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Booking a trip to Italy for parents using Aeroplan and GAdventures - Advice appreciated regarding open-jaw

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  • Jun 6th, 2019 7:08 am
Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2017
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Chelsea

Booking a trip to Italy for parents using Aeroplan and GAdventures - Advice appreciated regarding open-jaw

Good evening everybody,

I've convinced my parents to visit Europe and I said I'd help them plan everything. They've settled on using GAdventures to simplify everything and chose the following trip.

They've accumulated quite some Aeroplan miles over the year (account sitting at +1M right now) and have the Diamond status with Aeroplan. Since they are "expiring" in 2020, they want to use as much as they can before that date, just in case per Aeroplan booking.

Greatly appreciate the advice, as always

Simon

Now I have read quite a lot on sites to try to understand the concept of "open-jaw", but I can't seem to work it out on Aeroplan website.

I'm looking to have them do the following:

Montreal (YUL) -> Venice (VCE)
Rome (FCO) -> ???
??? -> Montreal (YUL)

I'm trying to fill the gap with any major European country (had Paris in mind) where they could spend an extra couple days while flying near it.

Is my understand of "open-jaw" and Aeroplan proper ? I read that they were entitled to one open-jaw (which would be Venice-Rome) and one stop-over (which would be the city chosen).
14 replies
Deal Fanatic
Feb 15, 2006
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Toronto
The ae points are not "expiring" next June. AC announced they'll have a new program and those ae points will transfer 1 to 1 to the new program. There may be some changes, devaluation, but those points are not gone as long as you keep your account active.
Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2017
657 posts
854 upvotes
Chelsea
Arrgh wrote: The ae points are not "expiring" next June. AC announced they'll have a new program and those ae points will transfer 1 to 1 to the new program. There may be some changes, devaluation, but those points are not gone as long as you keep your account active.
I agree, and never believe they actually expired (hence the quotation), but I am led to believe they might lose some of their value. Nevertheless, they were planning on using them anyways before that time. Thanks for the heads up though :)
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May 10, 2005
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SimonL556 wrote: I agree, and never believe they actually expired (hence the quotation), but I am led to believe they might lose some of their value. Nevertheless, they were planning on using them anyways before that time. Thanks for the heads up though :)
Open Jaw and multi city are the same thing. On Aeroplan they use the term multi city.
Aeroplan points will not expire, and they always lose some value as time goes on. All loyalty point programs require more nd more for the same thing over time.
Also, with that many points, they should fly business class but, there are only a few seats per flight for aeroplan. They get booked up early. Your best thing is to call aeroplan (diamond members have a special number) and get the customer service person to help you. They do have other flights and options not seen on the site. If you end up booking through the agent, it will cost $35 but that is a small price to pay for getting exactly what you need.
We have traveled on points in business class many times. It is the best value for the points.
“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”
Deal Fanatic
Feb 15, 2006
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You can read the threads about mini-RTW trips in in flyertalk, such as this. It gives some ideas.

Open jaw is not the same as multi-city. In mini-RTW you'll have one destination where the mpm is based on. You can have 2 other stops. You can also have an open jaw, but that'll count as 2 stops. That is you can have a total of 3 stops including the destination, or you can have 1 open jaw and 1 stop.
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Arrgh wrote: You can read the threads about mini-RTW trips in in flyertalk, such as this. It gives some ideas.

Open jaw is not the same as multi-city. In mini-RTW you'll have one destination where the mpm is based on. You can have 2 other stops. You can also have an open jaw, but that'll count as 2 stops. That is you can have a total of 3 stops including the destination, or you can have 1 open jaw and 1 stop.
When you click on an airline site it will have an option of multi city. There is no such option for "open Jaw".
The principal is to go to one city and leave from another or, add some more cities on the same trip. I do this often.
“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”
Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2017
657 posts
854 upvotes
Chelsea
I have found the multi-city option available, but the engine says that my parameters are invalid.

I’ll give a call to Aeroplan and try to figure it out with them.
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Feb 15, 2006
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Pete_Coach wrote: When you click on an airline site it will have an option of multi city. There is no such option for "open Jaw".
The principal is to go to one city and leave from another or, add some more cities on the same trip. I do this often.
The multi-city allows you to do open jaw, or not. Multi-city does not equal to open jaw. For the purpose of ae redemption, open jaw has specific meaning, and restriction, especially for rtw.
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Feb 7, 2006
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From the Aeroplan multi city booking tool: Link with nice graphics
(1) Round-trip with stopover

Round-trip itinerary that allows a passenger flying from departure city (A) to destination city (C) to have a stopover in city (B). Alternatively, the stopover could be between city (C) and city (A).


(2) Destination open-jaw

Round-trip itinerary that allows a passenger to fly from departure city (A) to destination city (B). The passenger then uses another method of transport to get to destination city (C). The passenger returns from city (C) to city (A). This type of multi-city itinerary is referred to as an open jaw.

(3) Origin open-jaw

Round-trip itinerary that allows a passenger to fly from departure city (A) to destination city (B). The passenger returns from destination city (B) to (C). This type of multi-city itinerary is also referred to as an open jaw.
OP skip everything we all say and head to:

prince of travel aeroplan

prince of travel aeroplan mini rtw part 1
prince of travel aeroplan mini rtw part 2
prince of travel aeroplan mini rtw part 3

flyertalk Mini RTW questions
Flyertalk list of valid mini rtw trips
flyertalk the complete guide to aeroplan mini rtw
flyertalk How to save money on aeroplan Europe redemptions (credit to Jerry)
Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2017
657 posts
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Chelsea
Although I don’t believe the trip I’m trying to book is considered a RTW, I will definitely consult all the link you posted, as I personally have quite a few Aeroplan as well.

Thanks for taking the time sir
scuba2day wrote: Sorry, should have been more specific.
The Aeroplan web site does not support open-jaw itineraries with a stop-over. Which is what the OP wants to do and the reason for the error the OP received.
Ricky's site and the Flyertalk links have a lot of great information but mostly not applicable to the simple itinerary the OP is planning.
Exactly, I do feel that what I am trying to book is somewhat simplistic, but that Aeroplan online tool simply doesn’t allow it.

Thanks for your advice
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As I understand you, the trip you would your parent to do is :

Montreal (YUL) -> Venice (VCE)
Rome (FCO) -> ???
??? -> Montreal (YUL)

So I went to the Aeroplan site and did a booking using Paris as the ???
I used the multi city button and was able to do it , no problem at all. Not sure what your issue is.

"Did you know? Multi-city trips allow you to visit more than one city on the same reward ticket.

Flight 1 Book your flights up to 356 days in advance.
From
YUL | Montreal Trudeau, Quebec, Canada 11 October 2019
To
VCE | Venice Marco Polo, Italy

Flight 2
From
FCO | Rome Leonardo da Vinci, Italy 15 October 2019
To
CDG | Paris Charles De Gaulle, France

Flight 3
From
CDG | Paris Charles De Gaulle, France 19 October 2019
To
YUL | Montreal Trudeau, Quebec, Canada"

I realize those are not your dates but I just punched in any date.
“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”
Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2017
657 posts
854 upvotes
Chelsea
Pete_Coach wrote: As I understand you, the trip you would your parent to do is :

Montreal (YUL) -> Venice (VCE)
Rome (FCO) -> ???
??? -> Montreal (YUL)

So I went to the Aeroplan site and did a booking using Paris as the ???
I used the multi city button and was able to do it , no problem at all. Not sure what your issue is.

"Did you know? Multi-city trips allow you to visit more than one city on the same reward ticket.

Flight 1 Book your flights up to 356 days in advance.
From
YUL | Montreal Trudeau, Quebec, Canada 11 October 2019
To
VCE | Venice Marco Polo, Italy

Flight 2
From
FCO | Rome Leonardo da Vinci, Italy 15 October 2019
To
CDG | Paris Charles De Gaulle, France

Flight 3
From
CDG | Paris Charles De Gaulle, France 19 October 2019
To
YUL | Montreal Trudeau, Quebec, Canada"

I realize those are not your dates but I just punched in any date.
Hey there, sorry for the late reply. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. But I gave it a shot with the dates below, and got a : « The information provided are not valid. For further assistance, please refer to HOW TO BUILD MULTI-CITY TRIPS below.»

See image of what I tried.

https://imgur.com/a/psb8pZK

I even gave it a shot with your dates and it didn't work.

Edit: I tried economy and business, flexible and not but still same result
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SimonL556 wrote: Hey there, sorry for the late reply. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong. But I gave it a shot with the dates below, and got a : « The information provided are not valid. For further assistance, please refer to HOW TO BUILD MULTI-CITY TRIPS below.»

See image of what I tried.

https://imgur.com/a/psb8pZK

I even gave it a shot with your dates and it didn't work.

Edit: I tried economy and business, flexible and not but still same result
Don't know what you are not doing correctly but I tried again, business and economy, using your dates and destinations and was able to get flights 220,000 miles plus $1751.00 business class and 120,000 plus $17551.00 economy/premium
“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”
Sr. Member
Apr 21, 2017
657 posts
854 upvotes
Chelsea
Pete_Coach wrote: Don't know what you are not doing correctly but I tried again, business and economy, using your dates and destinations and was able to get flights 220,000 miles plus $1751.00 business class and 120,000 plus $17551.00 economy/premium
I understand, I really don't know what's happening. Are you logging in to Aeroplan ? I'm trying to isolate the issue here ...

I must say, I really appreciate your help and you actually trying again.

Simon
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SimonL556 wrote: I understand, I really don't know what's happening. Are you logging in to Aeroplan ? I'm trying to isolate the issue here ...

I must say, I really appreciate your help and you actually trying again.

Simon
Yes, I am logging in to Aeroplan. I click multi city each time. Like I said, I am not sure what you are doing but I was able to get flights each time I tried.
I have to let you know, the longer you wait, the less chance there is of getting business class seats. They only hold a few seats per flight and then they are gone. You could end up paying business class point and get a mixed cabin flight. Maybe not though as if it shows business class on the long overseas legs, that would be good. The inter Europe leg is no big deal.
“Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

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