One of my favorite things about Air Canada Aeroplan is the emphasis that the program has on partnering with as many airlines as possible, in order to allow lots of redemption opportunities. Along those lines, Aeroplan has just added its latest airline partner, and it’s one that I’m excited about.
Ever since Russian airspace was closed to airlines based in the European Union, the airline has also increasingly wet leased its planes to other airlines, given that the airline previously had extensive service to Russia, and had to update its business model.
Why I think this new airline partnership is valuable
airBaltic doesn’t belong to any of the major global alliances, though Lufthansa Group did recently purchase a minority stake in the carrier. Prior to Aeroplan adding airBaltic as a partner, there were already a limited number of opportunities to redeem on the carrier, like through Air France-KLM Flying Blue.
So why do I value the new Aeroplan redemption option? For one, I think there’s just generally value to being able to redeem on airBaltic, given the carrier’s very strong network in Northern Europe, particularly in city pairs where service is otherwise limited.
Furthermore, Aeroplan’s pricing is sometimes more attractive than Flying Blue’s pricing. In some cases it’s the same, like 15,000 points for business class between Tallinn and Riga. However, other times there’s a pricing advantage, like between Vilnius and Dubai, where Aeroplan charges 45,000 points, while Flying Blue charges 53,500 points.
But I’d say the single biggest positive of Aeroplan is the ability to combine partners on an award. So this makes it easy to combine airBaltic awards with one of Aeroplan’s Star Alliance or non-Star Alliance partners, which really expands options. That’s something that can’t as easily be done with Flying Blue, where pricing is often closer to being additive.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
