Air Canada Aeroplan - the worst reward program in the business

That's right you heard me. Aeroplan is the WORST. And I know what you are thinking, especially you canadians who are fiercely proud of anything canadian, who the hell is he to make this claim? Well having lived on 4 continents and travelled monthly for the past 9 years internationally, I am more than qualified.

I have been a member of Qantas rewards programs, Singapore Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways - and the best United's Mileage Plus.

I should start by clarifying that I also passionately hate Air Canada. Everything from their service, planes and prices and I almost never fly them except when I am flying domestically in Canada, which is rarely. I fly United mostly in North America, for 2 reasons - 1. Economy Plus. 2. Mileage Plus. Having star alliance gold, and being Premier Executive with United has perks - many. They really know how to take care of their most regular customers. For one the extra leg room in economy plus is amazing...it makes all the difference. Secondly the tier bonus miles I collect mean I double all my miles, but the MOST IMPORTANT THING - is what happens when you actually want to use those miles. And this is where Aeroplan fuck you royally in the ass.

Just try and redeem a flight with these guys. I regulary redeem north american flights for my wife when she comes for a trip with me. With United it's almost never a problem and I never use more than 25000. I just attempted to redeem a flight with Aeroplan 3 months ahead of travel and i can't find a flight to LA for less than 55,000 miles!!!!

I am forced to maintain an Aeroplan account because no Canadian Credit card gives you Mileage Plus points, and I can't get a US Mileage Plus account (not being a resident and not having a US SIN number). So I get mileage plus miles purely from my CIBC Visa card (incidentally this is the best credit card in Canada bar none). So every year I get around 60000 miles on that card.

Last time I redeemed them it was for a family trip to Hawaii - I cannot tell you how much of a nightmare it was. First of all, because of my infant daughter we had to have paper tickets issued...what a fuckup that ended up being. When I rescheduled, we had to actually travel to the airport and have Air Canada reissue the tickets - can you believe the bitch at the airport complained to me because it took her 30mins to do the paperwork, and told me it was Aeroplans fault and how bad they were - and she was an Air Canada employee...

by the way, Air Canada have nothing to do with Aeroplan, they are completely independant entities, most of the time, Aeroplan will book you on United flights if you are redeeming miles into US flights, (this from the Air Canada employee, because their flights are cheaper!)

when I redeem flights with united, not only are they more likely to be available, but they are ALWAYS cheaper...ALWAYS.

So what else do i get from United's program? I get red carpet club membership, free drinks food and upgrades...in addition, i get access to a special phone number which gets answered quickly no matter when i call. now dont get me wrong, United's planes aren't any better and their people are ok...but the mileage program the  extra legroom and the perks mean I will avoid Air Canada at all cost.

And as a bonus i dont have to listen to those annoying announcements we are forced to suffer in french, that bugs the shit out of me....