Often buying points strategically can be a good value, especially for first and business class travel. Air Canada Aeroplan has just launched its latest promotion on purchased points, and it has the potential to be quite an attractive offer.
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 14, 2025, the Air Canada Aeroplan program is offering a promotion on purchased points. On the main page for buying points, it’s suggested that the bonus is for up to 85%. However, when I log into my account, I see a bonus for up to 100%. So you’ll want to log in and see what you’re eligible for.
The biggest percent bonus kicks in if you purchase at least 80,000 points (pre-bonus) in one transaction.
How much does it cost to buy Aeroplan points?
Ordinarily you can buy Air Canada Aeroplan points for $0.035 CAD (~0.024 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.
If you purchased 500,000 Aeroplan points with a 100% bonus, you’d receive a total of 1,000,000 Aeroplan points at a cost of $17,500 CAD (~$12,200 USD), which is a rate of 1.22 cents (USD) per Aeroplan point.
If you were instead eligible for an 85% bonus, you’d receive a total of 925,000 Aeroplan points for the same cost, which comes out to 1.32 cents (USD) per Aeroplan point. The 100% bonus is among the better offers we’ve seen from the program in quite some time.
How many Aeroplan points can you purchase?
While you can purchase up to one million Aeroplan points per account per calendar year, there’s ordinarily a per-transaction limit of 250,000 points pre-bonus. However, during this promotion that has been doubled, 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) or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review), 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, 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, Bilt 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 bonus on purchased points. I see an offer for a 100% bonus, though it seems that some people may only be eligible for an 85% bonus. With a 100% bonus, this is an opportunity to acquire points for 1.22 cents each.
This could represent a good deal, and there are plenty of situations under which the math will work out for this promotion. Still, in general I’d only recommend buying points with a short term use in mind, as there’s always risk to holding onto points for longer periods of time.
Do you plan on buying Aeroplan points with this promotion?
I have found Aeroplan to be very useful for long-haul C and F over the past year, despite the blocking of ANA premium cabins. Way more reliably available and cost-effective than AA, UA, or DL.
A few trips I have successfully booked in the past 12 months...
UA C LAX-HND
UA C HND-IAD
AC C YYZ-NRT-YYZ (combined with UA short-haul legs so it priced at 75k each way)
LO C WAW-YYZ
LH F HND-FRA
LH F MUC-IAD
My personal experience as a longtime expat based in the ME/GCC. I redeem Aeroplan miles "only for Biz redemption" & mainly for the routes of ME-ME, ME-Europe, ME-East Asia(home) or South Asia(MNL, KUL, CGK etc.). Often use a stopover benefit in IST/CAI/BAH. Anyway extremely good value for me at least, so I regularly purchase Aeroplan miles under promotion.
(Biz Redemption)
- Airlines with a ton of availability, even in the last minute :...
My personal experience as a longtime expat based in the ME/GCC. I redeem Aeroplan miles "only for Biz redemption" & mainly for the routes of ME-ME, ME-Europe, ME-East Asia(home) or South Asia(MNL, KUL, CGK etc.). Often use a stopover benefit in IST/CAI/BAH. Anyway extremely good value for me at least, so I regularly purchase Aeroplan miles under promotion.
(Biz Redemption)
- Airlines with a ton of availability, even in the last minute : MS, TK, GF, Air India etc.
- Airlines with a good amount of availability : TK, WY, Aegean, Thai airways etc.
- Airline with no/rare Biz availability : EY (but good availability in economy)
The offer I received is just 85% bonus. Would you mind advising how should I obtain 100% basis?
Only offered 85%. Even if purchasing 80k. Tried login multiple times 85% is the best. I prefer to buy miles when I find suitable award Any advise on how to find 100% offer?
I signed in and I am eligible for 85%. does anyone know why some people are eligible for 85% and others get 100%? I am based in the UK and I don't have any status with Air Canada. Curious if either of those things have an impact.
I just made my first Aeroplan ticket purchase.
45k points +US$62 for OW Turkish J Tashkent-Istanbul-Helsinki
That priced at ~US$1200 for cash.
At 1.22¢ it would be ~US$600
I’m a big fan of Air Canada’s Aeroplan program. It’s consistently offered great value for USA→Asia flights.
Just ran a quick search and found these options available within ~3 months:
Thursday, March 6: IAD > AUH > DOH for 90k (2 seats left, Etihad)
Wednesday, March 5: MIA > IST > PVG for 87.5k (1 seat left, Turkish)
Thursday, March 6: IAD > ZRH > ICN for 87.5k (3 seats left, Swiss)
Or, if...
I’m a big fan of Air Canada’s Aeroplan program. It’s consistently offered great value for USA→Asia flights.
Just ran a quick search and found these options available within ~3 months:
Thursday, March 6: IAD > AUH > DOH for 90k (2 seats left, Etihad)
Wednesday, March 5: MIA > IST > PVG for 87.5k (1 seat left, Turkish)
Thursday, March 6: IAD > ZRH > ICN for 87.5k (3 seats left, Swiss)
Or, if you’re flexible and fine with short notice:
Wednesday, February 19: SFO > ICN for 75k (2 seats left, Asiana)
Sure, if you're after routes like EWR → SIN with SQ, you'll need to book further out - often 10-11 months in advance.
But if you’re fine planning ahead, I’m seeing JFK → FRA with SQ for 60k throughout November!
Can tell you now that IAD - AUH in J with EY won't book, guaranteed.
Take a look at typical redemption rates on Air Canada before jumping on this. Saver award inventory on partners has become nearly as hard to find as with LifeMiles.
Nowadays, it's almost impossible to redeem any good long haul flights via Aeroplan, the only redemption I can made last year for a redemption from West coast to Asia was made 11 months in advance. Unless you have a concrete plan a year ahead, otherwise, Aeroplan redemption is.... Mission Impossible....
@Eddie. I concur wholeheartedly with your observation. I've never been able to find any awards I've needed.
However there is one exception and that is Ben who seems to come up with all sorts of great awards at the drop of a hat (whatever that expression means). I wish he would share his magic with us:-)
The magic is travelling solo and having extreme flexibility on travel dates and destinations.
When you have those things - using points + miles is easy.
Hence you see bloggers and influencers making it all look very achievable - as this is in their own self interest as they are in the business of promotion/advertising.
For everyday people - it's often not worth the hassle.
100%.
The partner blocking us insane with AC.
This is selling magic beans to people.
You have to be extremely flexible and a sad loner since only 1 seat is the norm