With the changes to the plan you can sign in to Air Canada, and then select the method to pay by Aeroplan reward. By then you’ll have entered your account #. Then you find your preferred flight/routing, and you will see the various options that are available … by class … and what your points will buy you. It’s all on one page for each flight. Take lots of notes for now. Include flight number and airline and time in transit. You can get an idea of what airline might work better. Once you select the class and go on to seating preferences, you will be given the option of using all points, or various combinations of cash and points. This will be for just 1 passenger, so remember to double it. Some business class are not offered short haul, so buy that for the longest flight segment. Trouble with that in real time MAY be baggage allowances for smaller connecting flights. Check out the airlines in the Star Alliance partners. Be careful though if you stop or layover in let’s say Portugal - TAP airlines are often least expensive but have fewer options, and covid status is still iffy (but of course that can improve). Another lovely option was Singapore Airlines when they had a stop in Munich. Not sure if that’s still available. Swiss Air never applied a fuel surcharge when it was introduced in the 80’s so that was a massive saving for a long time, even when using points. Mind you that’s likely going to change. You’ll see the differences when you check out the routings. It’s all about your preferences and ideals about value for money. If you decide to book now, be prepared to look at options if there are changes to the flight schedules. That’s usually September. Sometimes it’s a 20 minute difference, sometimes more.
