How Much I Spent on Flights in 2025 (Thank You Points and Miles!)

In 2025 I booked 11 flights using points and miles. The main loyalty program I redeemed points from, with 10 out of the 11 flights, was Aeroplan. The other program I used was TD Rewards. I wish I could put a “poll” feature here to see what your guesses are for how much I saved and spent in both points and cash for flights this year. I put the question to my inner circle and their guesses for what I spent ranged from $300 to $2,500.

A few quick notes about this post and my process. It’s my first time writing this so I’m sure I’ll adjust things next year. Any time I book a flight, I screenshot the cash price on Google Flights so I have an idea of the money I saved by using points. There are 2 flights where I forgot to do that or simply can’t find the screenshots. All dollar amounts in this post are in Canadian dollars.

How Much I Spent on Flights in 2025: Cash & Points Amounts

Flights Booked with Aeroplan

This year, I spent a total of $793.17 on 11 Economy flights booked with rewards. That’s approximately $72 per flight. Of those flights, 2 of them were within North America, 4 were for Central America, and 6 were for the UK and Europe. I also used a total of 210,900 Aeroplan points and 35,600 TD Rewards points. That’s an average of 21,090 Aeroplan points per flight.

The least amount of cash I spent on a flight booked with Aeroplan points was $22 going from Dublin to Toronto with Air Canada. The most amount of cash I spent on a flight booked with Aeroplan points was $261.40 going from London (Heathrow) to Toronto with Air Canada.

The most amount of Aeroplan points I redeemed for 1 flight was 34,800 going from Toronto to Dublin in October. The least amount of Aeroplan points I redeemed for 1 flight was 6,000 (x2) going from Guatemala City to Flores (and back).

Flights Booked with TD Rewards

TD Rewards is not a program I strategize earning points for, nor is it a program I can remember using to redeem points in the past. I didn’t want to use my Aeroplan points on this particular flight, nor did I want to pay the full cash price, even though the price wasn’t bad. After years of barely earning rewards on the card (due to lack of use), I had enough banked for this flight, with some leftover. If you’re in the points space, you know it’s better to use rewards than to have them gather dust and devalue.

The flight I redeemed TD Rewards for was going from Dublin to London with Aer Lingus. I used 35,600 TD Rewards (equivalent to $177) and paid $5.12. TD Rewards have a fixed value redemption at 0.5 CPP.

Flights Booked with Cash Only

A few changes in my flight purchasing habits occurred in 2025: I used TD Rewards for one flight and I paid the full cash price for 2 others. I can’t remember the last time I paid for a cash flight in the last decade that wasn’t RyanAir or another budget carrier.

One of the flights I purchased with only cash this year was with RyanAir from Dublin to Rome for $105.99 (€64.09). The other cash only flight was with TAP Portugal, going from Toronto to Dublin via Lisbon for $328.83. I chose to pay for this transatlantic flight because I didn’t want to use my Aeroplan points and the price was decent. Yes, there was a short layover in Lisbon, but I’ve never minded layovers. I also earned transferrable points on this flight since I purchased it with an AMEX. Win, win!

The total price I paid for cash only flights this year was $434.82, for an average of $217.41.

Cash Saved on Flights I Took in 2025*

Though some people in the points and miles landscape aren’t fond of saying someone has saved money on a flight booked with points, I’m running with that phrasing here. Typically that sentiment leans more towards those booking Business and First Class flights who could not / would never afford the cash price to begin. However, since I flew all Economy class except for the flight with Croatia Airlines (Business was the best option routing and price wise), I’m going to to phrase this section as such.

For 2 of the flights below I could not find the original cash price, which I typically screenshot on the day I book my flight. Because of this error on my part, I’ll provide the cash savings on 8 of the 10 Aeroplan flights I took in 2025 and then a second figure for all 10 flights which will be more of an estimate based on average prices around that time of year.

In 2025, on 8 of the 10 flights I booked in 2025 using Aeroplan, I saved $5,775.27. My rough estimate for the total saved for all 10 Aeroplan flights would be approximately $7,000*. On the single TD Rewards flight that I booked, I saved $177.99. In total for 2025, I saved approximately $7,200 on the 11 Economy flights booked with points and miles.

Booking Routes & Timelines

As you’ll see below, some of the flights I booked were roundtrip and others were 1-way. Most of them were last minute, with the closest booking time being 2 days away and another being 4 days away.

What are Points and Miles and How You Can Get Started

If you’re coming across this blog post and have no idea what it means when I’m talking about “points and miles”, “CPM / CPP”, “Aeroplan”, “TD Rewards”, etc… I can help! I offer Points & Miles Consulting to teach Canadians how to book super affordable flights.

Flight Price Breakdowns

Roundtrip: Toronto (Canada) to Guatemala City (Guatemala)

The first flights of 2025 were for a trip to Guatemala! I was pleasantly surprised at how little points it required. I tend to fly east to Europe instead of south to Central and South America, so I was less familiar with points redemptions in the region. After booking this trip, I definitely want to extend the reach of my points by travelling more in that direction!

As I tend to do, I booked my flights relatively last minute – at the end of January – for a trip in mid-March. The CPM (Cents Per Mile – also known as CPP – Cents Per Point) was fantastic, at 2.71.

Purchase Date: January
Flights Dates: March & April
Airlines: Avianca

Points Used: 25,000 Aeroplan Points
Cash Paid: $166.53

Original Cash Price: $843 (Base = $676.47; Taxes = $166.53)
CPM: ($676.47/ 25,000) x 100 = 2.71

Roundtrip: Guatemala City (Guatemala) to Flores (Guatemala)

It’s not often that I take a flight within a country – I prefer bus and train – however we were checking out Flores and Tikal for a very quick weekend trip. Again, it was only 6,000 points each way for this roundtrip booking and the CPM was pretty decent considering the ticket price wasn’t that high to begin with.

Purchase Date: February
Flights Dates: March
Airlines: Avianca

Points Used: 12,000 Aeroplan Points
Cash Paid: $46.40

Original Cash Price: $280 (Base = $233.60; Taxes = $46.40)
CPM: ($233.60 / 12,000) x 100 = 1.95

Roundtrip: Waterloo (Canada) to Sault Ste. Marie (Canada)

I have long said that everyone should collect points and miles – everyone. Why? Well, the likelihood that you’ll be on a plane for any which reason these days – even if it’s not your honeymoon or dream trip or annual sun getaway – is quite high. Many people have family or friends in different destinations. Unfortunately sometimes that means booking extremely expensive last-minute trip for hospital visits or funerals. Maybe you’re not a big traveller, but it’s more than likely that you know someone who lives a plane ride away.

In April, on the day I flew home from Guatemala, my Baba (grandma) passed away. Only 3 or 4 days later I returned to the airport to go to her funeral. If I had bought the tickets flat out, all cash, for a flight within the same province, they would have cost me a whopping $2,109. Obviously I would never miss my grandmother’s funeral. At the same time, I was relieved to have a stash of points to alleviate the cost. On the downside, I needed to redeem a lot more points than usual for this flight path. On the plus side, I only had to pay $97 cash for the roundtrip airfare.

Purchase Date: April (4 days beforehand)
Flights Dates: April
Airlines: Air Canada

Points Used: 51,900 Aeroplan Points
Cash Paid: $97.09

Original Cash Price: $2,109 (Base = $1,780; Taxes = $328.49)
CPM: ($1,780 / 51,900) x 100 = 3.43

1-Way: Rome (Italy) to Split (Croatia) to Dublin (Ireland)

Another reason points come in really handy is for wonky travel plans. In September I returned to Ireland for a travel industry conference and some work. I saw a couple of friends, though not the one I have always caught up with. After the conference I was dashing off to Italy to surprise my mom and originally going to fly back to Toronto from there. Buuuut, since I use points and miles, I thought why the heck not return to Dublin for a day to see my friend. Oddly, the only flight available was one with an overnight layover in Croatia. As I’ve already said here though, I don’t mind a layover – and I hadn’t been to Croatia since 2017 so this sounded kind-of fun! It ended up being a really unexpectedly lovely evening, followed by a 4-hour nap before I hopped on the early morning flight to Dublin. A worthwhile whirlwind thanks to points and miles.

Purchase Date: September
Flight Date: September
Airline: Croatia Airlines

Points Used: 25,000 Aeroplan Points
Cash Paid: $118.40

Original Cash Price: $574 (Base = $455.60; Taxes = $118.40) 
CPM: ($455.60 x 100) / 25,000 = 1.82

1-Way: Dublin (Ireland) to Toronto (Canada)

This flight blew my socks right out of the water. I have been to Ireland more than a dozen times and have never seen taxes this low! Typically the taxes and fees between Toronto and Dublin are approximately $70. I jumped on this flight so quickly!!! That’s definitely a record price (for me, anyhow) for a transatlantic flight from Canada.

Purchase Date: August
Flight Date: September
Airlines: Air Canada

Points Used: 33,000 Aeroplan Points
Cash Paid: $22

Original Cash Price: Info Missing
CPM: Info Missing

1-Way: Toronto (Canada) to Dublin (Ireland)

You may notice a trend of last minute flight bookings here – and yet the prices are still fantastic. I do have to say, the points for this flight were gifted* from my mom; a very kind gesture. As you’ll see below, the taxes and fees were roughly $70 which is more in line with what I typically pay for this route.

Purchase Date: October
Flight Date: October
Airlines: Air Canada

Points Used: 34,800 Aeroplan Points*
Cash Paid: $76.23

1-Way: Dublin (Ireland) to London (England)

I have been slowly (like tortoise pace) earning points on this TD Rewards card for years. I’ve never used the points from it before and I didn’t want to use my Aeroplan points, so this was an excellent way to get a nearly free flight. To be fair, the cash price wasn’t high and you could argue I might as well pay the full ticket price, however this was a relatively last-minute trip for the World Travel Market conference and therefore not considered in the budget for the month. All-in-all, I’m happy with this because these points would have just sat there anyway and I didn’t have to use my preferred Aeroplan points.

Purchase Date: October
Flight Date: November
Airlines: Aer Lingus

Points Used: 35,600 TD Rewards *This showed up as $177.99 on my card
Cash Paid: $5.12

Original Cash Price: $177.99 (Base = $160.03; Taxes = $17.96) *For some reason this showed up as $183.11 on my card
CPP: In the Travel category, TD Rewards have a fixed value of 0.5

1-Way: London (England) to Toronto (Canada)

Typically I actively avoid London’s Heathrow Airport for its notoriously high taxes and fees. However sometimes you just want to get home / to your destination as simply and quickly as possible. I had decided I didn’t want to spend more time sightseeing in London on this trip and was ready to return home early. As you’ll see from this blog post, $261 is much higher than I usually pay for a transatlantic flight. I knew that that would be the case for London and booked it anyway.

Considering the time of year and purchase vs flight date, I anticipated a high CPM. I think this is my highest value one yet at 9! (For people who travel in Business and First Class, a high CPM is more common. I almost exclusively travel in Economy so this was a big change from what I usually see.)

Purchase Date: November (*2 days beforehand)
Flight Date: November
Airline: Air Canada

Points Used: 29,200 Aeroplan Points
Cash Paid: $261.40

Original Cash Price: $2,891 (Base = $2,629.60.; Taxes = $261.40) 
CPM: ($2,629.60 x 100) / 29,200 = 9!

How Much Did You Spend on Flights in 2025?

I’m curious to know what flights you took in 2025 and how much you saved because of points and miles. Let me know in the comments below!