Often buying points strategically can be a good value, especially for first and business class travel. The Air Canada Aeroplan program has just launched its latest promotion on purchased points, and it has the potential to be a good deal.
Aeroplan is one of my all-around favorite frequent flyer programs, thanks to the huge variety of airline partners, the ability to have stopovers on one-way awards for 5,000 points, and the generally great online booking experience.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased Air Canada Aeroplan points
Through Tuesday, January 30, 2024, the Air Canada Aeroplan program is offering a bonus on purchased points. Different members are being targeted for different offers. The accounts I manage show a bonus of up to 85%, while others report seeing a bonus of up to 100%. So you’ll want to log into your account to see what you’re eligible for.
How much does it cost to buy Aeroplan points?
Ordinarily you can buy Air Canada Aeroplan points for $0.035 CAD (~0.026 USD) each, before any discounts or bonuses. Any purchases made with US credit cards and US billing addresses aren’t subject to sales tax either.
With that in mind, this means that:
- If you were eligible for an 85% bonus and maxed that out with the purchase of 500,000 points in one transaction, you’d receive a total of 925,000 Aeroplan points at a cost of $17,500 CAD (~$12,983 USD), which is a rate of 1.4 cents (USD) per Aeroplan point
- If you were eligible for a 100% bonus and maxed that out with the purchase of 500,000 points in one transaction, you’d receive a total of 1,000,000 Aeroplan points at a cost of $17,500 CAD (~$12,983 USD), which is a rate of 1.3 cents (USD) per Aeroplan point
We see Aeroplan promotions on buying points every so often, and most of the promotions are good deals. However, the offer we saw in late 2023 was considerably better than this one, but then again, that was an exceptionally good offer. I’d recommend only taking advantage of these deals with an immediate use in mind.
How many Aeroplan points can you purchase?
While you can purchase up to one million Aeroplan points per account per calendar year, ordinarily there is a per-transaction limit of 250,000 points pre-bonus. However, during this offer period that limit has been increased to 500,000 points.
Which credit card should you buy Aeroplan points with?
Air Canada Aeroplan points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending. Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending.
In this case the best options are the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees) or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees), which offer 2x miles and have no foreign transaction fees. Usually the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi Double Cash® Card (review) would also be good options for maximizing everyday spending, but the cards have foreign transaction fees, so wouldn’t be good options in this case.
Is buying Air Canada Aeroplan points worth it?
Aeroplan is one of my favorite frequent flyer programs out there. To cover a few of the basics:
- Award pricing is a combination of zone and distance-based
- There are no fuel surcharges for any award redemptions
- You can have a stopover on a one-way award for an additional 5,000 points
- Aeroplan has more airline partners than any other program out there, including partnering with many non-Star Alliance airlines
There are lots of phenomenal uses of Aeroplan points, and this is a program that I redeem through regularly.
On what airlines can you redeem Aeroplan points?
One of my favorite things about Air Canada Aeroplan is that the program has more airline partners than any other frequent flyer program, and you can redeem points on over 45 airlines. In addition to Air Canada belonging to the Star Alliance, Aeroplan also partners with airlines that include Etihad, Azul, Vistara, Air Serbia, Virgin Australia, Air Dolomiti, Eurowings Discover, Gulf Air, Oman Air, Air Mauritius, Bamboo Airways, and Emirates.
Unfortunately Aeroplan has been having issues with some partner awards, in particular for travel on Etihad Airways. So unfortunately at the moment those redemptions largely aren’t possible. Always look up award availability before buying points, to get a sense of what you can expect.
Are there fuel surcharges on Aeroplan awards?
Many consumers are frustrated by the practice of airlines adding carrier imposed surcharges to award tickets. In the case of Aeroplan, there are no fuel surcharges on award tickets, meaning you shouldn’t expect to pay big fees when redeeming points.
How much are Aeroplan points worth?
Everyone will value points currencies differently, but personally I value Aeroplan points at ~1.5 cents each. However, I tend to value points pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get way more value from Aeroplan points than that.
Do Aeroplan points expire?
Air Canada Aeroplan points only expire after 18 months of inactivity. However, any account activity that leads to earning or redeeming points (including buying them) would reset the expiration.
What other ways can you earn Aeroplan points?
While buying Aeroplan points could represent a great deal, keep in mind that there are lots of other ways to earn Aeroplan points. Most significantly, Aeroplan is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate Rewards, making the currency pretty easy to acquire.
On top of that, in the United States there’s the Aeroplan® Credit Card (review), which is pretty lucrative.
Bottom line
Air Canada’s Aeroplan program is offering a promotion on purchased points. The accounts that I manage show a bonus of up to 85%, though other accounts are showing a bonus of up to 100%. This is an opportunity to buy Aeroplan points for 1.3-1.4 cents each (in USD), depending on what you’re eligible for.
Aeroplan points are valuable, and there are plenty of situations under which the math could work out with taking advantage of this offer. In general I’d only recommend buying points with a short term use in mind, though, as there’s always risk to holding onto points for longer periods.
Do you plan on buying Aeroplan points with this promotion?
I am able book 4 business class tixs EWR-SIN and back without any issues using Aeroplan miles (87.5K each +$118). Last year, I was able to fly First class from AUH-IAD using Aeroplan miles.
I have received the bonus offer 100% in the email. Buying and redemption happend within mins. It worked well for me. No regrets buying Aeroplan miles.
Email content:
Here’s a great way to jump into 2024. Get a bonus...
I am able book 4 business class tixs EWR-SIN and back without any issues using Aeroplan miles (87.5K each +$118). Last year, I was able to fly First class from AUH-IAD using Aeroplan miles.
I have received the bonus offer 100% in the email. Buying and redemption happend within mins. It worked well for me. No regrets buying Aeroplan miles.
Email content:
Here’s a great way to jump into 2024. Get a bonus of up to 100% when you buy Aeroplan points until January 29, 2024.
Etihad is now blocked.
Good luck repeating that
And good luck making changes/rebooking when there is a simple 5 min schedule change and you cant call anybody to reissue the ticket.
Its all good until something is not, and there is no recovery with Aeroplan.
Not correct, the january 2024 sale is not 100% bonus ... it is max 85%..:(
Forgot to mention the incredible bruise I got on LH459 from the terrible bed on a 350-900. Their business seats are deadly. Thank GOD we had a TG925 flight MUN-BKK that was brilliant in all respects.
As a 25K I got offered 85% Whoopee. Pass.
Thanks Ben for the old post of how to maximize miles (by never booking AC). Dumped my "lowest Business (call me economy with no chance of an upgrade) 113K YVR-BNE to a SFO-MUN-BKK for less miles and business all the way. Talked to an agent who did YVR-Tokyo through LHR for 87500 (instead of 491K direct).
Really appreciate the advice.
Lol this crazy useless program that barely has availability, charges an arm and a leg, and has a 300 partner airlines, but 297 are blocked or are experiencing "IT issues".
Please. You would have to be crazy to sink money in with these nutters
Absolutely true!
But you can spend 100k for a coach trip to Winnipeg :)
This program should never be promoted as it has the worst level of customer service. Do not be surprised if they deactivate your accounts without any notice or explanation and leave you stranded at your destination as has happened to many people.
The mystery is why do blogs keep pushing Aeroplan (OK not really a mystery lol)
How about a write up on how noone picks up the phone and half the partners continue to be blocked....
Mine is showing a 100% bonus for another data point.
The tiers seem to be a little different than yours as well. Mine shows needing to buy 60k miles to trigger the largest tier of the bonus at 100%. The other thresholds shown are 3K - 55% bonus and 25K - 75% bonus
Same here.
Sharing another 100% bonus data point...also at the 60k level.
Not sure if the 100% offer is limited to first timers: "...a bonus of up to 100% when you purchase Aeroplan points for the first time"
@ jhwptp -- Appreciate the data point, I updated the post to reflect that.
My Aeroplan account is showing 85% max. at 50,000 point purchase. No 100% offer.