The New Aeroplan Rewards Program: The Good And The Bad Of The New Changes

The new Aeroplan rewards program is finally here.

2 years since announcing that they had reacquired the Aeroplan rewards program, Air Canada has launched the new Aeroplan program.

There’s a lot to unpack. There are definitely some great changes, but there are also some downsides. It’s not all beaches and bon voyage.

The new Aeroplan rewards program: the pros and cons

The new Aeroplan program has some good sides, and some less good sides. To explore what the new program has to offer, you can view the details here.

The Good	The Bad
No more carrier surcharges on reward flights	Aeroplan points will generally be worth less
Simplified points redemptions with every Air Canada seat available	A new $39 charge for booking on Star Alliance carriers
Partner airlines can still provide better deals	Stopovers cost 5,000 points each
Ability to use points and cash	You’ll earn less points on paid flights
One website for all of your online Air Canada bookings
Easier to understand earnings on flights
More stopovers allowed on reward flights
Aeroplan Elite and credit card member deals
Aeroplan family sharing

What we love about the new Aeroplan program

Let’s start with the good news. There’s certainly a lot to love with the new Aeroplan program.

1) No more carrier surcharges on Aeroplan reward flights

The best part of the new Aeroplan program is that Air Canada has eliminated those dreaded carrier surcharges on Aeroplan reward flights. Previously known as “fuel surcharges,” these are extra costs you have to pay on any Aeroplan rewards ticket except North American Market Fare flights.

This is great news, as these charges start at $60 on flights within North America, and go up to $700+ on international flights.

Insane carrier surcharges single handedly destroyed the value of basically any trip from Canada to Europe in economy class – which is why you would incessantly hear people complain about paying nearly the full cost of tickets in taxes and fees to fly with their Aeroplan miles to Europe.

Simply put: it wasn’t worth it.

But now, not only will this reduce the taxes and fees you have to pay on tickets, it will also make your points more valuable as you’ll actually save more.

Read on to find out if flying economy on Aeroplan to Europe is worth it now.

Related: How To Avoid Fuel Surcharges In Canada

2) Simplified Aeroplan points redemptions with every Air Canada seat available

Technically, every Air Canada seat is available through Aeroplan already, but it’s complicated.

Previously, you had 2 choices when redeeming for tickets – Fixed Mileage or Market Fare.

Fixed Mileage had limited availability, typically fewer miles required, and could be used on any Star Alliance member airline, including Air Canada. Market Fare could be used on any available Air Canada seat, but mileage requirements fluctuated with the actual cost of the flights.

With the new program? There’s one set of Aeroplan award charts that covers all flights (skip to award charts):

• No blackout dates
• No checking 2 places when redeeming
• Every Air Canada seat is available

But, there’s a twist to these new charts.

For Air Canada flights, there’s now a typical range of points required to book a flight based on 2 factors:

• The actual cost of the flight at the time of booking
• The distance flown during the trip itself

This range will give you an approximate cost but isn’t completely fixed. If you book your flight with short notice or during popular travel periods, like Christmas, the point cost can exceed the typical range.

To quickly estimate how many points you might need for a flight, Air Canada created their own useful Aeroplan travel tools to ensure you know all you need to know about your points:

However, this only applies to Air Canada flights.

For partner airline flights, there is a single fixed point value for every distance. This makes things easier, but limited seat availability is still a factor with partners.

3) Aeroplan partner airlines can still provide better value

You may have noticed that the point levels needed in the new Aeroplan program also show the redemption level for partner airlines.

Most of these have a fixed point requirement, and almost all are at the lower end of the points range.

There are a limited number of seats available when redeeming on partner airlines, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for them.

There’s one catch that we’ll get into later when it comes to redeeming on Star Alliance partners.

And while you still can’t transfer Aeroplan points to other programs, these airline partnerships extend their value well beyond Air Canada.

4) You can now combine Aeroplan points and cash

Don’t have enough points for the flight rewards? You’ll be able to combine cash and points to get your flight.

There’s no details on this part of the program yet, but it will make it easier to use your points towards reward flights.

And don’t forget, it’s possible to transfer rewards points from some other loyalty programs to Aeroplan if you need some extra points for that upcoming vacation.

5) One website for booking Aeroplan rewards flights and regular Air Canada flights

Right now, you need to use 2 sites for booking flights online with Air Canada – purchase tickets online from aircanada.com for paid flights, and aeroplan.com for reward flights.

With the new program, this will no longer be the case. Aircanada.com will be your one stop online shop whether you want to pay for flights or redeem your Aeroplan points for them. Nice and simple.

6) Earning Aeroplan points is now easier to understand

Right now, earning Aeroplan miles is a little complicated. You earn miles for every actual mile flown, on each segment in a trip. What you earn on that amount varies based on the fare class flown, and can range from 10% for basic economy in North America (which just changed, it was previously 0%) to 150% on business class.

It’s much simpler with the new Aeroplan program. Your Aeroplan earnings are based on the base airfare and carrier surcharges you have to pay, with a 2x – 3x multiplier tacked on.

Here’s what it will look like:

If you’re an Elite Aeroplan member, you’ll get an additional multiplier bonus, depending on your status.

This change won’t take effect until late in 2021, not in November when the new Aeroplan program launches.

7) More stopovers allowed on new Aeroplan reward flights

On reward flights, you’re currently limited to only one stopover. That’s also changing. With the new Aeroplan program, you’ll be able to get a stopover in both directions of travel if you so choose.

There is one catch to stopovers though, as you’ll see below.

8) Aeroplan Elite status and Aeroplan credit card member discounts

If you’re either an Aeroplan Elite member or hold an Aeroplan credit card, you’ll often see preferred pricing on flight rewards. This is a nice bonus you get simply by having an Aeroplan Visa or American Express.

There are quite a few changes coming to the Aeroplan Elite program, but we’ll detail those in a separate post in the near future.

9) Aeroplan rewards family sharing

Families can start pooling their Aeroplan rewards collection together. Up to 8 family members can group together, and you’ll share one large bank of points.

And, even if only one person with an account in the group has an Aeroplan credit card, anyone redeeming from the points collection pool will get access to the preferred pricing from having the credit card.

Aeroplan has made it easy to get started. Create a new Aeroplan account, and you can earn 2,500 bonus points once you earn your first points by September 30, 2020.

You can see the full details and register here.

What we don’t like about the new Aeroplan program

So, while there are some significant improvements to the program, it’s not perfect. There are definitely some things we don’t like about it.

1) New Aeroplan points will generally be worth less

One of our sayings when it comes to travel rewards is that with greater flexibility, comes lower value.

And this will most likely be true with the revamped Aeroplan program.

As seen in our examples below, point values were generally lower than they would have been under the old program. And even though our Europe option did increase in value, it’s still nowhere near the value for flights within North America.

Sorting out the point values will take some extensive research when the new program launches, but overall we believe that an Aeroplan point will be worth a little less than it is now.

2) A new charge for booking on Star Alliance carriers

Does your rewards flight involve a Star Alliance carrier? A new charge is coming your way.

You’ll be charged a flat fee of $39 if any part of a rewards ticket involves another carrier. It’s not a massive number, but we weren’t expecting to see any new fees either.

With that said, this is more than offset by not having to pay for any carrier surcharges for these reward flights. And with the lower point value costs for flights on partners, it can be more than worth this small fee.

3) New Aeroplan rewards stopovers cost 5,000 points each

While the number of stopovers has increased, you’ll need to pony up 5,000 points for each stopover if you decide you want them.

And, stopovers are no longer available on flights within Canada or to the U.S.

4) You’ll earn fewer Aeroplan rewards for paid flights

The new system for earning Aeroplan rewards for flights is much easier to understand, but the overall rewards earn rate is lower.

Let’s look at a simple trip from Toronto to Calgary, which has a flight distance of 1,637 miles.

Under the current Aeroplan miles system, here’s what you would earn for a one way flight, under the various fare classes, compared to what you would earn under the new Aeroplan points system, which is based on how much you paid for the flight.

In this example, under the new Aeroplan points system, the standard economy fare provided about the same number of points, and the premium cabin options all provided more.

But for the flex and comfort options, you’re earning far fewer Aeroplan rewards than you would have otherwise.

If you’re a frequent flyer who flies in these fare classes, you’re going to see a significant drop in the number of Aeroplan points you accrue.

New Aeroplan award charts explained

The old Aeroplan flight rewards chart for Fixed Mileage flights has been replaced. There was some simplicity to it, in that there was only 1 number for how many Aeroplan miles are required to travel to (or within) 1 zone.

That 1 big chart has been replaced with many smaller charts.

The new Aeroplan award charts are simpler in a lot of ways, but the flight distances and point ranges add a whole new layer of complexity in figuring out the true value of your Aeroplan points.

To help you figure that out, we’ll break down the before/after point values for several popular routes below.

Another big change to be aware of?

The points shown are for one way flights only – you’ll have to double the amount for a round trip flight. Now let’s get to the charts…

The world is divided into 4 different zones

First, Air Canada has broken down the world into 4 different zones.

There are separate rewards charts covering travel within each zone, plus more charts covering travel between all of these zones.

Here are the ones of importance to Canadians.

Aeroplan flights within North America

First, the new chart for Aeroplan rewards flights within North America.

Under the new Aeroplan program, for many of these, you’ll need more points to redeem for a flight. But, this is mitigated by the fact you’re saving more by not having to pay the carrier surcharge on Air Canada flights.

One thing to note about these charts – these are expected values you’ll be able to redeem for. They should cover most redemptions, but redemption levels may be higher in peak periods (think March break or the holiday season).

There are also going to be sweet spots if you travel close to the upper range in each zone.

So, how will this affect value? Let’s take a look at some examples:

Aeroplan rewards flight: Halifax (YHZ) to Vancouver (YVR)

Let’s start with one of our typical flights we look at – Halifax to Vancouver.

For a round trip, you would typically need between 35,000 to 50,000 points (the image below shows one way point requirements).

The best value for a rewards flight we could find on our dates cost 37,900 points plus $79.36.

These actual flights cost $872.86. That’s a total savings of $793.50, and gives a mile value of 2.1 cents per point.

With the new Aeroplan program, you would only have to pay $79.36 in taxes and fees since the carrier surcharge is now gone (it would have been $84), giving you much higher savings.

That was just one flight. With the new program, all flights are available to be booked – the price you pay in points varies with the actual cost of the flight.

So, what percentage of flights for this trip fell into the typical price range as shown above?

It actually depended on which direction was being booked. On the way there, only 7 out of 42 flight options were 25,000 points or less. On the way back, almost all of them were under 25,000 points – 33 out of 43.

So, while there are some flights that fall outside the chart, it wasn’t difficult to find flights in the range Air Canada gives.

Now, what about the value? If you went with one of the flights that was more expensive in terms of points, the value decreased. One flight that cost 50,000 points to book (and $83.88 in taxes and fees) cost $877.38, a lower point value of 1.6 cents.

Basically, your points will be worth more if you use less of them for flights.

Aeroplan rewards flight: Halifax (YHZ) to Calgary (YYC)

Halifax – Vancouver is just inside the highest zone. To hit one of the sweet spots, let’s look at Aeroplan rewards flights from Halifax to Calgary, which is under 2,751 miles.

For this trip, you would need to redeem between 12,500 to 17,500 Aeroplan points each way.

For the same dates, the best trip we could find cost 35,400 points and $84.61.

The actual cost for these flights was $827.51. That’s a savings of $742.90 and a point value of 2.1 cents – identical to what was above.

In both these cases, yes you’re getting lower value than the previous system, and require more points.

But, you’re gaining much better flexibility. Booking a flight with Aeroplan is now a much easier task than it was in the past. There was no endless searching on various dates. And these are quite good flights as well. Only one stopover, and they were of reasonable duration.

With one chart for everything, this is all going to be much simpler.

Aeroplan rewards flights from North America to the other international zones

Here are the charts for travel outside of the North American zone.

First, to the Atlantic zone:

The Pacific zone:

And finally, the South American zone:

We’ll give an example to the Atlantic zone, from Toronto to Paris.

Aeroplan rewards flight: Toronto (YYZ) to London (LHR)

We looked at a non-stop round trip between Toronto-Pearson and Paris in February that costs $785.40.

In the old Aeroplan system, there’s no value here. You would have needed 60,000 points and paid at least $600 in taxes and fees. We don’t need any math to know this isn’t worth it.

But what about now?

When booking with points, we still need 60,000 points, but only $141.40 in taxes and fees.

It’s a savings of $644, for a value of 1.1 cents. Still not as good as what we saw earlier, but much better than it would have been.

Not worth it. It’s a paltry savings of $89.97 for 60,000 miles, a value of 0.15 cents per mile. Yikes.

With this said, prices for these flights are quite low, which is impacting the value you’re getting for your points. When flights and travel slowly start to return to normal, we would expect the value of the points for this redemption to increase.

The carrier surcharge is $470, meaning your savings are now $559.97.

At the low end of points required, it’s still only a value of 0.80 cents. At the high end, it’s still 0.47 cents. Not as good as our North American examples, but much better than the current system.

With this said, prices for these flights are quite low, which is impacting the value you’re getting for your points. When flights and travel slowly start to return to normal, we would expect the value of the points for this redemption to increase.

Aeroplan credit cards changes

Of course, with the new Aeroplan program, there are also changes coming to Aeroplan credit cards, which are issued by American Express, TD, and CIBC.

The new Aeroplan program is going to standardize the benefits offered among all of these. Aeroplan credit cards – including all Visa and Amex cards – will fit into 1 of 3 tiers, and each will have its own set of benefits.

Here’s what will be offered for personal Aeroplan credit cards:

Business cards will have 2 different tiers:

You can see the full details of each benefit here, but we’ll go over the major things we like from these lists.

Preferred pricing on Aeroplan rewards flights

This was mentioned before, but getting preferred pricing on reward flights is a great perk, and brings down the point costs for free flights.

Free first checked bag on all Air Canada flights

Previously, only the Aeroplan Visa Infinite cards issued by TD and CIBC get free checked bags on reward flights. Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege cards have a cap on the number of free checked bags as well, but this benefit applies to any Air Canada flight, not just rewards flights. None of the American Express Aeroplan cards currently previously offered free checked bags.

That’s going to change. For any Aeroplan credit card in the mid tier and above, you’ll get your first checked bag free, not just for yourself, but for up to 8 companions on the same reservation.

Worldwide companion pass

For the upper tier Aeroplan credit cards, you’ll get an annual companion pass when you spend at least $25,000 annually on the card.

For $99 plus taxes, fees, and carrier surcharges (they’re not going away for this), you can bring someone along with you on the exact same itinerary.

We would have liked to see this without the spend requirement, but it’s still a nice perk to have.

This perk is only available on these Aeroplan cards.

• American Express^® Aeroplan^®* Reserve Card
• TD^® Aeroplan^® Visa^* Infinite Privilege^* Credit Card
• CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card

Want to see what the new offers are for Aeroplan credit cards? The details are here.

American Express Membership Rewards cards

With all this said, there are another set of credit cards that can earn you Aeroplan points on your purchases – American Express Membership Rewards.

You can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio, and the transfer is quite quick – it’s usually within a few minutes (but can take up to 30).

With these cards, you’ll lose out on the fancy Air Canada perks.

In exchange, you’ll simply get more points on your purchases, and be flying for free much sooner.

How many points could you get in a year with these cards? Based on a typical $2,000 monthly spend, here’s how the major Membership Rewards cards compare to the top Aeroplan branded credit cards.

That’s a lot more points you can earn. The American Express Cobalt^® Card stands out in particular, earning almost double the amount of points a typical Aeroplan branded card would earn in a year.

Even the no fee American Express^® Green Card is close to what the Aeroplan branded cards in our table would earn for points.

If you’re thinking about collecting Aeroplan points for credit card rewards, don’t forget about Membership Rewards Cards.

Your turn

All of these details have answered what we wanted to know about the new program – mostly what it would look like, and what changes were being made.

And there’s a lot here to digest. But overall, we think there’s more good than bad to the changes that are coming with the new Aeroplan rewards program.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming Aeroplan changes?

Do you have an Aeroplan account? Do you plan to start one now, if not?

Let us know in the comments below.

FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions about Air Canada’s new Aeroplan program.

Will carrier surcharges still be charged on new Aeroplan reward flights?

One of the best parts of the new Aeroplan program is that carrier surcharges (also known as fuel surcharges) will not be charged on reward flights. However, if you book on an Aeroplan partner airline, you will have to pay a new flat fee of $39.

How will booking new Aeroplan reward flights change?

Fixed Mileage and Market Fare flight bookings are being moved to one set of reward charts. There will be a range of values for different flights, and the number of Aeroplan points you will have to redeem will also vary based on the distance between departing and arriving cities.

Does the new Aeroplan program change how points are earned on flights?

In the new Aeroplan program, points will be earned based on how much you spend on the base airfare and carrier surcharges on flights, rather than on the distance flown. There’s also a multiplier added on, based on the class of fare booked.

Will the new Aeroplan program let me pool my Aeroplan points with family members?

Yes, in the new Aeroplan rewards program you will be able to pool Aeroplan points with up to 8 family members. Any family member in the group will be able to use points from that pool.

Will we see changes to Aeroplan credit cards with the new Aeroplan rewards program?

With the new Aeroplan rewards program, there are also significant changes coming to all Aeroplan credit cards, primarily that they will all have a standard set of Air Canada benefits. There will be 3 tiers of personal Aeroplan credit cards available, and each tier will have its own set of standard Air Canada benefits. All Aeroplan credit cards will be issued by CIBC, TD, and American Express.