Want to learn more about how you can maximize your points and earning strategy within Canada, Click to book a 1-1 Points consulting here!

Using Instacart with an Amex Cobalt

A nice not usually known hack is to use Instacart with your Amex Cobalt to still earn 5x points but the sweet spot here is using Costco.ca to earn 5x points whilst paying close to Costco prices (Note: there is still some upcharge between prices but I’d consider this offset by free delivery and the time I would have spent browsing every aisle)

With an already $5 credit on Instacart when you use your credit card directly - Do not use Apple Pay as this is not covered by the promo - you can easily offset any service charges that you may need to pay and still earn 5x points on Instacart.

An example would be:

• The average Canadian family spends between $250-$500 per month on Costco.

• At a 5x multiple, this would be between 1,250 to 2,500 points on your Amex Cobalt when Costco.ca and Costco do not accept American Express.

• Over 12 months, that would equate up to 30,000 points, enough for a round trip between Vancouver and Honolulu.

Earn Points on Uber Eats orders

A unknown but simple hack with Uber Eats is, instead of having to meet the minimum spend of $40 to earn points, a buy 1 get 1 free promo that helps you hit that $40 pre discount also counts.

• If a restaurant is offering two bowls of pasta for $22.99 each, that would come out to $44.98 pre-promotions since the second bowl is free.

• Doing a pickup order would give you a pre-order total of $44.98 but after fee’s and taxes, this would generally be between $24 - $28.

• You’d earn 44 points even though this order is less than the $40 minimum as Aeroplan and Uber recognize the order total amount and not the final amount paid.

• I do not condone wasting food or ordering just for the sake of points so only do this if you’re comfortable finding something.

Aeroplan Deals of the Week

TAP Portugal on their A321 Neo with Full recliner seats for 60,000 points on March 21, 2026. Average cash value of $3,000 CAD.

EVA Air from Vancouver to Tokyo (NRT) in their 777 and 787-10 in Business on August 20th, 2026 for 75,000 Points. Comparable cash fares going for around $5,000.

You always hear about folks mentioning, “never redeem for less than 2cpp” or that “redeeming for economy flights isn’t worth it” but what many don’t realize is that there’s always a good redemption to be found if:

• You’re travel dates are somewhat flexible (This does not mean fly out in the next week)

• You’re open to any destination given a theme.

What is CPP?

CPP, or Cost Per Point, is a metric used to determine when redeeming points for a flight is worthwhile compared to purchasing a ticket with cash.

The formula to help us calculate CPP is:

The general rule of thumb is that anything over 2 CPP represents a better deal than paying a cash fare. Conversely, anything below that threshold may indicate that cash is a more valuable option. If you need to travel from Point A to Point B on short notice and only have points available, you may prioritize just getting to your destination rather than worrying about CPP.

When comparing ticket prices, it’s crucial to ensure you are doing a like-for-like comparison. Simply finding the cheapest flight on Google Flights defeats the purpose of understanding CPP, especially when booking through a specific airline and their partners or using points with any carriers that are part of the same alliance.

Examples of some great CPP finds

Here’s an example of how we can find deals above the elusive 2 CPP in Economy!!

Toronto (YYZ) - Austin, Texas (AUS)

In cash, we’d be looking to pay around $1042.76 for an Economy Standard Flight.

Now this same flight in Aeroplan points, would work out to just 28,800 giving us a CPP of 2.92.

Route: Toronto (YYZ) to Seoul (ICN)

Cash price for Air Canada’s Business Class Lie Flat product: approximately $6,560.13

Aeroplan points required for a round-trip: 154,700

Giving us an effective CPP of 4.11

This highlights how having flexible dates can lead to significantly higher CPP values!

Want to learn more about how you can maximize your points and earning strategy within Canada, Click to book a 1-1 Points consulting here!

I personally prefer the Asiana J meals and catering and wouldn’t mind a quick one-night getaway to New York to explore the city before heading over.

Deals of the Week

EVA Business Class from Chicago to Narita: Departing August 21st, 2026. Average cash fares are approximately $5,400, providing an effective CPP of 6.05.

ANA Business Class from San Francisco to Ho Chi Minh: Departing August 9th, 2026. Average cash fares are about $4,400, resulting in an effective CPP of 4.85.

If there’s a specific topic you’d like to see covered or if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or send a message. I’m here to help you understand more about award travel and points.

For those planning to travel and needing assistance, I can help with:

1. Finding the best award availability and providing one-on-one support with bookings. (We’ll work together, and I’ll guide you through all aspects.)

2. Navigating Canadian credit cards to maximize your current spending and earnings.

3. Discovering hacks and legal loopholes that can reduce ticket costs by 20-70%.

I’ll be offering 1-1 Points consulting here for anyone that wishes to learn more! Each session will provide detailed feedback and access to any future guides created by a Budget Points Guy.

I had a trip booked out 3 months in advance and booked it using Aeroplan Points from Vancouver to London, England (Yes, I have to specify as we have a London, Ontario in Canada 😂) with a return leg booked with United to the US and Air Canada Back to Vancouver.

What was supposed to be just a quick weekend getaway, turned into me being paranoid about being stuck in England, worried about work and figuring out how I could theoretically get myself home on any option possible.

Gameplan:

The day finally came and AC hadn’t yet cancelled my US leg from Denver back to Vancouver and I was stuck at dinner the day before wondering if I should end up staying in England or would I be stuck in Denver. 6 Hours before Departure, yes 6 HOURS, my flight from Denver to Vancouver was cancelled which threw all my plans into motion on figuring out how to get home. I was booked on United to Denver which was confirmed and still good to fly on time but the only other flight that I could legally make during MCT (Minimum Connection Time) was sold out.

Minimum Connection Time varies by airline and by Airport as well so keep an eye out when you have a tight connection or need to go through customs.

Flights were starting to sell out and the only options I had left would have been either a longer rerouting to Los Angeles and waiting 20 hours in LAX or stay in London for 3 days until flights ideally restarted. The tube ride to the airport was just me calling in and asking for a callback which I managed to get within 20 minutes and frantically finding options on how to get home.

Tools I used:

So, as someone who’s been moved from a flight before to an airline that wasn’t Air Canada, I knew that there were codeshares that I could possibly make. Here’s a broad list of all airlines Air Canada could rebook me with:

AA AC AD AF AH AI AM AR AS AT AV AZ A3 BA BE BG BM BR BT BW CA CI CM CX CZ DL EI EK EN ET EW EY FI FJ FM FZ GA GF GK GQ G3 HA HO HP HR HX H2 IB JJ JL JO JQ JV KA KC KE KK KL KM KQ KU KX LA LG LH LI LO LP LR LX ME MH MK MO MS MU NH NZ OA OK OO OS OU OZ PB PG PK PR PS PZ P6 QF QH QK QR RJ SA SB SC SK SN SQ SU SV TA TG TK TN TP TR TU T0 UA UK UL VA VB VL VN VS WB WF WK WY W2 XL XQ YN ZH 2A 2K 2R 3K 3M 3S 4C 4M 4O 4U 4Y 5T 7C 7F 9B 9M 9W

(Don’t worry, I’m not going to explain each one but the key ones to know here for the rest of this post is BA - British Airways.)

Even though BA isn’t part of Star Alliance, Air Canada has a interline agreement to sell tickets on BA when on a Air Canada Ticket. You’ll sometimes see this when booking a flight to regional UK from Canada where there may be a BA segment.

With the knowledge that I could rebook on BA, I went to ITA Matrix. Most folks generally are used to using Expedia or Google Flights but ITA Matrix was the original logic that helped build Google Flights and one of the best features it offers, is the ability to find segments and flights on all airlines in a single search and pick as many stops.

Using ITA Matrix, I was able to find:

• British Airways - London to Phoenix, AZ

• Air Canada Express - Phoenix to Vancouver

(AC Express was not affected by the Strike but my connection in Phoenix was only 1hr40mins so any delays and any long wait at Customs and I’d be stuck in Phoenix where it was 41 Degrees C)

Convincing the Air Canada Agent

Now, most folks would rebook using the online tool but to my surprise, it said there were no flights available for the next 3 days and I’d have to speak to either someone at the Call Center or at the Airport. Seeing the Air Canada line at Heathrow told me I wouldn’t be talking to anyone for at least 2 hours. I first assumed that United could reroute me home, but they said “nope, not my problem” and asked me to contact Air Canada.

United was sneaky, and actually removed my Denver to Vancouver segment after Air Canada cancelled the flight. If I was to fly home, I’d be stuck in Denver and pay cash to fly back home.

Calling the agent, I explained the scenario and told him “I see this available flight on British Airways. Can you rebook on this?” Even though this economy leg was around $5,500 CAD on the day of booking, Air Canada had a responsibility to get me home and as much as I would have loved to stay in England and claim a decent chunk from UK261, I just wanted to get home.

With a few trips running around desk to desk, I managed to get United to let me go back to Air Canada and book the above journey on British Airways back home. Running around from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 only to be told it was the wrong terminal and going back to Terminal 3 was a fun day for me and I definitely got my steps in but I was just happy I could go back home.

So why are you telling me this a week after the strike?

Well, the Flight Attendant’s have yet to ratify the agreement presented by Air Canada and if anything was to fall out or if they said no, we’d be back in this scenario.

Instead of letting the Airline offer you something if you were to have a flight get cancelled, these tips and tricks above can help you better understand your rights and options to tell an Air Canada agent that these flights exist and you can rebook on this if need be. You can’t be upgraded from your original class sadly so no free upgrades if Air Canada cancels your economy flight when using a interline partner.

Earning Aeroplan Points:

Gone are the days where we earn Aeroplan points based on Distance Flown and Fare Class for Air Canada. This is now being replaced by a new revenue based points earning model.

• Fare Class and Distance Flown will no longer be the model used to calculate how many points you'll earn.

• Points will be earned based on $$ spent. (Base Fare + Surcharges (YQ))

  • Non AC Elite Status members: 1 Point per Dollar

  • Elite Status Members: Between 2 to 6 points per Dollar by tier

• Flight extras currently don't earn anything extra but subject to change

• Star Alliance Partner Airlines:

  • You'll earn the new Points Per Dollar (PPD) rate for the below partners

    • flights operated by Air Canada, as well as flights ticketed by Air Canada (ticket number starting with 014) and operated by Copa Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS and United Airlines

  • All other partner airlines will earn as per the existing model posted on the Partner website here.

    • Example - A flight on EVA from YVR to TPE will still earn 5,971 points if booked in Economy Y,B.

Updates to the Points earning rate examples:

• Here's a few examples of how the changes to Elite status will affect how you earn points going forward: (Assuming you also take the bonus Aeroplan Points Benefit)

• Lucky you!

  • You get first hand use of my new calculator that I’ve built to help go over these changes and see how much points or how less you’ll get to earn

Link here. Make a copy of the spreadsheet and feel free to edit the cells in Yellow. Use IATA name codes to help find the distance and points earned.

What's the biggest takeaway from all this:

• Going forward starting in 2026, Aeroplan Points will no longer be offered based on the distance flow for Air Canada based flights but based on the Amount spent on the ticket and earn select multipliers based on the status you own at the time.

  • Flying long haul in Business with Elite Status will net you more points than the current model but also requires that added amount of spend to attain those tiers.

  • Short haul with higher priced tickets will tend to favour more points than the current model.

    • For those who look for deals or lower priced flights than normal, expect to earn less points due to the lower cost attributing to less points earned.

  • Long Haul Business redemptions will net you more points based on the cost of the ticket and the status you own. For long haul fliers with no status, expect to earn less in the new program.

How about earning via a Credit Card?:

• As it stands, no changes have been made to the earn rates offered by banks for Aeroplan Credit cards for points.

• NOTE: There are changes to how you earn the 1,000 SQM and 1 SQS benefit per spend.

  • This will not be replaced with 1,000 SQC per $5,000 spent on Premium Cards such as

    • Amex Reserve, TD Aeroplan VIP, CIBC Aeroplan VIP

  • Earn 1,000 SQC per $20,000 on Core Cards such as:

    • TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite, Amex Aeroplan Card, CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite and the US Chase Aeroplan Card.

  • There is a cap of 25,000 SQC that can be earned via Credit Card Spend

• Note for US Card Holders - These changes will also be affecting the Chase Aeroplan Card.

Other Details

• You can still earn 25K Status by EDQ of 100K eligible points.

• No current change to eUpgrade priority list but the number of eUpgrades earned will be less for those 50K and below and SE will earn more eUpgrades through SQC.

• SQC can also be earned via partners such as LCBO or Uber Eats albeit at a 5 to 1 ration

  • A $100 Uber Eats order would still net you 100 Aeroplan points but you'll also earn 20 SQC to help towards status.

All details can be found here on the new program: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/aeroplan/elite.html#/

I’ll be offering 1-1 Points consulting here for anyone that wishes to learn more! Each session will provide detailed feedback and access to any future guides created by a Budget Points Guy.

I’m not a rich lottery winner or someone who has an infinite money making machine to be drowning in points but what I am is someone who’s just like everyone here, a simple middle class individual who finds ways to maximize what he can get and help plan everything from A - AZ (Excel kids will know what I mean)

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That doesn’t mean I skip out on the simple pleasures of travel:

• Flying economy transatlantic just to see friends and family on a whim

• Doing mileage runs across Canada in 48 hours on 8 flights just to earn a higher status

• Helping others and being the go to “What Credit Card do I get now?” guy.

What’s next?

With all that I’ve learnt and advised over the years, I’m going to be publishing weekly points based travel tips, guides on how to maximize every point you have and how to use the tools that we pro travel hackers use that help us get the most of everything we see.

Things may get a bit technical, but the goal isn’t to scare you but to help you better understand what to look out for and how YOU can get the best bang for your buck.

I’ll be focusing to start on Air Canada, Aeroplan and expanding further into other airlines and travel programs based on your feedback.

For those that have travel in mind and need help with:

1. Finding best award availability and 1-1 help with bookings. (We’ll be on call together and I’ll walk you through all aspects)

2. Understand Canada Credit Cards and the best way to maximize you’re current spend and earnings

3. Help finding hacks/legal loopholes that help tickets drop anywhere from 20-70% in cost

I’ll be offering 1-1 Points consulting here for anyone that wishes to learn more! Each session will provide detailed feedback and access to any future guides created by a Budget Points Guy.

Looking forward to your comments and helping the community learn more about the mysterious world of points travel.

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