One of my favorite things about Air Canada Aeroplan is the emphasis that the program has on adding partners. Aeroplan has more airline partners than any other airline frequent flyer program.
Aeroplan has just announced its newest airline partner. While hardly the most aspirational airline in the world, it should prove useful for some travel within Europe.
Air Canada & Eurowings partnership details
As of July 25, 2024, Air Canada Aeroplan has launched a new partnership with Eurowings, allowing Aeroplan members to redeem points for travel on this Lufthansa Group subsidiary. A few things to note:
- Eurowings awards follow Aeroplan’s standard partner award pricing chart
- Aeroplan members have access to business class and economy class awards on Eurowings
- Aeroplan members are able to book Eurowings flights online at aircanada.com, or via the call center
- Eurowings flights are combinable with flights operated by Air Canada and other airline partners
- While there are no carrier imposed surcharges, the standard 39 CAD partner booking fee applies
For context, below is the Aeroplan award chart for travel within the Atlantic region (which includes Europe, where virtually all Eurowings flights operate).
As you can see, one-way awards of up to 1,000 miles cost 7,500 points in economy, or 15,000 points in business class. Meanwhile one-way awards of 1,001-2,000 miles cost 12,500 points in economy, or 25,000 points in business class.
The basics of Eurowings
For those who aren’t familiar with Eurowings, the airline is one of Lufthansa Group’s low cost, regional subsidiaries in Europe. The airline doesn’t belong to Star Alliance, so as a result, it’s not usually possible to redeem Star Alliance partner points for travel on Eurowings, which is why this is a new opportunity.
The airline operates a fleet of roughly 100 Airbus A320-family aircraft. Eurowings doesn’t have hubs in Frankfurt (FRA) or Munich (MUC), which are the two biggest Lufthansa hubs, but instead operates point-to-point routes from other airports. Most of the carrier’s routes are to and from Germany, including airports like Berlin (BER), Cologne (CGN), Dusseldorf (DUS), Hamburg (HAM), and more. However, the airline also has some routes between other countries.
The Eurowings fleet is split between being in a single class layout, and being in a two class layout, with an intra-Europe business class product. Eurowings economy fares tend to be cheap, so always compare revenue rates to how many Aeroplan points you need to redeem.
Just to provide some more context on Eurowings’ position within the Lufthansa Group:
- Eurowings is specifically a regional airline operating point-to-point routes not involving Frankfurt or Munich; the airline used to be branded as Germanwings, but was rebranded after a crash
- Eurowings is separate from Discover Airlines, which used to be branded as Eurowings Discover, as that’s Lufthansa’s low cost long haul airline
- Then there’s Lufthansa CityLine, which is pretty well integrated into Lufthansa’s network, operating flights from Frankfurt and Munich on behalf of Lufthansa
- Then there’s the new Lufthansa City Airlines, which is yet another new subsidiary that’s partly replacing Lufthansa CityLine, due to updates with some of Lufthansa’s staff contracts
Lufthansa Group’s airline strategy is totally logical and simple, right? 😉
Bottom line
Air Canada Aeroplan has added Eurowings as its newest airline partner, making it possible to redeem points for flights within Europe on the airline. Eurowings is one of Lufthansa’s low cost carriers, primarily operating from non-Lufthansa hubs in Germany, so it’s great for point-to-point flights.
This isn’t the most valuable Aeroplan partner on earth, given that Eurowings’ fares tend to be quite reasonable. However, more partners are always a good thing, if you ask me.
What do you make of Aeroplan adding Eurowings as a partner?
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