Air Canada Request for Proposal for Credit Card Partner
Air Canada has sent out a request for proposal to offer a co-branded credit card (new reports from CBC and Financial Post). Since announcing that they will be discontinuing their partnership with Aeroplan, steps will be taken by both companies to move on from each other.
Most of the news has surrounded around Aeroplan, regarding who they will team up with next, what to do with Aeroplan miles, etc. Air Canada has remained relatively quiet until now. We know that they plan on launching their own loyalty program and they will need to team up with at least one credit card company to offer a co-branded credit card to make their program more valuable.
Currently, American Express, CIBC and TD Canada Trust all offer co-branded Aeroplan credit cards. So unless they discontinue their partnership with Aeroplan, they may not be likely candidates. But anything can happen.
My hope is that there will be at least 2 or more companies teaming up with Air Canada. We definitely do not want to see a monopoly when it comes to the miles and points game.
Personally, I hope to see one of the smaller banks team up (other than the big 6: American Express, BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotiabank, TD) with Air Canada to generate even more competition in the industry. Unfortunately, the smaller banks may not currently have the necessary resources to enter into such a big partnership.
Either way, this is an exciting time and I look forward to seeing what Air Canada has to offer!
My guess is Scotiabank. Scotiabank doesn’t have any airline or miles cards (whereas Amex, TD, RBC, CIBC and BMO all have airlines, Airmiles, or Aeroplan).
If there’s nothing contractually forbidding Amex from partnering with AC, that might also be option #2. 1) Amex would be left without an airline co-branded CC. 2) It’s fairly normal for airlines and hotels to have both an Amex and a VISA/MC card (Aeromexico, Interjet, Hilton, also Aeroplan right now).
That is a fair guess!
I can’t see AMEX not having Air Canada in 2020. Who wants to have a MR card in Canada without the ability to transfer to Air Canada, because in 2020, Aeroplan will probably turn into an Airmiles and lose most Star Alliance availability. Then what will AMEX Canada do without people being able to transfer to Air Canada to redeem Star Alliance awards…
Good point Dale!
Amex must have Air Canada in order to remain a premium card for business travelers. Unless they somehow only limit it to higher-end cards like the Platinum… They will not survive in Canada without Air Canada. Maybe Aeroplan will pickup Westjet, but Amex must have AC!
Agreed! It is probably more crucial for AMEX than the other companies.
CIBC has been sending out a survey to gather feedback on a variety of card options to its current customers, for a hypothetical new rewards program, which is clearly Air Canada’s. Looks like they’re gathering feedback to develop products for new AC card offerings, so they’re certainly putting a proposal in.
I’d agree that Amex is lost w/o Air Canada, but that doesn’t mean they’d want those co-branded cards…they’d just need to negotiate a transfer agreement for MR to AC points to remain competitive in that space.
Transfer partner would be more valuable than a direct co-branded card for sure. Especially if they would offer transfer bonus promotions too!