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Air Canada’s Aeroplan program flies beneath the radar, nevertheless it is likely one of the Most worthy and rewarding Star Alliance airline applications.
The Aeroplan program is the loyalty program provided by Canada’s largest airline, Air Canada. It permits vacationers to earn and redeem factors for varied travel-related rewards.
Aeroplan nonetheless makes use of printed award charts for associate flights — a rarity in a loyalty world more and more pushed by dynamic pricing.
Even should you by no means plan to go to Canada, this program is value figuring out about as a result of it’s straightforward to earn and redeem Aeroplan factors, particularly on associate airways like United Airways.
Right here is every thing it’s essential to learn about Air Canada Aeroplan.
Associated: Why Air Canada Aeroplan has develop into my favourite Star Alliance loyalty program
Air Canada Aeroplan companions
Air Canada is a Star Alliance member, so you possibly can earn and redeem Aeroplan factors with any taking part service. Greater than two dozen airways worldwide are full members, supplying you with huge geographical protection.
Among the largest Star Alliance hubs embody Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD), Frankfurt Airport (FRA), Istanbul Airport (IST) and Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND).
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The following airways are a part of Star Alliance:
- Aegean Airways
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways
- Asiana Airways
- Austrian Airways
- Avianca
- Brussels Airways
- Copa Airways
- Croatia Airways
- Egyptair
- Ethiopian Airways
- EVA Airways
- LOT Polish Airways
- Lufthansa
- Shenzhen Airways
- Singapore Airways
- South African Airways
- Swiss
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airways
- United Airways
Nevertheless, Aeroplan additionally has relationships with many carriers outdoors of Star Alliance. Actually, Air Canada has leaned closely into these partnerships lately, even winning a TPG Award for this investment in 2021.
The following airlines are nonalliance Aeroplan partners — though some benefits only apply when booking a flight with an Air Canada flight number:
- Aer Lingus (codeshare only)
- Air Creebec
- Air Dolomiti
- Air Mauritius
- Air Serbia
- Azul Brazilian Airlines
- Bamboo Airways
- Calm Air
- Canadian North
- Cathay Pacific
- Central Mountain Air (codeshare only)
- Discover Airlines
- Edelweiss Air (codeshare only)
- Emirates
- Etihad Airways
- Eurowings
- Flydubai
- Gol Airlines
- Gulf Air
- Juneyao Air (Star Alliance connecting partner)
- Lufthansa City Airlines
- Middle East Airlines (codeshare only)
- Olympic Airlines
- Oman Air
- PAL Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines (codeshare only)
- SunExpress
- Virgin Australia
Be sure to review the information on Air Canada’s airline partner page to know the total scope of every service’s partnership.
Air Canada Aeroplan elite standing
Air Canada Aeroplan rewards frequent Air Canada and Star Alliance flyers with useful perks like seat upgrades, free checked bags and other benefits across five different status tiers.
To qualify, you’ll need to earn a set number of status-qualifying miles or status-qualifying segments in addition to accruing a minimum amount of status-qualifying dollars. Status Qualifying Miles (SQMs) are calculated based on your flight distance, Status Qualifying Segments (SQSs) are based on how many flights you credit to Aeroplan and Status Qualifying Dollars (SQDs) are based on how much you spend on tickets. Note that SQDs are based on Canadian dollars.
Here’s a look at the requirements for each status tier:
- Aeroplan 25K: 25,000 SQMs or 25 SQSs, plus 3,000 SQDs
- Aeroplan 35K: 35,000 SQMs or 35 SQSs, plus 4,000 SQDs
- Aeroplan 50K: 50,000 SQMs or 50 SQSs, plus 6,000 SQDs
- Aeroplan 75K: 75,000 SQMs or 75 SQSs, plus 9,000 SQDs
- Aeroplan Super Elite: 100,000 SQMs or 100 SQSs, plus 20,000 SQDs
The higher your status, the more benefits you can enjoy when flying with Air Canada and its partner airlines. Benefits include:
- Aeroplan 25K: Complimentary preferred seats at check-in for all destinations with the purchase of a Standard of Flex fare, priority airport standby, two checked bags, priority boarding, two one-time Maple Leaf guest lounge passes, 5 additional eUpgrade credits, Avis Preferred Plus status, Star Alliance Silver status, 3 bonus points per Canadian dollar spent on hotel stays and car rental booking as well as 2 bonus points per Canadian dollar spent at the Aeroplan eStore and more
- Aeroplan 35K: All benefits of 25K plus three checked bags total, priority security and baggage handling, 15 eUpgrade credits and more
- Aeroplan 50K: All benefits of 35K plus complimentary seat selection, preferred seats at the time of booking with a Standard of Flex fare for travel within Canada or between Canada and the United States, Maple Leaf lounge access, an additional one-time Maple Leaf guest lounge pass, Star Alliance Gold status including lounge access, Air Canada Cafe access, 20 eUpgrade credits, 5,000 SQMs and 5 SQSs and more
- Aeroplan 75K: All benefits of 50K plus preferred seats at the time of booking with a Standard of Flex fare for all itineraries, 35 eUpgrade credits, gift 35K status to a friend, Avis President’s Club status and more
- Aeroplan Super Elite: All benefits of 75K plus complimentary preferred seats on all bookings, concierge service, an additional one-time Maple Leaf guest lounge pass, arrivals lounge access at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR), 50 eUpgrade credits, share your eUpgrade benefit with a nominee, gift 50K status to a friend, complimentary changes and cancelations to Aeroplan flight rewards and more
How to earn Air Canada Aeroplan points
It’s surprisingly easy to earn Air Canada Aeroplan points, even if you’re not flying Air Canada.
Flying with Air Canada
Unlike most U.S. carriers, Air Canada has continued to award points based on flight distance. You also need to factor your fare class into your calculations. Some fares earn as little as 10% of miles flown, while business-class fares earn 150% of miles flown.
Here’s a look at how much each fare earns:
Flying with Star Alliance and nonalliance partners
You’ll earn points the same way when flying with an Air Canada partner, but the number of points you’ll earn per mile flown varies by airline. Your partner’s earning chart is on Air Canada’s airline partner page. Simply discover your associate on the checklist and click on on it.
Earn factors with the Air Canada Aeroplan bank card
New Chase Aeroplan® Credit score Card candidates can earn as much as 100,000 bonus factors: 75,000 factors after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening, plus a further 25,000 factors after spending $20,000 on purchases within the first 12 months of account opening.
In our December 2024 valuations, TPG values Aeroplan at 1.5 cents every, making this sign-up bonus value $1,500. Regardless of such a useful welcome bonus, the Chase Aeroplan card has an annual payment of simply $95.
With triple factors in a number of classes, month-to-month bonus factors, assertion credit, Aeroplan elite standing and discounted award pricing, this card is extremely useful, particularly should you ever fly Air Canada.
Transferring bank card factors to Aeroplan
You may switch the next bank card rewards to Aeroplan at a 1:1 switch ratio:
The next playing cards all presently provide sturdy welcome bonuses with factors and miles that you would be able to switch to your Aeroplan account:
You may typically even discover limited-time switch bonuses with these currencies. As well as, holders of the Aeroplan Credit score Card can obtain a ten% bonus after they switch no less than 50,000 Final Rewards factors to Aeroplan (as much as 25,000 bonus factors yearly).
Associated: Why transferable factors are value greater than different rewards
Incomes with retail companions
Air Canada has an internet purchasing portal that allows you to earn Aeroplan factors with third-party distributors, resembling Apple, Uber Eats and different common retailers. You may click on via the product owner’s hyperlink on the Air Canada eStore earlier than you make a purchase order, and you may earn a set variety of factors per greenback spent in your buy. This may be a good way to earn bonus factors on on a regular basis purchases.
Notice: Not all Air Canada retail companions are legitimate for points-earning purchases within the U.S. and Canada. Some are Canada-only, so double-check on the associate web page earlier than buying.
Air Canada for Enterprise
Air Canada has a enterprise rewards program dubbed Air Canada for Business.
Companies can use this program to earn further Aeroplan factors for each journey flown, take pleasure in as much as a 5% low cost on all Flex fares and better for enterprise journey bookings, and for a restricted time, for each $50,000 in flown journey spend, staff earn double Aeroplan factors and the corporate will obtain 10,000 bonus SQMs.
How one can redeem Air Canada Aeroplan factors
You should use your Aeroplan factors to fly worldwide; Air Canada affords an enormous route community by itself, however its lengthy checklist of alliance and nonalliance companions expands this checklist even additional.
In contrast to many U.S. carriers, Air Canada has saved a regular award chart with fastened flights operated by associate airways and flights operated by Air Canada priced dynamically (inside a variety of the award chart). This implies you possibly can guide award flights at predictable costs, particularly if you’re flying with companions. It additionally eliminated fuel surcharges, so you’ll only pay minimal taxes plus a 39 Canadian dollar (about $27.60) partner booking fee (if applicable).
Aeroplan’s award chart
Aeroplan employs a hybrid distance- and region-based award chart. You’ll pay based on your flight length, but pricing varies based on the region you fly to and from. You’ll notice that each is very broadly defined.
To find the cost of an award, determine the regions you’re flying from and to. Then calculate the distance between your origin and destination using a tool like Great Circle Mapper. Subsequent, discover the award chart on your area pair within the Air Canada award chart to find out the price of your flight.
Right here is the chart for journey inside North America:
Air Canada flights with Normal award house can be priced on the decrease finish of the spectrum, whereas flights with out this can be priced increased.
The perfect methods to redeem Air Canada Aeroplan factors
The Aeroplan award chart is stuffed with fascinating candy spots and nice offers. Listed here are among the finest methods to maximise the award chart and this system’s fascinating options, resembling stopovers on one-way award tickets.
Fly Air Canada off-peak
Aeroplan’s system of dynamically pricing flights operated by Air Canada but nonetheless throughout the confines of an award chart can result in some distinctive pricing. On peak dates, resembling summer season flights to Europe, the costs may be unreasonably excessive and never an ideal redemption choice.
Nevertheless, if you’re keen to journey off-peak, nice offers may be had. Attempt seasonal flights within the first and final month of the season (you should utilize Air Canada’s Wikipedia web page to examine which locations are seasonal) for engaging pricing on low-demand dates, with long-haul business-class flights as little as 60,000 Aeroplan factors and even cheaper when you’ve got the Aeroplan bank card.
Associated: A evaluation of Air Canada enterprise class on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Montreal to London
E-book a mini round-the-world journey with stopovers
For five,000 factors apiece, you possibly can add one stopover to one-way tickets and two stopovers to round-trip tickets. These stopovers may be anyplace worldwide, and Aeroplan permits you to get inventive together with your routing.
The one main restriction to recollect is that your connecting flight can’t require greater than double the mileage value of a nonstop flight to your remaining vacation spot. This opens up loads of fascinating bookings. For instance, you possibly can guide a mini round-the-world journey that takes benefit of a stopover, two round-trip tickets and a number of 24-hour layovers. Even higher, now you can guide stopover tickets on-line, however it’s possible you’ll must name in to guide extra advanced itineraries with further layovers.
Associated: The whole information to Aeroplan’s stopover and routing guidelines
Fly domestically on United from 6,000 factors
You may guide financial system flights on United Airways throughout the continental U.S. and Canada from simply 6,000 Aeroplan factors for flights as much as 500 miles in size, resembling from Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR) to many Northeastern locations. Saver availability is proscribed, however should you’re versatile in your journey dates, this generally is a incredible worth.
Fly associate airways from the East Coast to Europe
Many flights from the East Coast to Europe fall into the zero to 4,000 miles tier on the North America-to-Atlantic award chart, and there are many associate airways flying throughout the Atlantic who commonly launch seats to Aeroplan, together with Lufthansa, United, Swiss, LOT Polish and Austrian Airways.
These flights value simply 60,000 factors in enterprise class and 90,000 factors in firstclass, so that they’re a good way to hop throughout the Atlantic. And even when your routing is longer, the business-class award charge is simply 70,000 factors for as much as 6,000 miles flown.
These choices are cheaper than what different Star Alliance applications, resembling Avianca LifeMiles and United MileagePlus, cost for a similar flights, particularly since LifeMiles elevated their charges for Lufthansa firstclass to Europe.
Fly enterprise class to India for 90,000 factors
You may guide Star Alliance companions like United, Air India and Turkish Airways between the U.S. and India for simply 90,000 factors every means in enterprise class or 55,000 factors in financial system class. Better of all, there are not any gas surcharges.
Backside line
Air Canada’s Aeroplan loyalty program is nice. Stable redemption charges, versatile stopovers and no gas surcharges imply you may get some wonderful offers on award tickets. It additionally companions with lots of the largest transferable factors applications, so it’s possible you’ll be sitting on rewards that may in the end develop into Aeroplan factors.
Even should you aren’t planning to go to Canada or fly on Air Canada, it’s best to contemplate this system on your subsequent factors switch or main redemption.