Your Aeroplan Points Guide
Do you collect Aeroplan points/miles? If not, you may want to start. Aeroplan Miles are easy to amass, easy to redeem, and as long as you stay active, your points will never expire. Of course, Aeroplan isn’t perfect (nor is any loyalty ecosystem), but if you take the time to learn the basics of the program you can really make your points work for you.
With the recent purchase of Aeroplan by Air Canada to come into full effect in 2020, we’re hoping and expecting to see some changes on the horizon. But, for now, let this 2019 Aeroplan Bible be your guide for everything that you need to know about Aeroplan points.
In This Article:
How to Get Aeroplan Points
It’s quite easy to collect Aeroplan Miles, which is partly why it’s such a popular program for Canadians. Aeroplan Miles can be earned in two primary ways:
- Shopping with Aeroplan partner merchants
- Using an Aeroplan credit card
Aeroplan Partner Merchants
Aeroplan has no shortage of partner merchants, many of which you probably use and shop with on a regular basis. Remember that you can ‘double dip’ the points you earn when shopping with Aeroplan Partners or travelling with a Star Alliance member by showing your loyalty card and then paying with an Aeroplan credit card. Some of the most popular partners include the following:
Travel
- Air Canada
- Star Alliance Members
- Budget Car Rental
- Courtyard by Marriott
- Fairmont Hotel and Resorts
Retail
- Costco
- The Apple Store Canada
- Sephora
- Hudson’s Bay Company
- The UPS Store
Keep in mind that some of these merchants only allow you to earn Aeroplan points when shopping online. For example, you can earn Aeroplan points when making online purchases at Costco, but you won’t earn any Aeroplan points for anything bought in store.
The Aeroplan eStore is a great resource if you shop a lot online, as it showcases more than 170 retailers who partner with Aeroplan. Each retailer has its own earning rate and some merchants may occasionally have extra mile promotions as well. Popular brands you can find on the Aeroplan eStore include amazon.ca, chapters.indigo.ca, Bed Bath & Beyond, Etsy, Dyson, and more.
Earning Aeroplan Points with Credit Cards
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card
Eligibility Criteria:
– Standard Purchase APR: 19.99%
– Balance Transfer APR: 22.99%
– Cash Advance APR: 22.99%
– Credit score required: Good-Excellent
– Min personal income required: $60000
– Annual fees: $120 (Annual Fee Rebate the first year)
As mentioned above, one way to get extra Aeroplan points is by using Aeroplan credit cards, and one of our favorite cards on the market right now is the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card.
Those who apply for the card by November 7, 2020 can get up to 25,000 bonus Aeroplan Miles (conditions apply). The card’s value proposition is strengthened with an annual fee rebate for its first year for both the primary and first additional cardholders.
The card earns 1.5 miles for every $1 spent on eligible gas, grocery, and drugstore purchases, as well as any purchases from aircanada.com. All other purchases earn 1 mile per $1 spent.
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card members will also be able to take advantage of other travel benefits. When booking an award flight via Aeroplan, cardholders get their first bag checked free, priority check-in and boarding, and an annual one-time lounge access to an Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge (for flights that were redeemed with Aeroplan miles).
Click here to apply or learn more by reading our complete TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card review.
*This offer is not available for residents of Quebec. For Quebec residents, please click here.
The American Express® Gold Rewards Card
Eligibility Criteria:
– Credit score required: Good-Excellent
– Min personal income required: $0
– Annual fees: $150
While not officially an Aeroplan credit card, points earned with The American Express® Gold Rewards Card can be transferred to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio. This makes the card’s earn rate outstanding compared to competing Aeroplan cards, because it generates 2 points per dollar spent on eligible travel, gas, grocery, and drugstores purchases in Canada, with all other purchases earning 1 point for every $1 spent
New cardholders will receive a sign-up bonus of 25000 points after spending $1,500 with the card in the first 3 months. Other benefits include comprehensive travel insurance and travel perks with The Hotel Collection from American Express and Hertz Car Rentals.
Click here to apply or learn more by reading our complete The American Express® Gold Rewards Card review.
What Is the Aeroplan Points Chart?
Aeroplan miles are popular among travellers, who might ponder their vacation plans and wonder: how many Aeroplan points does it take to fly? A quick look at this Aeroplan points chart should clear that question up, but there are a few important considerations to note first.
When booking flights with your Aeroplan miles, you’ll have two options. The first is to book with the fixed mileage option. This is the most common way to book flights with Aeroplan miles and is available for all flights run by Star Alliance members. The number of miles required per route do not change during the season (a definite benefit), however, these flights aren’t always ideal. Not every seat is available, and those that are tend to be limited, meaning you often need to book well in advance. Furthermore, these routes may be longer and might involve layovers.
Alternatively, you can book with market fare rewards. This option offers you much more choice and flexibility, however, it is limited to Air Canada flights only and therefore is not as popular as the fixed mile option. There are occasional market fare reward sales where you might get a better price, but this is rare. Quite often, a market fare flight will cost you 2-3 times more in points than a fixed mileage flight.
How Many Aeroplan Points Does It Take to Fly?
To give you an idea of how many Aeroplan points it takes to fly, we’ve broken down some of the most popular routes available with the fixed mile option. These flights are all based on a round-trip economy class ticket. We should also mention that you still have to pay fees, taxes, and surcharges when making an Aeroplan redemption.
| Departure City | Destination | Aeroplan Miles Required |
|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | Orlando | 25,000 |
| Calgary | Cancun | 40,000 |
| Toronto | Paris | 60,000 |
| Toronto | Tokyo | 75,000 |
| Vancouver | Hong Kong | 75,000 |
“Generally speaking, you’ll receive the highest value for your Aeroplan Miles if you use them toward flights and the lowest value if you use them toward car rentals.”
As you can see, flights are based on zones. A flight within the continental U.S. or Canada will cost 25,000 Aeroplan points for a return flight regardless of where you’re departing from. Flights to Europe are 60,000 miles and if you want to fly to Asia, you’re looking at a redemption of 75,000 miles. Those looking to fly premium economy or business will of course dole out more miles.
How Do Travellers Redeem Aeroplan Points?
Wondering how to redeem Aeroplan points? You can easily redeem your Miles online for several types of products including travel and merchandise.
Travel redemptions include flights with any Star Alliance member (including Air Canada), as well as other travel-related purchases such as hotels, car rentals, or vacation packages. As for merchandise options, there’s a large selection of items to choose from ranging from fashion accessories to cookware. Alternatively, you can also use your Miles for gift cards rather than actual products.
What Is an Aeroplan Point’s Value?
An Aeroplan point’s value is not concrete, and varies depending on what the points are redeemed for and the time of year they’re redeemed. Generally speaking, you’ll receive the highest value for your Aeroplan Miles if you use them toward flights and the lowest value if you use them toward car rentals.
Outside that broad rule of thumb there are several other redemption factors that affect the value of miles. For example, you’ll get better value for your miles if you use them for a domestic flight in Canada (or even a flight to the USA) than you would for booking big international flights on an economy ticket. However, if you choose a carrier with low fees and taxes, then the CPM of your Aeroplan redemption may go up quite a bit for international destinations.
Alternatively, if you understand Aeroplan’s rules, you could build a mini round-the-world flight. For example, let’s say you want to book a business class flight to Asia, Aeroplan allows you to fly to one destination with two stopovers (24 hours+) and up to 13 layovers (less than 24 hours). The destination refers to the furthest city, so if you can find the seat availability, you could get $10,000+ in value for just 150K Aeroplan points. For example, you could do one week each in Japan, Korea, and Thailand as well as a few other destinations on the same redemption ticket.
When redeeming your Aeroplan miles, you’ll want to make sure you get the best CPM (cost per mile). Take a look at the Aeroplan points chart below to get a better idea of the value of your Aeroplan points and how you can make them stretch farther.
| Departure City | Destination | Price if Paying Cash | Aeroplan Miles Required | Taxes, Fees, & Surcharges | Amount Saved | Cost Per Mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | Orlando | $1,151.21 | 25,000 | $231.82 | $919.28 | 0.037 |
| Calgary | Cancun | $673.28 | 40,000 | $209.23 | $464.05 | 0.012 |
| Toronto | Paris | $1,193.80 | 60,000 | $723.56 | $416.24 | 0.007 |
| Toronto | Tokyo | $1,230.00 | 75,000 | $393.56 | $836.44 | 0.011 |
| Vancouver | Hong Kong | $758.93 | 75,000 | $299.91 | $459.02 | 0.006 |
As you can see, there’s some incredible value for that flight from Vancouver to Orlando. That being said, it’s not a direct flight, so it may not be ideal for everyone. We calculated our CPM above based on flights in April, whereas prices in other months could vary quite a bit.
Generally speaking, we value 1 average Aeroplan point at 1.4 cents. If you can get equal or greater value than that when making a redemption, you’re getting a good return.
Can Aeroplan Points Be Transferred?
Aeroplan points can be transferred to another Aeroplan member, however, there is an associated fee; 2 cents per mile transferred. As for the question of how to transfer Aeroplan points to another member, you can do it instantly online. But since this transfer fee is quite high, you’re almost better off just collecting Aeroplan points for each individual family member instead of trying to pool them together into one account.
Aeroplan points cannot be transferred to other loyalty programs, but there are several programs that will allow you to transfer your points into Aeroplan miles, including American Express and Marriott Bonvoy.
Preventing Expiration
One of the most common Aeroplan-related questions we get on GreedyRates is: What happens when Aeroplan points expire?
Prior to 2013, Aeroplan members had seven years to use their points before they expired. This is no longer the case today; your points will not expire so long as you actively collect and use them. But your points will expire if your Aeroplan account goes unused for a period of 12 months. It’s worth noting that this is a relatively short expiry period compared to competing travel rewards programs, like Air Miles.
The best way to avoid losing miles to expiration is to ensure that you keep collecting miles. With so many Aeroplan credit cards and partners across Canada, it should be relatively easy to do that.
*This post was not sponsored. The views and opinions expressed in this review are purely my own.
Author Bio
CAN I USE MY AIR MILES ON PURCHASES SUCH AS APPLIANCES, ETC.?
Yes. You can do this one of two ways. You can either buy the appliance with Air Miles from AirMiles.ca or you can visit a Air Miles partner retailer (these are listed on AirMiles.ca as well) that sells appliances and redeem your Air Miles there to purchase the item. Be warned though, you cannot use Dream Miles to by merchandise, this is only for travel. You can only use Air Miles Cash Miles. Air Miles accounts default to Dream Miles (you can change this by using the slider in your Air Miles account to adjust what percentage you want the Air Miles you collect to be Dream and what percentage you want to be Cash. Then, going forward, your Air Miles collected will be divided up according to the parameters you set. However, any Air Miles collected before the adjustment cannot be transferred from one category to the other. Also, merchandise tends to cost more Air Miles than flights cost. It takes more Cash Miles to get merchandise, than it takes Dream Miles to get flights.
How current/up to date is any or all of the information on this site?
Hi A.M.
I can tell you as one of Greedyrates’ leading journalists that new articles are being written for the site everyday by real human beings doing real research and interviewing real experts. That being said, we are human and sometimes credit card companies update their offers faster than we can keep up or, on rare occasions, are even aware of. However, that’s why we rely on readers like you to comment. When our readers flag something, people like me flag it to Greedyrates’ editorial and they look into it right away — updating or re-writing articles as they deem necessary.
I’ve tried to get through to
Aeroplan for some time !
Now the virus happened impossible
Nothing online that is matching my request
Need to speak to consultant
Hi Paula,
Do you have a local travel agent you regularly use? They might have better luck getting through to Aeroplan. Otherwise, just keep trying. Call Aeroplan every day like it’s your job. There may also be an email address or a form you can fill out. Be patient. This is an unprecedented situation so we all have to give people the benefit of the doubt. Eventually though, you’ll be able to solve your problem. If you give me more details, maybe I can call on your behalf.
I have just received an email from Aeroplan saying their T&C are changing. It says 22 is being removed from May 25th this year.
22. Subject to earlier termination or amendment of the Aeroplan Program, you can accumulate Aeroplan Miles until December 31, 2019, and request reward travel until March 31, 2020. Reward travel must be completed by December 14, 2020.
Does anyone know if this means that all my miles will expire if I don’t use them by the end of March given this T&C is valid though to May? I have not been able to get through to Aeroplan to check directly.
Thanks
Hi Nick,
Your air miles will not expire, they will just be subject to the new terms and conditions in terms of redemption and collection, according to the new program modifications and rules that Aeroplan has laid out. All this means is these are the dates under which your miles are governed by the rules of the old program before the announced changes apply.
If there are available seats on a flight, why can I not use my aeroplan miles
I can use them for one direction, but not the return date, but they are available to the paying public
Good question Martha.
Actually, it doesn’t matter how many seats are available for a flight for the general public when it comes to Aeroplan Miles. What matters is how many seats Aeroplan actually reserved for the flight. Aeroplan, like many loyalty programs involving flights, designates their own seats for each flight you can use those miles on, so that’s why their maybe Aeroplan seats available for one direction and not the return, even though you can see that seats are still available to the public.
I booked the trip to DPS (final destination) with a stop in TLV and was charged 165 k (because YYZ to TLV =165k) even though TLV is the stop not the destination.
I was arguing with the agent and got nowhere even the website is showing 155 k for this trip.
Are they right? What is your take on that?
Hey Andrei,
If you’re talking about an overnight or longer layover in Tel Aviv then it could be considered a stopover, for which Aeroplan recently changed its policy (as of September 2019). Now, you won’t be able to get as many “free” stopovers that don’t add a price to your fare. Just one per round-trip flight, but this may be affected by intercontinental travel or travel from redeemed miles. We’d talk to Aeroplan for the exact details surrounding your recent trip. Best of luck.
GreedyRates
If I book a flight using the “Market rates”(only way to get the day that I need), if the price goes down in 6 months do I get the difference in points returned to my account?
Hey Jeff,
You’re talking about fare protection, or price protection, something that may come as an individual perk on your credit card, but very few cards have. it. Otherwise, there’s no rule for Aeroplan members that price changes are automatically reconciled with charges already made to your credit card, for example. It’s a fair assumption that most airline rewards programs are similar, so you’ll pay whatever you paid at the time of booking.
GreedyRates
Does anyone know whether the points on CIBC Areoplan card will disappear in a year with the change over
Hi Jack,
You don’t have points through CIBC to lose in this scenario, nor will you lose anything. CIBC is partnered with Aeroplan, so they opened you an Aeroplan account that earns Miles in addition to your credit account. When the program changes, your Miles in your Aeroplan account will remain intact, and accessible. No worries!
GreedyRates
How many Aeroplan Miles does it take to go from Kelowna B.C. to Iceland?
Hi Margo,
That largely depends on when you are travelling. Like Air Miles, the value of an Aeroplan mile varies depending on when you book and when you’re traveling, not just where you are going. (though this is also a factor) I also assume you’re talking about an economy class and not first class tickets? First class tickets cost even more miles than economy class tickets would for the same fight. High season cost more miles than low season
How many air miles it cost me to rent a car in Ottawa and how much money ?
Hey Jiri,
Good question. The answer, unfortunately, has too many variables for us to predict. Thankfully you can go check online easily, just log into the airmiles.ca website with your Air Miles collector number and four-digit PIN code. If you don’t have this information, then you can use the retrieval link on that page or get in touch with Air Miles staff. Once you manage to log in, just navigate to the Rental Cars section and then input your desired rental details, coverage, length of rental and more to figure out how many miles it’ll cost you. Best of luck!
GreedyRates
FYI – in July 2019 and Sept 2019, my trips (YYZ-STL & YYZ-TAM) were redeemed 15,000 short-haul Canada & Continental USA), now when booking the have both changed to Long-haul-25,000 points. This is a significant change!
Hi Chrissy,
Thanks for your post. We’re as disappointed as you are about the relatively recent Aeroplan changes and believe that they’re the reason your normal flight has moved into a new (and more expensive) redemption category. The changes, which also include some positives like the ability to get a free refund within 24 hours of your booking, are still largely a downgrade for those who tend to travel further. Aeroplan gutted its stopover allowance for those using Miles, so not only do you (apparently) need to pay more for your flight but you can’t use them if your layovers are long. Yikes! We’d be rethinking Aeroplan ahead of 2020 anyway and will publish more information on the new Air Canada travel rewards plan once it arrives.
GreedyRates
Can you buy miles to qualify for the next status level, or do those come from flights only? My husband will be about 1000 miles short of 50K for black status. Wondering if there are any options to get there if he can’t get another flight in. Also, we booked a sun vacation which will use AC Rouge, is it correct that he will only earn 200 miles for this, even though the flight is farther?
Hey Mar,
Thanks for the question. If you’re wondering how you can avoid buying a flight to push yourselves into Aeroplan Black Status, then you’re out of luck. We checked the terms and conditions on Aeroplan’s page for Aeroplan Status. It says that signup bonuses, bonus miles, miles accumulated through conversion, transfers between Aeroplan accounts, top up miles (relevant) and more are all ineligible for Aeroplan status. That doesn’t leave much room for interpretation, unfortunately.
GreedyRates
Can I book a flight for another person( not on my account). And use my points.
Hey Teresa,
Of course! There’s no rule saying you have to be travelling with the person to use your miles on their fare, or any nonsense of that sort. The person who’s flying doesn’t need to be an Aeroplan member either. Just enter their personal information when booking a flight instead of yours and add their email to the list of where to send reminders. Great thing to know, and so we appreciate you inquiring as now other readers can be more aware. Have a good one!
GreedyRates Staff
I have the Amex Gold card and authorized my wife to be a rep for my account. I hoped that now I would be able to transfer my Amex reward points to my wife’s Aeroplan account, but when I called Amex today, I was advised that such transfers MAY be rejected by Aeroplan. I asked what MAY actually means and was advised that it’s up to Aeroplan to reject the transfer if the name on the Amex account (my name) does not match the name on the Aeroplan account (my wife’s name). Please comment.
Hey Tom,
Thanks for coming to GreedyRates. If you’re an Amex Gold cardholder and called them to add your wife as a cardholder too, then Amex probably added her as a secondary cardholder meaning her name doesn’t show up when other organizations (Aeroplan) check the account. Aeroplan would do this for various reasons, one of them being if you were wanting to transfer rewards points with the intention of redeeming them. This is why you should heed American Express’s advice and figure out an alternative solution.
It may be worth opening an Aeroplan account for yourself, since you’d still be able to book flights for you and your wife using the points transferred from your Amex. Call Aeroplan first, but it may also be possible that they have a solution you’re not seeing and neither are we. Good luck with this conundrum, and keep us informed!
GreedyRates
My boss recently redeemed miles in order to buy his AirCan ticket from Toronto to London, UK and he thinks he should receive Aeroplan miles for the flight. That would be almost like double-dipping, and he won’t in fact be credited any miles, is this correct?
Hi Andrea,
Break it to your boss lightly, but yes, you’re correct that he won’t be earning any Aeroplan miles on his flight. Redeeming miles to book a flight won’t reward you any miles as this would be double dipping, and there isn’t a bank on Earth that hasn’t closed this loophole. Only purchases made on credit rack up rewards, miles, points, cash back, or what have you—no exceptions. Even “cash-like” transactions won’t earn any miles (such as a cash advance, returned item etc.), and banks make it clear that unless you’re spending their money you won’t get a reward.
GreedyRates
Yep, that’s like any credit you get let’s say at Shopper’s. I get a $10 gift card, but next time Iuse it, I don’t get my Shopper’s points for them. Same thing here at Aeroplan.
I have been getting treatments for cancer throughout throughout the last eleven months. My travel miles were cancelled last month. I received no notification this was happening. Who do I contact to straighten this out?
Hi Roland,
Thanks for the comment, and we’re sorry to hear about the unexpected cancellation of your miles. This is likely due to inactivity, but if you’d like to confirm then we’d expect that an Aeroplan representative could provide help. This is likelier than it being an issuer or a bank matter. Good luck regardless.
GreedyRates
How many points do you need to be a Gold member?
Hey Denise,
Thanks for the post. If you’re looking to climb the tiers of Aeroplan and earn a new status, know that Gold is no longer a real status. You’re able to go from Silver to Black to Diamond status, and these three levels require you to purchase fixed amounts of mileage through Aeroplan in each calendar year. To get Black status (rewarding you with 25% off the Aeroplan mileage cost for all Aeroplan flights) then you’ll need to have bought or flown at least 50,000 miles through Aeroplan that year. Then you’ll get Black status perks for the remainder. Hope that helps!
GreedyRates
How long does it take for Aeroplan points earned from a TD credit card to show up in one’s Aeroplan account? I see that the points are showing on my TD statement, but not on my Aeroplan account: does it happen automatically? How long does it take after the statement is issued?
Hi Lee,
Thanks for the comment. If your Aeroplan Miles are showing up in the administration panel of your TD account, then they’ll shortly arrive in your Aeroplan account. There are a few degrees of separation between the actual purchase being made and the Aeroplan account, as the purchase must be processed and settled with TD and then TD will tell Aeroplan how many points to assign the respective cardholder. While this isn’t an exact answer, all Aeroplan says on the matter is that for its financial partners, “If you’re an Aeroplan-affiliated credit card holder, your miles will be deposited every billing cycle.” We imagine that you won’t have long to wait, accordingly. Good luck!
GreedyRates
Hi,
Why you do not have partners with Gaz Stations,groceries or Pharmacies
Hey Albert,
Thanks for coming to GreedyRates with your concerns about the Aeroplan travel rewards program. Contrary to your comment, there are absolutely Aeroplan cards available that offer miles from gas, groceries, pharmacies, and even more common daily purchases. For example, if you look at the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card, it allows you to earn 1.5 Aeroplan miles for every $1 you spend in these categories, and also on aircanada.com! The Amex Gold Rewards card provides the same ability, though at a lower rate and you’ll only get Aeroplan miles after exchanging them for the card’s default rewards.
If we misunderstood your comment just let us know and we’ll come back to give a more satisfactory answer, but in the meantime, thanks for reading.
GreedyRates
Does anyone know why Aeroplan points cannot be acquired on Air Canada express flights?
Hi Gary,
To the extent of our knowledge, Air Canada Express flights by Jazz are eligible to earn Aeroplan Miles. According to the rules stated by Aeroplan, all scheduled Air Canada Express flights allow you to earn Miles, while chartered flights (including Air Canada Express) do not. Could it be that your flight was chartered and this is why you aren’t earning Miles? Perhaps it wasn’t offered through Jazz? Check into the details and let us know! Thanks.
GreedyRates
Can I transfer my points to someone who is not an Aeroplan member?
Hi Oli,
Interesting question! Essentially, you’re asking if it’s possible to transfer Aeroplan miles to another person but also if this is possible if that person doesn’t have an Aeroplan account. First of all, you won’t be able to collect any Aeroplan miles whatsoever if you don’t have an account, and all members have an account. This means non-members aren’t capable of receiving Aeroplan miles. That said, if the person you want to send miles has an Aeroplan account, you can transfer the miles to him or her for a fee of $0.02 per mile transferred. This service can be completed online in your Aeroplan account or with a short phone call to customer service, and the miles will hit the recipient’s account instantly.
Opening an Aeroplan account is easy and free and can be done online. You don’t need to sign up for a credit card to have an Aeroplan account, but it is useful if you want your friend to keep earning miles on their everyday purchases (and enjoy other travel-centric perks as well). If you’d like to provide them with a few card recommendations to go along with the miles you’re sending, point them in our direction and we’d be happy to answer their questions by email at info@greedyrates.ca. Thanks!
GreedyRates