question about canadian airmiles
 

hi fodorites,

i'm new to this section of the forums ... i'm usually over on the europe board.

i don't know if this question can be answered here but i'll try. i've tried to find this answer on the various fodors boards and also on flyertalk ... and i'm getting stumped by the folks @ airmiles.

i'd like to redeem my airmiles (as in airmiles.ca ... the canadian air miles reward program) for a flight to europe later this year.

we did this last year and got an open jaw flight from toronto to paris and back from heathrow to toronto on air canada. i think we used about 5000 miles each and paid $325 in taxes per person.

i'm looking to do another open jaw to barcelona and home from paris. airmiles folks are telling me that i cannot book with air canada ... because AC 'proper' does not fly to barcelona ... AC uses star alliance to get there instead. (lufthansa)

so, i can use my airmiles to take a lufthansa flight to barcelona (crappy times) via one of their hubs in germany. this would 'force' me to take a lufthansa flight home from paris (again via germany) ... even though air canada flies direct out of paris. apparently, when booking on airmiles, whatever carrier takes you to your destination is the same carrier that must bring you home. in otherwords, i can't take the lufthansa flight out to barcelona and the air canada flight home from paris.

i'm annoyed with this lufthansa offer because a) i don't want to take connecting flights if i don't have to, b) the flight times with lufthansa aren't great, and c) the taxes with lufthansa are $100 more expensive than if i took an air canada flight (return) on air miles to paris. i 'suspect' that the lufthansa flight is more 'expensive' because i'm paying for the additional taxes required by the various german airports.

ideally, i'd like to be able to take air canada both ways ... i get air canada perks (my friend works for them) but don't have enough aeroplan points to get over to europe. since air canada doesn't fly direct or 'proper' to barcelona, then i'd be okay with taking the lufthansa flight to barcelona but i'd like to take the direct air canada flight home from paris.

does anyone know/see a way around this issue? is there something i'm not understanding? at the end of the day, the points are just sitting in my account and i might as well use them for this trip...so maybe that is what i'll end up doing.

i'm sorry if this is really confusing. thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!!

You should be able to do this on star alliance.

All flights below were open jaw.

I'm on OneWorld with AA and I've flown Iberia a few times on FF Miles, and I'm soon to fly LAN on FF miles.

I also flew Swiss Air a couple of times when they were still affiliated with AA.

In fact, I think Swiss Air is now affiliated with Lufthansa.

When we flew home last year on Swiss Air, it was Paris - Zurich - United States, then on with AA.

Remember, from an accounting perspective, FF miles are liabilities, and, if there's an available seat, they want to reduce their liabilities

hi rastaguy,

thanks for your response.

however airmiles.ca isn't really like traditional FF miles ... it's a loyalty program where you earn airmiles by shopping at select retailers, using specific credit cards, etc. you don't actually earn miles by flying specific airlines - and the miles can be redeemed for a variety of items (air travel, hotel, products, etc.) i don't believe there is a similar program in the US.

There actually is a program variation in the US, as I have a friend who's been using it for 15-20 years.

In this case, look for codeshare flights. You fly on Lufstansa but the ticket says another airline.

There are also airlines, such as AA that have one way tickets at about 1/2 the cost of roundtrip tickets, so you might be able to book one airline one way and another airline returning.

I've downloaded the OneWorld flight schedules WW. I'm sure there is something similar for the Lufstansa group of airlines.

hi rastaguy,

the folks @ airmiles have advised me that i can only take 'true' air canada flights ... not those that are coded AC but are technically with a star alliance carrier. so since the only way to get to barcelona on AC is to go via munich and change over to a lufthansa flight, i can't get the AC flight on my air miles.

i've called airmiles three times ... they can't give me a reason for this.

:(

In perusing Air Canada, it looks like they fly into Frankfurt, Munich, London and Paris.

My assumption is that you'll have to pay for a flight from Europe to Barcelona.

Now you can look around and figure out what's the cheapest way to go. One way is through easyjet. However they fly out of Gatwick. There is a very regular Heathrow - Gatwick express and the flight to Barcelona is 10 euro including taxes.

Look around for some alternatives.

hi rastaguy,

thanks for the digging.

i called airmiles back (again!) ... turns out that they offered me a KLM flight this time around ... better times and $100 LESS in taxes than the lufthansa flight. i still can't get my desired air canada flight, but this may do.

the klm offer is yyz - ams, ams - bcn and then cdg - ams, ams - yyz.

i'm going to think about it for a bit ...

tks!!

Take it in a heartbeat if the layover isn't too long.

A one stop flight is an FF flyer's dream.

I once flew SFO - CDG - YYZ - LHR - AMS.

Check out www.seatguru.com to make sure you get the best seats you can.

Next thing to do is to start looking up terminal maps to see how far you have to go from one part of the terminal to another; and also what amenities are available at each airport if you do have a layover.

CDG is / was / and ever shall be a strange airport. AMS is a nice airpot that was remodeled in the last 15 years or so. YYZ is, oh well, no sense insulting YYZ.

Duh!

Change CDG to ORD.

OMG! you had me scared there ... i actually thought you flew BACK to north america just to get over to europe! :)

tks for all the help!!