Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
Analyzing My Next Big Aeroplan Mini-RTW
Share this Article
Business Platinum Card from American Express
- Earn 90,000 MR points upon spending $15,000 in the first three months
- Plus, earn 40,000 MR points upon making a purchase in months 14–17 as a cardholder
- And, earn 1.25x MR points on all purchases
- Also, receive a $200 annual travel credit
- Transfer MR points to Aeroplan and other frequent flyer programs for premium flights
- Unlimited airport lounge access for you and one guest at Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, Centurion, and other lounges
- Credits and rebates for business expenses throughout the year with Amex Offers
- Bonus MR points for referring family and friends
- Qualify for the card as a sole proprietor
- Annual fee: $799
27 Comments
Prince of Travel is the leading resource for using frequent flyer miles, credit card points, and loyalty programs to travel the world at a fraction of the price.
Join our Sunday newsletter below to get weekly updates delivered straight to your inbox.
Have a question? Just ask.
Platinum Membership
Our Platinum members get access to a Circle community, exclusive live learning sessions, and in-person gatherings with like-minded travellers.
Top Offers
Latest News
Prince of Travel Elites
Nice post Ricky, always !
Any suggestions on IST -> YVR possible routes ? Trying to avoid AC, LH and OS …. SAS, TK, LX + UA will be the best possible combination, right ? But hard to find spaces for 2J for 2020
Thanks
Those three airlines plus TAP, LOT, and EgyptAir. Keep in mind that if you only have AC on the North American sector then the fuel surcharges won’t be too bad.
Nice one Ricky!
This is completely anecdotal, but I’ve found that Aeroplan agents early on Saturday (or better yet Sunday) are much better. Knowledgeable, more patient, savvy about the mini-RTW strategy. They seem to appreciate the customer who calls already armed with all the dates, carriers, airport codes, etc.
Very useful to know! I’ll definitely try calling on weekend mornings in the future and see if it makes a difference.
Brilliant Ricky!
For the less informed among us, how did you earn enough points? Sign up bonuses? Other? Thanks.
Most of my points earnings these days are a combination of signup bonuses and referral bonuses.
Has there been any word about TK flying the new 787 to YYZ?
Nope, only YUL so far, as well as a handful of other destinations around the world
Nice post
I have used expertflyer a few times since a lot of people love and swear by it. I am wondering if you encountered a situation where expertflyer shows award availability but the aeroplan search engine does not. Is it because 1 search has not been updated or is "aeroplan" hiding some flights?
Will you be doing a post on expertflyer and how to use it in conjunction with aeroplan search at all?
Yeah, I actually encountered that when searching for PER-NRT awards on ANA for this trip. It usually means the airline has made a certain amount of space to its own members, but not to partner airlines.
Here’s a primer on ExpertFlyer. Might do another post soon. princeoftravel.com/blog/how-to-use-expertflyer-like-a-pro
Excellent post Ricky, its been a week since i started planning one of your crazy 6 continent trip but not able to conclude. I have few questions and hope to get some clarity.
1>Is YYZ-MEL is not further than YYZ-PER for MPM point of view ? I wanted to cover MEL, SYD (POT) where i wanted to have side trip to AKL using Avios. PER to MEL and SYD, then AKL is costing me too many AVIOS.
PER is farther away so would give you higher MPM. MEL should still give you plenty of room to work with though.
You could combine MEL and SYD in one trip (MEL would be your destination) using an open-jaw, then have another stopover somewhere in Asia/Europe/Africa. You can’t include MEL-SYD as a segment since no Star Alliance airlines fly that route. Then you could side-trip to AKL from one of those cities on Avios.
thanks Ricky,
Does this means, I will loose one stop over by having open-jaw at destination ?
Basically i wanted to have one stop over at DXB, Destination MEL openjaw SYD, then JNB another stop over return home via GRU south america back to YYZ. basically wanted to mimic your 6 continent example.
You can’t have two stopovers and one open-jaw though. Just skip the open-jaw – make MEL your destination and use Avios to go to SYD.
Very cool, I also tend to book these complex yet fun trips once in a while, but my major challenge is I don’t have enough vacation time to actually fly this much.
Side question though: What’s the difference between a Mini-RTW and a Full-RTW ticket?
To me, the itineraries you claim that are Mini-RTWs are actually Full-RTW journeys: they are not "mini" or "small". 😛
Great question! An actual RTW ticket is a special ticket type offered on both paid and award tickets, and it lets you do something like 5 stopovers in total. With Aeroplan, it would cost you 300,000 miles in business class (and that’s what the agent tried to charge me at first).
The "Mini-RTW" name refers to maximizing the stopover policies to book round-the-world trips with up to three stopovers, but only paying the mileage for a round-trip ticket. You’re right though – there’s nothing "mini" about this one!
Thanks for the explanation Ricky, much appreciated.
I am looking forward to hearing more about the flights you booked in this ticket.
Well done, routing really is a skill! I’ll be flying the new EgyptAir 787 this September, and the VIE-TPE Eva 787 in February. I was wondering where did you get information indicating it will stop in Bangkok? My flight BR66 says it’s a nonstop!
I’ll be very curious to hear your thoughts on the EgyptAir 787. Let me know!
I believe the thrice-weekly BR65/66 goes direct between VIE-TPE, while the four-times-weekly BR61/62 has a stop in Bangkok as well. 17 hours is a really long time, but hey, if there’s one business class product on which I’d happily spend 17 hours it’d probably be EVA!
Wow, this is very impressive. Well done and thanks for sharing!
YOU ARE CRAZY, RICKY
Thanks for taking one for the team 🙂 and I love how you share your thought process
I’d not dare to that even for myself, not to mention a family of 4 now
Always happy to take one (or many more!) for the team 🙂
This is another great report that helps your followers get the best from our points. Keep all your blogs coming. I learn from every post.
Thanks Ricky. Even though I do not comment every time, I read every day.
Thanks John. Always grateful for your support since Day 1.
That’s an unreal trip and an amazingly creative routing.
Nicely done.
incredible — thanks for sharing the details of how you plan/book
you sir. Are living the life!