Introduction to Air Canada Aeroplan: July 2022 Update — Award Chart Changes, Higher Mileage Costs for Long-Haul and Premium Cabin Awards

[Updated 2022.7] AC will make some changes to its award chart on September 1. Overall, the changes are fairly limited, but required mileage is increasing in some cases. In summary:

• Partner-airline awards from the U.S. to Europe and Asia will require more miles in premium cabins
• Short-haul awards from North America to South America will require fewer miles
• For partner awards between Europe and Asia, short-haul pricing decreases, but awards over 7,000 miles increase
• Within South America, short-haul awards decrease, but economy and business class awards over 1,600 miles will require more miles

All related changes are listed below. You can use AC’s regional definitions to identify the mileage changes for the flights you care about.

Between North America and Atlantic

• 6,001 – 8,000 mile distance band
  • Business (Partner) : Increases from 85,000 to 90,000
  • First (Partner) : Increases from 120,000 to 130,000
• 8,001+ mile distance band
  • Business (Partner) : Increases from 100,000 to 110,000
  • First (Partner) : Increases from 130,000 to 140,000

Between North America and Pacific

• 7,501 – 11,000 mile distance band
  • Business (Partner) : Increases from 85,000 to 87,500 pts

• 11,001+ mile distance mile band
  • Business (Partner) : Increases from 105,000 to 115,000 pts
  • First (Partner) : Increases from 140,000 to 150,000 pts

Between North America and South America

• 0 – 2,500 mile distance band (new band with reduced pricing)
  • Economy (Air Canada) : 20,000-45,000 pts
  • Economy (Partner) :  20,000 pts
  • Premium Economy (Air Canada) : 35,000-100,000 pts
  • Business (Air Canada) : 40,000-150,000 pts
  • Business (Partner) : 40,000 pts
  • First (Air Canada) : 60,000-175,000 pts
  • First (Partner) : 60,000 pts
• 2,501-4,500 mile distance band (no change vs. original 0-4,500 distance band)

Between Atlantic and Pacific

• New 0-2,500 mile distance band (new band with reduced pricing)
  • Economy (Air Canada) : 25,000-50,000 pts
  • Economy (Partner) :  25,000 pts
  • Premium Economy (Air Canada) : 30,000-65,000 pts
  • Business (Air Canada) : 40,000-75,000 pts
  • Business (Partner) : 40,000 pts
  • First (Air Canada) : 50,000-100,000 pts
  • First (Partner) : 50,000 pts

• 2,501-5,000 mile distance band (updated from 0-5,000 miles)
  • Premium Economy (Air Canada) : 50,000-75,000 (new; not currently offered)
• 5,001-7,000 mile distance band
  • Premium Economy (Air Canada) : 65,000-80,000 (new; not currently offered)
• 7,001+ mile distance band
  • Economy (Partner) : Increases from 60,000 to 65,000 pts
  • Premium Economy (Air Canada) : 80,000-110,000 pts (new; not currently offered)
  • Business (Partner) : Increases from 100,000 to 110,000 pts
  • First (Partner) : Increases from 130,000 to 140,000 pts

Within South America

• New 0-1,600 mile distance band (new band with reduced pricing)
  • Economy (Partner) :  10,000 pts
  • Business (Partner) : 20,000 pts
  • First (Partner) : 30,000 pts

• 1,601+ mile distance band (updated band with increases in partner pricing)
  • Economy (Partner) : Increases from 15,000 to 20,000 pts
  • Business (Partner) : Increases from 30,000 to 35,000 pts
  • First (Partner) : 50,000 pts (no change)

About Air Canada’s Aeroplan Program

Air Canada’s mileage program is called Aeroplan. Previously, it was not operated directly by Air Canada, but instead managed by the third-party company Aimia (which also came up with the name). More recently, Air Canada took back control of the loyalty program and will now operate it itself going forward.

Today, Air Canada published an announcement on its official website with the new Aeroplan program details. These changes officially took effect on November 8, 2020.

• Air Canada official announcement

I took a quick look, and the most important points are roughly as follows:

• Fuel surcharges eliminated: No fuel surcharges on Air Canada flights; partner awards have a $39 booking fee instead, which is not categorized as a fuel surcharge
• Family sharing: You can create a group of up to 8 people and pool points together
• Miles earned depend on how much you spend: On Air Canada flights, mileage earning is no longer tied to flight distance, but to the amount you spend
• Dynamic pricing on Air Canada: Award tickets on Air Canada flights use dynamic pricing, meaning the same route no longer has a fixed mileage price and will vary based on the current cash price
• Partner awards priced by distance and region (distance based): The exact mileage required depends on both region and distance
• Stopovers now cost extra: 5,000 miles each; they used to be free
• Credit card benefits: Free checked bags, EQM benefits, etc.

If I had to sum it up in one sentence, Aeroplan is now more in line with the loyalty programs of major airlines. Personally, I think there has still been quite a bit of devaluation. At least for advanced award travelers, many of the old sweet spots and high-value redemptions are now much harder to pull off. For beginners, though, this is probably a good thing, since redemptions are easier to understand and use.

Next, let’s take a closer look at several of the more important changes.

Award Pricing: Region + Distance + Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing will likely become the standard award-pricing model across major airlines over the next few years, since it gives airlines the most direct control over mileage usage. Right now, Delta and UA already use this model, while most Asian carriers still rely on the older fixed award chart system. Aeroplan is now adopting this model as well.

• New award chart

From what I can tell, the main change is that Air Canada-operated flights now have an award range that appears to be tied to the cash price. Partner airlines still use a fixed award chart, with the required mileage determined by region and distance.

• First, Air Canada divides the world into several regions, and each region pair has its own award chart.

• For travel within North America, the chart below applies. It is easy to see that Air Canada is using a strictly distance-based pricing model. Once the distance band is determined, Air Canada-operated flights add an upward-flexing range, which is the so-called price-based component. In business class, the range can even go as high as double the lowest level. Partner awards, by contrast, have a fixed price that falls roughly in the middle of that range.

• The same applies to common North America–China routes.
• For example, LAX-PVG is about 6400 miles. According to the chart, economy requires 45,000-90,000 (Air Canada) or 50,000 (partner); business class requires 110,000-250,000 (Air Canada) or 110,000 (partner). Compared with the previous partner award chart, partner-airline economy pricing has increased quite a bit (previously 35,000), while business class appears unchanged.

According to Air Canada, any of its own flights that can be purchased with cash can also be booked with points. Of course, the number of points required can also be very high. Thankfully, partner awards are still priced on a fixed basis. I imagine experts will soon find some routes that fall just within certain distance bands, have high cash prices, and low award prices, similar to finding BA sweet spots. For partner airlines, though, economy class appears to be a devaluation if you look at the mileage cost alone.

That said, Air Canada still has not clarified whether connections will be priced simply based on origin and destination. If it works like BA, where each flight segment is priced separately and then added together, that would be a real pain.

Fuel Surcharges

Fuel surcharges have always been one of the more annoying parts of award tickets. Air Canada says it will “eliminate” fuel surcharges on its own flights. Why the quotation marks? Because in my view, with dynamic pricing, the fuel surcharge is effectively already baked into the dynamic award price. For example, when we buy a ticket with cash, we do not pay a separate fuel surcharge on top of the airfare and airport taxes.

For partner airlines, Air Canada is using a flat-fee approach: a fixed $39 booking fee per ticket. In addition, this amount can also be redeemed with points. My guess is 3900 points = 39 CAD. For partners with high fuel surcharges, such as Air China, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airways, Lufthansa and Thai Airways, this change is actually very nice. But for UA, which already has very low fees, this is a slight loss, since it may previously have required only $5.6 in airport taxes.

Infant Tickets

I took a quick look at its Flight Reward Policy and did not see anything especially interesting at first, until I got to the infant ticket rules...

Infants under the age of 2 and not occupying a seat may accompany an adult travelling on a Flight Reward and will require a separate ticket for travel, subject to the below:

• For travel wholly within Canada, no fare will apply and the infant requires a ticket.
• For travel between Canada and the United States, no fare will apply and the infant requires a ticket.
• For all other itineraries, a discounted fare of CAD25 or 2,500 Points will apply per direction of travel and the infant requires a ticket.

Where applicable, taxes, fees and charges will be assessed and must be paid in cash. Only one infant under the age of 2 not occupying a seat is permitted per adult travelling.

Infant tickets are free within Canada and between Canada and the U.S. In all other cases, it is just 25 CAD or 2,500 points, which is an amazing deal.

Family Pooling

Air Canada will allow up to 8 family members to form a group, and all points earned by people in the group will be pooled together. The points can then be used for any member of the group. In addition, if one member has Air Canada elite status or holds an Air Canada co-branded credit card, the others can also get preferred pricing and redeem fewer points for flights. This benefit is a bit unusual; maybe it means a fixed 10% off award tickets? Looking forward to more details.

Earning Miles

For those of us who play the credit card game, the miles earned from flying are far less than what we earn from credit cards, so I will keep this part brief.

• Air Canada mileage earning overview

The miles earned on Air Canada flights will depend on fare class, ticket price, and elite status, as shown below:

The article does not mention any changes to partner-airline mileage earning, so I am guessing it may stay the same as before. In addition, miles earned through the Aeroplan shopping portal, credit card spending, and hotel bookings should transition seamlessly into the new program.

Right now, Air Canada points can be transferred from MR at 1:1, and Marriott points at 3:1, with 5,000 bonus miles for every 20,000 miles redeemed. I would guess those will remain unchanged as well. I wonder whether transfer partners like Chase and Citi might eventually be added.

Elite Status

This is not something we focus on that much, since most readers here are mainly into credit card rewards. If you are interested, you can check out the official overview.

Credit Cards

Air Canada credit cards are issued by TD Bank, Canadian AMEX, and CIBC. Only Canadian residents can apply, so we have not covered them on this site in detail. The more important updates are that benefits now apply to both award tickets and cash tickets, some new perks have been added, and authorized users can also enjoy some of the primary cardholder's benefits. For details, see the official page:

• Aeroplan credit card overview

Chase and Aeroplan have now launched a co-branded credit card in the U.S. It comes with an award ticket welcome bonus, and cardholders also get quite a few perks. If you fly AC often, it may be worth applying for and keeping long term.

Other

• Points expiration has been extended from 12 months to 18 months
• Points can be used for upgrades and inflight Wifi

Bottom Line

Overall, the changes to Air Canada's loyalty program are quite significant. Award redemptions have become simpler and more straightforward, but at the same time, some of the old sweet spots and tricks are gone. In that sense, the program is keeping up with the times. Now we just have to wait and see when Asian airlines will follow suit.