What Are Aeroplan Points Worth in 2026?

A couple of major changes have come to Aeroplan this year.

The first was a new rewards structure for flying with Air Canada and their partners. Now, you'll earn by how much you spend, not how far you fly.

The second was changes to the Flight Reward Chart, primarily affecting business class reward seats.

As with many rewards programs, Aeroplan points aren't worth a set amount. The value of each point depends on what reward you choose and when.

When redeeming your points, it's always worth doing the math to make sure you're getting the most out of each point.

Cost of reward in $ / cost of reward in Aeroplan points x 100 = value in cents per point (CPP)

How do you know what to expect or aim for? We regularly calculate average values across 50+ rewards programs, including Aeroplan.

Taking this year's Aeroplan changes into account, we've redone our Aeroplan valuation. We found that Aeroplan points have lost value, primarily stemming from the changes to how business class flights are priced. Each Aeroplan point is now valued at 1.6 cents, down from 2.

How we calculate Aeroplan point value

We value Aeroplan points by reviewing the number of points required against the cash value of the redemption. We look at a wide range of flights, gift cards, car rentals, hotel packages, vacation packages, and merchandise to get a comprehensive picture of what each point is worth, depending on how you spend it.

The most popular and valuable way to redeem Aeroplan points is still flights. However, this is also the redemption option where your point value has changed, so flights are the focus of this article.

Air Canada gives you several redemption options:

• Pay entirely with points
• Pay points plus taxes and fees
• Choose 1 of 2 cash-and-points combinations

We focus only on the option where you pay the taxes and fees in cash because it consistently offers the best value.

To get a full picture of the value of Aeroplan points spent on flights, we examine flights within Canada and to destinations they serve all around the world.

We don't just look at standard economy either – we also look at the lowest-priced business flights. Why business? Because they tend to increase the value of your points. You have the option to save up your points for a far superior experience on board.

Former Aeroplan point valuation

Looking at around 25 flights, during our last round of Aeroplan valuation, we came to a value of 2 cents per point (CPP). Here's how economy and business class broke down:

• Standard Economy: 1.6 CPP
• Standard Business: 3.4 CPP

The average of everything was really 2.5 cents per point. But factoring in the reality that many travellers stick with Economy seats brought the value down to 2 cents.

Despite the 1.6 average value, Air Canada still offered good deals in Economy, so reaching 2 CPP without upgrading to Business was definitely possible.

creditcardGenius Sr. Financial Product Specialist Jon MacLeod found this 2 CPP value on his last 2 trips using Aeroplan points!

2026 Aeroplan valuation

So what has changed? There's good and bad among the 25 flights we researched.

The good: Our Economy class valuation hasn't changed much. It still sits at around 1.6 CPP.

Jon MacLeod has an upcoming trip using Aeroplan points, and he confirmed he got close to this number at 1.55 cents.

However, Business class redemptions have decreased substantially. They now average only 1.45 CPP.

We didn't find a single Business class seat that had a value of over 2 cents per Aeroplan point – a major drop from our previous research, where the average value was 3.4 CPP.

Many of our Business class seats needed an exorbitant amount of Aeroplan points, especially the long-haul flights. Take one example of Vancouver to Tokyo. The Economy seat on our flight only needed 81,200 points. Go for Business, and that skyrocketed to 742,000 points.

Even on most of our Canadian flights, you needed anywhere between 2.5x – 4x the points to fly Business instead of Economy. In the past, you wouldn't have even needed double the points. With this said, many Canadian flights still did yield slightly better value than Economy.

It's in line with the recent changes to the flight charts. Prices in Business are going up, especially when it comes to long-haul flights.

And as such, our valuation is now solely based on Economy flights. While there's still some value in Canadian Business class, we can't recommend saving up for Business class anymore. It's simply not worth it!

How this affects Aeroplan credit cards

So what does this mean for Aeroplan credit cards? For Aeroplan-branded credit cards, it's simply a lower annual rewards value. Since points are worth 20% less, these cards' overall earn rates will drop. This affects Genius Ratings and rankings across our site.

The change in Aeroplan point value not only brings down the earn rate for Aeroplan credit cards. It also affects American Express Membership Rewards credit cards.

Why? This program offers 1:1 transfers to Aeroplan. And previously, this was your best option. But now that Aeroplan points have gone down in value, you can get more value out of Amex's

We previously recommended transferring points to Aeroplan 1:1 was the best rewards option for these cards. But the American Express Fixed Points Travel Program's CPP value of 1.75 now outclasses Aeroplan.

The Fixed Points Travel Program is Amex's flight chart that lets you use a fixed amount of points to cover the base airfare.

Here's the Economy version. (They also have a Business chart.)

While popular short-haul flights offer the best value, we used the long-haul North American section as our number, because popular short-haul flight prices only capture a limited number of routes.

40,000 points will save you up to $700 on the base airfare of a ticket, a maximum value of 1.75 cents per point.

How Aeroplan point value affects Genius Rating

Genius Rating is an algorithm-driven score out of 5 awarded to each credit card in Canada. Every card has an overall Genius Rating and weighted ratings that shift based on your spending habits, preferences, and more.

Since Genius Ratings are calculated relative to one another, changes to Aeroplan and American Express credit cards can change the Genius Rating for other cards as well.

And as a result of this, the BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard is currently our highest rated airline card. VIPorter points have increased in value, and this card currently tops the ratings in the airline rewards department.

To learn more, explore our data-rich credit card ranking methodology.

Reward program updates

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