Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
New Aeroplan: How Does It Compare with Other Programs?
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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
31 Comments
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Hey Ricky!
Great stuff as usual!
In part 4’s table, all the links to the mini-RTWs for the different programs are invalid because they contain “blog” two times
ie: https://princeoftravel.com/blog/blog/the-ana-mileage-club-round-the-world-award
instead of https://princeoftravel.com/blog/the-ana-mileage-club-round-the-world-award
Ooh, thank you!
I liked to use my MR-S points to book a flex class booking to Europe. MR-S is not the same value as Aeroplan points and are very easy to come by. also you earn points/ miles on AMEX bookings. you will have to call in to book flex class with AMEX but i find it great value over transferring the points to Marriott then Aeroplan.
Hi Ricky, great job you did, as usual! Just wanted to ask – did you consider the option of factoring the different surcharges (eg. High for BA) into the points required ie. I will rate AC much better from YYZ to LHR than BA direct flight as the surcharges are nearly $1000+for return J.
Ricky
These charts are assuming that all points are equal, i assume. Its likely the only way to compare, but my amex is 1.2 points per dollar and 1.65 over 25k spend. That influences the chart i would produce for myself which would compare the cost in dollars to earn the flight. Correct?
Correct; my colour-coding for the “best” and “worst” options is based on assuming an equal valuation of the underlying points currencies.
I had considered factoring in our relative valuations of each currency, but that would get very complicated very quickly, and furthermore I think the comparison arrives at these relative valuations on its own (e.g., the stronger value of Alaska miles given their lower price points across the board).
If you’re earning your points mostly on credit card spend, then you can apply the numbers against your earning rates to figure out which option is best for you based on your spending profile. This will be different for everyone, depending on how they earn their points (signup bonuses, spending, promotions, etc.)
YYZ to LIMA on Alaska Points… you mention that it’s 40k round trip economy, but all my searches come up as 30k each way (with one segment mandated to be in business… no pure economy available). This rate is for all tickets in 2021. Has anyone else had luck getting 20k tickets?
Looks like the current availability pattern is that American is not releasing any economy award space on the Toronto routes, only business. Availability patterns can change at a moment’s notice, so be sure to check back every now and then.
You can go all in and go berserk with avios points with amex gold visa RBC avion and HSBC World elite.
So…. For us poor canadians… If we want to diversify with ana smiles for miles avianca for examples we have to transfer dilute value of points with amex mariott bonvoy. Ratio of 3-1 with MR points. Thats disgusting. I have alaska mileage plan and its very hard to have boost with points. And buy points its no sense. 1200 CAD for 45 000 mileage plan when welcome bonus is 30 000 with alaska mastercard. And not for Quebec lol.
Getting started with US credit cards would be much preferable to transferring Bonvoy points at 3:1, in my view.
I hear that the MBNA Alaska is available to Quebec residents once again, as of recently. Even before, you could get the bonus by signing up with an Ontario IP address using a VPN too.
A gaping hole in the analysis is the absence of any Skyteam member that can realistically compete with Aeroplan in the Canadian market. Since one can accrue points with Delta’s Skymiles through Westjet, it would be valuable to compare how this program add’s up against the new Aeroplan. Most of the comparisons shown for international travel are with programs that are difficult to accumulate points with with from Canada.
I don’t agree that Delta points are any easier to accumulate than Alaska, Avios, and Asia Miles. Alaska has a co-branded credit card in Canada. Avios and Asia Miles are transfer partners of both Amex and RBC, as opposed to Delta’s sole 1:0.75 transfer option from Amex.
In addition, the sheer opacity of Delta SkyMiles – dynamic pricing with no published chart – greatly limits the ability to compare fairly against other options, as well as its overall appeal as a points currency.
Nevertheless, I take your point that some discussion on the Delta program would be valuable (compared to the zero coverage I’ve given it so far). Expect something soon.
Very interesting. Most of my trips are Europe, three stops, five days each stop, in business.
I can see now not much difference but an extra 5000 miles. keep to 4000 miles or less and add a couple of Easyjet BA or heaven forbid Ryanair to the system.
It gets more complicated when trying to do a longer, world wide trip that I am getting a little old to do.
Still Australia, Fiji and Singapore are callingto me!
How is the new Aeroplan System going to affect the Island Hopper ?
We’ll talk about this tomorrow! 🙂
Thanks, great post Ricky! Very handy and I’m sure you put in many hours of research.
Thanks Ricky ! Great comparison charts. So, now how To collect ANA miles?.
Mitch knows. US MR 1:1 transfer is probably the best way.
US Amex MR or 3:1 from Bonvoy are the sort-of practical ways of earning ANA miles.
Hey Ricky:
Trying to figure out the best way for YVR/Europe travel in Business. The new aeroplan is 140K or 145K with a stopover. With BA Avios, it’s 150K (assume 110K with combo of 30-50% transfer bonus), but 1400 in fees.
I see the new aeroplan as a better choice for Western Europe from YVR. Yes, it’s 35k more points but probably 1K less in fee and offers more direct routing for west coast. Turkish is good, but is at 120K for a fair comparison and has higher fees.
Would you agree?
Agreed. You also have the option of popping over to SEA and flying SEA-DUB on Avios, but that’s a bit of a hassle.
Ricky, will the AMEX premium and core be charge cards like the current Aeroplan Plus cards? Also will there be an income requirement for them as they currently don’t in current form (I know the premium CIBC and TD Aeroplan Visas have income requirements of 200k)
We should expect to hear more details on the Amex cards later in August. My guesses are yes and no to those questions.
Oh, one more thing – although your chart is generally unfavourable with AMEX Fixed travel, keep in mind how much easier AMEX MRS are to come by compared to the other bank fixed mileage systems.
Not only that, but if you have very strict dates and times, you can greatly benefit from AMEX fixed. Flexibility is awesome – but how many of us actually have it ?
I’d say that the new Aeroplan should suit your needs better even if you aren’t flexible, because even the price points at the higher end of the dynamic range are lower than Amex Fixed Points Travel.
But yes, the ease of earning Cobalt points can’t be understated.
Nice post Ricky! Do you know anything about what’s going over with our WestJet friends? The claim is to make Business and Premium awards possible but those 4 seats/flight for 125 WSJ was pretty sweet for positioning or even quick trips.
Nothing official, only that they’re looking to introduce an evolved version of Member Exclusive fares later this year.
Like I said in the article, they can do whatever they want otherwise… but if they leave the 125 WSD one-way untouched, they’ll be very, very popular.
Isn’t Hawaii 17,500-25,000 in economy and 35,000-70,000 in business (YYZ-HNL) in the NEW Aeroplan?
Each way, my bad.
Yes. The chart displays round-trip pricing in order to compare against other programs where only round-trips are allowed.