Aeroplan® - Air Canada

Program Review

Air Canada is the largest airline of Canada, and it was founded in 1937. It provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 182 destinations all over the world. It is the 10th largest passenger airline by fleet size, and it is a founding members of the Star Alliance. Air Canada’ corporate headquarters are located in Montreal, Quebec, while its largest hub is at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Air Canada had passenger revenues of CAD$13.8 billion in 2015. Aeroplan, which is Air Canada’s official frequent flyer program, offers its members the ability to accrue points/miles that can be redeemed for a number of different things, including award flights, hotel bookings, car rentals, and more.

Aeroplan Program

Aeroplan offers members a number of different ways to earn points, which can be used for everything from free award flights to cabin upgrades and even car hire. This program is definitely one of the more accessible ones in existence, and there are a number of Elite levels that members can work through way up to so as to enjoy even more perks and benefits. One of the great things about this rewards program is that Air Canada has so many different partner airlines, making it very easy to earn points/miles. Those who fly with Air Canada often will definitely want to take the time to look into this program to see what exactly it has to offer overall.

Earning Aeroplan Points

The normal way to earn Aeroplan miles is, not surprisingly, by flying on an Air Canada flight. You can also earn miles on a number of partner airlines that are a member of the Star Alliance airline alliance. The amount of miles that you will earn varies depending on the length of the flight, the class of ticket (read “price”), and the airline you are flying with. The miles are calculated based on the actual miles, not kilometers, flown with a 500-mile minimum payout for shorter flights. You can consult the following table to get an idea of exactly how many miles you will earn for the flight you booked, with 100% being the exact number of miles flown. There is a second type of miles that can often be earned in tandem with Regular Miles called Status Miles. These are the miles that count towards qualifying you for one of the several Air Canada preferred statuses, known as the Air Canada Top Tier Program, which each comes with an increasing set of benefits, depending on which level you qualify for. Air Canada describes the difference between the two types of miles in their FAQ. You can also qualify for a status tier by flying a certain number of flight segments, even if the distance traveled wouldn’t normally be enough to qualify you. This is to accommodate those passengers who fly frequently with Air Canada but only fly short distances.

Redeeming Mileage Points

Again, the normal way to redeem Aeroplan miles is for flights. Short haul flights to nearby provinces and states (aka. short haul) start for as little as 15,000 miles and 25,000 miles will get you a flight anywhere in the United States or Canada. The full chart is available on their website but here is an abbreviated version of the chart including only departures from within Canada & Continental USA. Over the years Aeroplan has become more of a full-featured rewards program that includes a lot of options outside flights for both earning and redeeming miles. If you visit the Use Your Miles section of Aeroplan.com you will see all the options they have available including flights, hotels, car rentals, activities, merchandise, and vacation packages. These additional options are great for added flexibility, but redeeming for flight rewards almost universally gives you the best value for your miles.

Routing Rules

On long-haul awards, in addition to your destination Aeroplan allows two stopovers (one in each direction) OR one stopover and one open jaw. For long-haul awards, Aeroplan lets you officially exceed the maximum permitted mileage for a city pair by 5% (airlines publish MPMs, which are the most number of miles you should be able to fly between a city pair, so basically they’re letting you exceed that slightly, which is reasonably generous), and unofficially lets you exceed it by 10%. Award tickets are manually priced, so it’s up to the agent to verify that the routing is valid — Aeroplan agents are among the most competent in the industry, so they’ll almost always correctly validate routings.

Benefits of Air Canada’s Aeroplan Program

There are many different benefits associated with Air Canada’s Aeroplan program, including the fact that there are so many different ways to earn points, making it very easy. If you are looking for an airline frequent flyer program that offers many different perks and benefits with little downside, this is definitely one to consider.

Elite Levels

In October 2014 Air Canada announced a set of changes to their Altitude elite program. As a reminder, Altitude is separate from Aeroplan, which is the general Air Canada frequent flyer program. Just like its U.S. peers, Air Canada tightened the screws by adding the revenue component to the list of the Elite Status requirements.

The new requirements don’t go into effect until 2017. The requirements for reaching each Elite level in this program are:

• For Altitude Elite 25K you need to fly 25,000 PQMs or 25 PQSs and $3,000 PQDs
• For Altitude Elite 35K: 35,000 PQMs or 35 PQSs and spend $4,000 PQDs
• For Altitude Elite 50K: 50,000 PQMs or 50 PQSs and spend $6,000 PQDs
• For Altitude Elite 75K: 75,000 PQMs or 75 PQSs and $9,000 PQDs
• For Altitude Elite 100K: 100,000 PQMs or 95 PQSs and $20,000 PQDs

Booking Fees/Charges

Aeroplan members will need to pay a CAD$90 fee for changing flights and a CAD$90 fee for any and all refunds. Aeroplan Contact Center on 1-800-361-5373, which will cost CAD$30. Asking very nicely may get the fee waived.