I’ve written in the past about how Air Canada Aeroplan is my single favorite frequent flyer program for redeeming points. Aeroplan is a program you should care about even if you never fly with Air Canada.
My single favorite thing about Aeroplan is the number of airline partners that the program has, and that list only continues to grow. I wanted to take a look at that in a bit more detail in this post — what airlines does Aeroplan partner with, and why does it matter so much?
In this post:
Aeroplan has more airline partners than any other program
The Aeroplan program allows you to redeem points on over 45 different airlines, and counting. There’s not a single airline frequent flyer program in the world that has this many direct redemption partners, so that’s truly remarkable.
The major global airline alliances generally allow reciprocal award redemptions as one of the main perks of the concept. With Air Canada being part of the Star Alliance, of course you have access to the over two dozen Star Alliance member airlines. But what’s most impressive is the number of non-alliance partners that Aeroplan has.
Why should you care so much about this?
- Aeroplan points are extremely easy to come by, including with transferable points currencies, as I’ll explain below
- Aeroplan allows stopovers on awards for an extra 5,000 points, which is a rare feature nowadays
- Aeroplan allows awards on all partners to be booked online, and there are no fuel surcharges on any awards
- Aeroplan has some unique airline partners that are otherwise tough to redeem on, ranging from Air Mauritius, to Gulf Air, to Oman Air, to Vistara
- Being able to mix & match airline partners on a single award is awesome, especially for getting to more remote destinations
There’s simply not another airline program that has anywhere close to this depth of partnerships. This could be useful whether you want to travel to the Canadian Arctic in Canadian North economy…
Or want to travel to Madagascar in Air Mauritius business class…
Or want to travel to Oman in Oman Air first class…
Full list of Aeroplan airline partners
Here is the current list of Air Canada Aeroplan’s 47 airline redemption partners:
- Aegean Airlines
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air Creebec
- Air Dolomiti
- Air India
- Air Mauritius
- Air New Zealand
- Air Serbia
- All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- Asiana
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca
- Azul
- Bamboo Airways
- Brussels Airlines
- Calm Air
- Canadian North
- Copa Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- EgyptAir
- Emirates Airline
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Etihad Airways
- Eurowings
- Eurowings Discover
- EVA Air
- GOL
- Gulf Air
- Juneyao Airlines
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Olympic Air
- Oman Air
- PAL Airlines
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- SunExpress
- SWISS
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airlines
- United Airlines
- Virgin Australia
- Vistara
The only quirk to note is that Emirates redemptions follow a different award chart, so the pricing there will be different than with Aeroplan’s other partners.
Why is Aeroplan seemingly alone in adding partners?
Aeroplan is in a league of its own when it comes to adding airline partners for the purposes of award redemptions. That’s not because folks behind the program have some secret recipe that other programs don’t have. It’s simply because the people behind the program see value in this for members and put a lot of effort into it, and other programs seemingly don’t.
I remember having a conversation with the head of a certain airline loyalty program some time back, and I brought up the topic of how the program had lost several airline partners over the years, and it would be nice to see a focus on adding more partners for members to redeem their points. The answer? “That’s not really a priority for us.”
I find that logic puzzling, but then again, I find a lot of the changes we’ve seen at major frequent flyer programs in recent years to be questionable at best. So, why is Aeroplan countering the industry trend by adding a never-ending list of new partners?
- First and foremost, Aeroplan is truly run by avgeeks who are obsessed with airlines and flying, and I imagine on some level they’re adding partners that they’d love to be able to redeem their own points on
- The reality is that there’s a business case for what Aeroplan is doing — award reimbursement rates are typically quite low, so Aeroplan will typically make money when you transfer your points to Aeroplan, and then redeem them on a partner; that’s not only a great business model independently, but also a great way to drive up engagement in Aeroplan, and awareness of Air Canada
- Air Canada has clearly given Aeroplan leadership latitude to add partnerships that are good for the program, rather than just adding a very limited number of partnerships that are driven by revenue management and other commercial agreements; compare this to Delta, which nowadays only seems to want to work with airlines it has equity stakes in
I do have to say, I’d love to be a fly on the wall for Aeroplan’s pitches and negotiations when adding new partners. Aeroplan has managed to add some airline partners that are redemption-only, meaning Aeroplan leadership has convinced people at these airlines to allow Aeroplan members to redeem, without any sort of commercial agreement otherwise. That must take some skill!
If the whole Aeroplan thing doesn’t work out, these people could probably fly to the Canadian Arctic and be fridge salespeople (and they could fly there on Canadian North using Aeroplan points, natch!).
How to earn Aeroplan points
As mentioned above, one of the great things about Aeroplan is that the points are pretty easy to come by. Air Canada Aeroplan is 1:1 transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
This means you can transfer over points earned with cards like the American Express® Gold Card (review), Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review) (Rates & Fees), and Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review).
Transfers from all of these partners are generally instant, which matters because often there might be award availability but then you find that a transfer takes multiple days, which can quickly ruin your plans.
On top of that, there’s the Aeroplan® Credit Card (review) in the United States, which offers a great bonus and some unique perks. Lastly, Aeroplan often sells points at a reasonable cost.
Bottom line
Aeroplan has more airline partners than any other frequent flyer program in the world, and that’s something I really appreciate. The program now has over 45 airline partners and counting. I love the consistency offered by these redemptions, from being able to mix partners on a single award, to there not being any fuel surcharges, to being able to have stopovers on one-way awards.
The best thing is that Aeroplan is only getting started when it comes to adding partners, and we’re told to expect even more interesting partners in the future. I can’t wait to see what airlines are next.
Anyone else appreciate Aeroplan’s breadth of airline partners as much as I do?
I am finding it very frustrating that I can only find Air Canada flights to most of the locations I want to travel to. I would prefer to fly Singapore Airlines, Eva, Turkish, etc., and it is almost impossible to find these flights even though I know they are available. Also, Aeroplan "marries" their multiple airport transfer flights together, so one cannot change one section of the flight even though one can see availability. Is...
I am finding it very frustrating that I can only find Air Canada flights to most of the locations I want to travel to. I would prefer to fly Singapore Airlines, Eva, Turkish, etc., and it is almost impossible to find these flights even though I know they are available. Also, Aeroplan "marries" their multiple airport transfer flights together, so one cannot change one section of the flight even though one can see availability. Is there an easy way to find other airline flights?
I like your comments about the quality of the program and can attest that it was a good program because Aeroplan was an independent company until Air Canada bought it a few of years ago. The quality of the program has been deteriorating since then, like all other such programs.
Love aeroplan but wonder how long they can sustain this business model. They allow all sorts of things that other airline programs won’t do. Aeroplan seem to have a ‘can do’ attitude. Surely this must come at a cost and I wonder how profitable it is. Their website is fabulous as well and you don’t need to ring the call centre at all.
I used to like alaska mp but they look positively antiquated compared...
Love aeroplan but wonder how long they can sustain this business model. They allow all sorts of things that other airline programs won’t do. Aeroplan seem to have a ‘can do’ attitude. Surely this must come at a cost and I wonder how profitable it is. Their website is fabulous as well and you don’t need to ring the call centre at all.
I used to like alaska mp but they look positively antiquated compared to aeroplan.
Aeroplan must be attracting huge amounts of cash to fund their business with their regular points sales. Also the Canadian dollar exchange rate is a plus for non US miles and points people compared to the very expensive USD.Aeroplan would definitely be affecting mileage plan and avianca miles sales.
Good on Air Canada, however I find that they do not make many seats available on these partners and also find that United has far more availability and options when trying to book from Europe to Canada. For example it seems extremely rare to find Europe to Canada with routing on United through the US...unless you're booking with United points.
" the head of a certain airline loyalty program" you chatted with wouldn't be from Alaska MP would it?
The rather negative attitude you encountered fits their business model these days, and their indifference to their members needs. Their inability to negotiate good deals for their customers has been in steady decline for several years now.
Their much-trumpetted reforms to the MP program have been a fizzer so far, with indicernable positive benefits.
" the head of a certain airline loyalty program" you chatted with wouldn't be from Alaska MP would it?
The rather negative attitude you encountered fits their business model these days, and their indifference to their members needs. Their inability to negotiate good deals for their customers has been in steady decline for several years now.
Their much-trumpetted reforms to the MP program have been a fizzer so far, with indicernable positive benefits.
The needed reforms are a wholesale change of personnel in MP. in my considered opinion.
If I book an Aeroplane award on united metal (ORD-DEN) and I'm premier silver with united, do I get premier benefits on my flight (complimentary checked bag, better seat at check-in)?
Yes, you do. Just add your UA number at the check-in.
Why do you think they generally charge so much to fly on their metal vs partners? I feel like it’s the opposite for most other airlines
Award compensation fare is so low that they would never want you to redeem for themselves.
Ben, love the blog but I'm puzzled by one aspect of your Aeroplan comments. I'd estimate that something like 85% of Aeroplan members are Canadian. The cards you promote are all - to us - "international" ones and unavailable. There are, however, many Canadian-issued credit cards which feature Aeroplan currency (Amex Canada, TD, CIBC all have multiple flavours of native or potentially Aeroplan issuing cards). Am I correct to presume you don't mention these because...
Ben, love the blog but I'm puzzled by one aspect of your Aeroplan comments. I'd estimate that something like 85% of Aeroplan members are Canadian. The cards you promote are all - to us - "international" ones and unavailable. There are, however, many Canadian-issued credit cards which feature Aeroplan currency (Amex Canada, TD, CIBC all have multiple flavours of native or potentially Aeroplan issuing cards). Am I correct to presume you don't mention these because the related affiliate offers from them aren't attractive for you? Personally, I see ads for them all the time so I find it odd. I know the Chase Aeroplan card is fantastic but it's not even available to 85% of Aeroplan members. Call me Puzzled In Toronto...