would be taking a kid to a fancy restaurant, would you take a 6 month old to hawksworth? Or even the keg for that matter. If your kid was screaming for half an hour everyone would be looking around thinking what in the fuck..

Business class is wayyyy more exclusive than those restaurants but you’re willing to let your kid scream for hours next to people who intentionally paid hundreds if not thousands of dollars more for those seats to specifically get AWAY from that? Lol imo it’s ignorant.

lol, I hate to disagree with you on everything but there's a lot of assumptions in your argument.

Firstly, your argument that infants are a nuisance but it's ok as long as they paid for a seat is a bit odd. You can still buy infants their own seat, it's just not a requirement. So if eff-1 paid for a seat in business for their infant, you're ok with that but not when it's free?

Also the family restaurant thing isn't a perfect analogy, flying is literally the only viable mode of transportation. Also contrary to what you may believe, being in business class doesn't make you any better than anyone else, it just means you paid more for better SERVICE. It doesn't automatically exclude you from being next to children, otherwise airlines would simply not allow kids on business - which clearly they don't do.

If someone in business complains that they have to endure children crying when they paid thousands more than the peasants, then that person is arguably a prick.

My assumption is that if your child is old enough to require a seat, they might have some self-control over crying for hours on end.

I've had far more problems with boomers on flights than with babies but that's just me. If anything it probably makes more sense to be in business class when the kid is free because you'll actually have the space to take care of them. I can't imagine trying to feed or change a baby in the economy seats.

when you pay for business class, you're paying for a nicer seat, better service, better food, and other perks.

you're not paying for a kids-free zone.

it's a plane. it's full of families. deal with it.

btw yes we took our six month old to hawksworth. and we go to the keg all the time with him. we seat at 530 and we're out by 7 so he can be home before his bedtime. if he cries, we remove him away from the other diners to an area until he calms down.

typically when our kid is crying, no matter where it happens, we get sympathetic looks from everyone around us who have kids and know what it's like. the minority of people who scoff are usually entitled jerks.

you don't have kids do you, or you'd never say something this dumb.

If there are no babies today, where is Leo DiCaprio gonna get his next 25 year old from in 25 years?

Think about that before you trash kids!

Lol. You’re calling other people entitled bringing a crying baby to a restaurant? :woot2:

Not a parent but if I was I’d be considerate enough not to burden other people.

Easy to say until you're going fricking mentally insane after Day 10 at home and not neccessarily any help from anyone to take the kid while you go out for a meal.

I don't have kids either and I used to get super annoyed at people who brought kids places... but after my sister had kids I saw how hard it was for her to live even a semblance of normality for years on end until they're a bit older and I have a broader sense of sympathy now lol

Crazy, almost like that was a choice? Lol

Bring crying kids everywhere, the theatre, a broadway show, etc. why not