Here's our next Aeroplan availability alert! There is a bunch of business class availability showing in March 2022 for flights to Istanbul. It appears most of TK's flights on Sunday, Wednesday, and Fridays out of Montreal have up to four business class seats open. Toronto is showing most days with four seats while Vancouver is hit and miss with only a few days showing up to four seats. Aeroplan charges 70,000 points each way for these 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 Istanbul on March 16:
Grand total is 280,000 points + taxes/fees each way (70,000 points per person each way). This 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 Turkey this could be an excellent option. Turkish's flights out of Montreal are operated with their Airbus A330-300 aircraft which features 28 business class seats that may not be as new or fancy as their 787's and A350's nor what other airlines may offer but it is overall a decent business class product.
Toronto to Istanbul has four seats on March 15:
And return on March 21:
The Toronto flights are flown with Boeing 777 aircraft which have 2-3-2 business class layout - so beware of the middle seat! On March 15th there are lots seats open so you could avoid the middle seat:
Here's Vancouver to Istanbul on March 17:
And this is on their 787-9 aircraft which has their latest business class cabin!
However I couldn't find any availability in business class on the return for four people for the next two weeks after that. There is definitely better availability to/from Montreal and Toronto than there is to/from Vancouver.
If you are a solo traveler here's the same flights between Montreal and Istanbul from March 16 to 25
Here's the cash price for the same flight for comparison
If you are someone who likes to calculate value the YUL-IST business class redemption works out to 2.72 cents per points. That's a bit on the lower side for business class but still a great value. I mean that puts the 90,000 miles you can earn on the American Express® Aeroplan®* Reserve Card at over $2,400! That's big.
The same flights out of Montreal using Turkish Airlines
Miles&Smiles miles run only 90,000 miles but they add on carrier
surcharges so you are looking at paying $469.95 over and above the
miles. The only way to really get Turkish Miles&Smiles miles here in
Canada is via the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card and it would require 225,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for this redemption. That would give you a 1.54 cents per point value which is good considering we value Marriott points at 1 cent a piece.
The good news for an Aeroplan reward tickets (if you book in the next 2 days that is) is that the cancellation policy is quite
consumer friendly so you could book this and cancel should things not
open up or work out for you. Bookings made up to September 30, 2021 can be
changed or canceled free of charge - hopefully that date will be
extended further as we have seen them do over the past year. If for some
reason they do not extend it, Aeroplan still allows you to cancel up to
2 hours prior to departure time but you will be subject to fees of up
to $175 per ticket. They are however providing unlimited free changes to award tickets as long as you book by October 31 and make your changes by October 31 and you will have to pay (or get a refund) for any difference in points and/or taxes and fees. You will still get one free change if you book by October 31 but make that change on or after November 1.
One of the easiest ways to earn enough Aeroplan Miles for redemptions like those listed above is to grab co-branded Aeroplan credit cards or cards that let you convert to Aeroplan. In fact you could grab several cards and have enough points for a one way business class flights as mentioned above.Y ou can view all the Aeroplan co-brand card offers here and for cards that convert to Aeroplan (which is basically American Express) check those offers out here.
Another option is to buy miles with Aeroplan's current buy miles bonus promotion. This is essentially a good way to get yourself a discount on the flights. For example you can buy enough miles for these round trip business class flights for $2,550. Add in the taxes and fees on the award flight and you're just shy of paying $2,700 for a flight that costs $3954. That's not a bad deal.
Wrapping it up
These are some really good redemption options for 1,2, 3 or 4 travellers looking to visit Turkey or even to connect via Istanbul to other destinations served by Turkish Airlines (Amman, Jordan shows availability for 4!). I only looked at direct flight redemption options and only during the month of March so it is entirely possible and most likely that you'd be able to find this sort of business class availability in January, February and April. I would guess May and beyond may get a little tougher. Be sure to let us know in the comments below if this is a redemption your considering! Also let us know if you find other dates and destinations that have this kind of availability!
Images via Turkish Airlines & Air Canada
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