Awesome: Chase Aeroplan Card Pay Yourself Back Feature

Link: Apply now for the Aeroplan® Credit Card

The Aeroplan® Credit Card (review) has a perk that’s potentially more lucrative than first meets the eye…

Chase Aeroplan Card Pay Yourself Back basics

With the Aeroplan Credit Card‘s Pay Yourself Back feature, cardmembers can redeem their Aeroplan points for 1.25 cents each toward any purchase in the travel category. That’s right — it’s now possible for cardholders to redeem their Aeroplan points for everything from Spirit Airlines flights, to Four Seasons hotel stays.

To cover some of the basic terms associated with this:

• You can charge any eligible travel purchase to your Aeroplan Credit Card, and then reimburse yourself for that purchase within 90 days from the redemption date
• There’s no cap to how many Aeroplan points can be redeemed this way in 2023, while as of 2024 you’ll be restricted to redeeming 50,000 points per year
• Statement credits will post to your account within three business days, and will appear on your credit card billing statement within one to two billing cycles
• Eligible travel purchases include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds, passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages

Below, you can see some screenshots of the process of using the Pay Yourself Back feature (sadly this isn’t my account… I don’t have that many Aeroplan points!). When you’re logged into your Chase account, you can just click the “Pay Yourself Back” button.

Then you can select from eligible transactions, to decide which you want to redeem points for.

You’ll then be given the option of how many points you want to redeem. You can apply points toward all or part of the purchase cost, assuming you have enough points.

And then you’ll receive confirmation that you’ve initiated the Pay Yourself Back feature, and a statement credit will soon appear on your account.

Can all Aeroplan points be redeemed with Pay Yourself Back?

The Chase Aeroplan Pay Yourself Back Feature feature is exclusively available for those with the Aeroplan Credit Card. One common question, however, is which Aeroplan points cardmembers can redeem through the Pay Yourself Back feature. After all, Aeroplan is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Do the points have to be earned with the Aeroplan Credit Card, or can you convert points from other currencies and then redeem them this way? I’ve asked Aeroplan contacts about this, and the intention is that this feature be used for points earned with Chase:

• This means you can not only redeem points earned with your Aeroplan Credit Card, but you can also redeem points transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Aeroplan this way
• However, the intention isn’t that points transferred over from Amex Membership Rewards and Capital One be redeemed this way

Now, practically speaking, it’s not like your Aeroplan points balance is broken down into your points acquired through Chase and your points not acquired through Chase. My interpretation would be that some mixing of points is fine, like if you have a small balance of points through other means, as long as you’re acting within the spirit of the program.

So I imagine if you transfer a million points from Amex to Aeroplan and then use those points for Pay Yourself Back, you may be in trouble. Meanwhile, if you have 500,000 Aeroplan points and a small percentage of those were earned through non-Chase means, I can’t imagine that would be an issue. Again, that’s just my interpretation. I always recommend acting within the spirit of these programs, or else you might find yourself in a bad situation.

Why the Aeroplan Pay Yourself Back Feature is valuable

Should everyone with the Aeroplan Credit Card redeem their points using the Pay Yourself Back feature? No, absolutely not. But I think this is also much more lucrative than first meets the eye.

Aeroplan is my favorite frequent flyer program, and personally I value Aeroplan points at 1.5 cents each, thanks to all the amazing ways there are to redeem Aeroplan points. Aeroplan has dozens of airline partners, and on top of that allows stopovers for just 5,000 extra points. Aeroplan points give you incredible potential to redeem for first & business class flights.

However, this Pay Yourself Back feature gives you an impressive amount of flexibility with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points. So if you have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review), you should now seriously consider picking up the Aeroplan Credit Card.

The first thing to keep in mind is that for 2023, those with the Aeroplan Credit Card receive a 10% transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards. This applies when you transfer 50,000 or more Chase Ultimate Rewards points in one transaction, and you can get a maximum of 25,000 points this way for 2023 (which you’d get when transferring 250,000 points).

So, why is this so awesome?

• You could get up to 1.375 cents per Chase Ultimate Rewards point if you’re a cardmember
• This is potentially more advantageous than redeeming through the Chase Travel Portal, since you can truly book however you’d like; you can book your hotel stay directly with your preferred hotel so you can take advantage of loyalty perks, you can book a ticket on Southwest (which isn’t available through the Chase Travel Portal), and you can even book a hotel rate with your preferred corporate rate code
• While the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review) allows redemptions for 1.5 cents each through the Chase Travel Portal, personally I’d rather redeem points for 1.25-1.375 cents each and be able to book how I’d like, given all the additional opportunities that opens up

Being able to cash out Chase points for 1.25-1.375 cents each, without any sort of a booking requirement, is quite worthwhile. It’s especially useful for those who want flexibility, and who struggle to maximize points in the traditional way.

The Aeroplan Credit Card is worth another look

If you don’t yet have the Aeroplan Credit Card, I think this card is seriously worth considering:

• The card offers a welcome bonus of 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
• With the Pay Yourself Back feature, the full bonus will get you $750 worth of travel of your choice, with hotels, flights, rental cars, etc.
• This in my opinion the most innovative co-brand airline card we’ve seen in terms of the rewards structure, the spending bonuses, the ability to earn status, and the general perks

Even if you’re not huge into Aeroplan, I think most would agree that being able to now redeem these rewards to erase virtually any travel purchase is a phenomenal opportunity.

Bottom line

The Aeroplan Credit Card has a valuable Pay Yourself Back feature. Cardmembers can redeem Aeroplan points for 1.25 cents each toward almost any travel purchase, by using their points to erase the cost of that purchase. While savvy travelers can get well over 1.25 cents of value per Aeroplan point, I think this is a pretty exciting option for the Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem overall.

Do you see value in the Aeroplan Credit Card/s Pay Yourself Back feature?