Spencer at Straight to the Points
sent out another alert about business class tickets for up to 4 people being
available on Austrian Airlines and since the airline is a Star Alliance
member you can use your Aeroplan points to redeem for these flights.
Availability is showing from November 2022 through to March 2023 for
flights to Vienna and beyond. Perfect timing to visit all the Christmas markets! Aeroplan charges 70,000 points each way
for partner award flights in business class plus the $39 partner award
booking fee.
We did a quick check of availability for 4 adults between Montreal and Vienna on November 21:
And then returning on November 30:
Grand total is 280,000 points + taxes/fees each way (70,000 points per person). More often than not it is a rarity having this many open business class seats per flight so if you are looking to get your family or a group of friends to Europe in Winter this could be an excellent option. Austrian’s flights out of Montreal are operated with their Boeing 767-300 aircraft which feature lie flat business class seats.
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| Business Class Seat map preview of the November 21 flight |
The cash price for the same flights (the price was the same on Air Canada and Austrian’s websites):
For the round trip flight for four you would need to redeem 560,000 Aeroplan Points to cover $15,848.00 of the ticket price. This provides 2.83 cents per points value. Definitely higher than our 1.5 cents minimum valuation but a bit lower than we have seen with some of our other examples. That being said, if I was to redeem for these flights I’d be happy with it more so for the fact that we are a family of four and we’d be able to get us all business class seats on the same flight with ease!
Good news for those in Halifax (and thus St. John’s and most of Atlantic Canada) since you are closer to Vienna than Montreal (as the crow flies that is) you only have to redeem 60,000 points for a one way business class ticket:
Halifax to Vienna for four in business class one way, 240,000 points in total, flying Air Canada to Montreal in Economy and then onto the Austrian Airlines flight in Business Class from Montreal to Vienna.
If you don’t have enough Aeroplan points to redeem for a flight like those above there are a lot of credit card options to consider but the ideal one to obtain a lot of Aeroplan points quickly and more than enough to cover at least a one way business class flight to Vienna is to get The
Platinum Card® from American Express. Right now if you apply for it by September 20 you can get 90,000 Membership Rewards Points (which equals 90,000 Aeroplan Points) by spending $6,000 on the card in the first three months. It is also offer 10 points per dollar on eats and drinks for the first three months up to 20,000 points in total. Or you can you go for the Business Platinum Card® from American Express which provides 110,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $7,000 on the card in the first three months. If you can spend $6,000 or $7,000 quicker than three months than that the points will post sooner than that – Amex is usually quite good at posting the welcome bonus within a couple of days of hitting the spend requirement.
Images via Austrian Airlines & Air Canada