Earn 2x Air Canada Altitude Qualifying Miles
As Air Canada continues to phase out Aeroplan, they are putting more emphasis on creating their own loyalty program. Air Canada already has an elite qualifying program called Altitude. Some changes were made to their earning options in their Economy fare pricing. Some of the highlights are as follows:
- Earn 25% elite qualifying miles on Economy Standard
- Earn 100% elite qualifying miles on Economy Flex
- Earn 115% elite qualifying miles on Comfort
- Earn 125% elite qualifying miles on Economy Latitude
Unfortunately, any Economy Basic fares will not be eligible to earn any miles.
2x the Altitude Qualifying Miles
In celebration of this move, Air Canada is offering a 2x the Altitude Qualifying Miles promotion on any eligible round trip (or two one-way segments) booked in a Comfort fare on all flights within Canada and between Canada and the U.S. It needs to be on a non-stop or direct flights within Canada and from Canada to the US, operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada Rouge.
You will need to register for this offer and book your flight before April 19, 2018, as well as travel by August 31, 2018.
It will only work on new bookings, after you register for this offer. Any previous bookings will not qualify.
Going Forward
Even though it is sad for Aeroplan to lose its partnership with Air Canada, I am also excited to see what Air Canada has to offer. A lot of spotlight has been shown on Aeroplan, what they plan to do next without Air Canada.
But, equally as exciting, what is Air Canada going to offer as a frequent flyer program? Who are they going to team up with to offer a co-branded credit card?
I’m curious on the (or two one-way segments) term, does that mean any two segments or need to be tied to origin-destination. ie: yyz-yvr & yvr-yyz or yyz-yyc & yyc-yvr
In the terms and conditions section: “A minimum of one round trip or two one-way segments is required to earn and qualify for the Double AQM offer.”
I’m sceptical about how the new Air Canada program will turn out based on their current Altitude program. AQM miles are only given at 25% of the miles flown on Economy fares which is a nuisance to someone like me who flies short flights. It only takes a few gas fill-ups at Esso to earn the same amount of Aeroplan miles as some of these flights. In addition, I’m not that impressed with the 25K and up Altitude status. It would cost thousands of dollars to reach those early levels when I could just get the Amex Platinum or Amex Aeroplan cards for less than 900 dollars per year to get the priority lanes at Pearson and worldwide lounge access.
I’m new to collecting miles, and I truly hope that Air Canada can deliver a quality rewards experience that makes me feel valued as a frequent short flight flyer. I’m just sceptical that they’ll be able to deliver based on my impressions of the current Altitude program.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts fellow Matt. Either way, this is going to be very interesting how things play out. Hope to get some preview announcement soon!
Hard to be excited on my end for the new program – I can’t help but think that all pricing will be dynamic, killing sweetspots for the most part.
Off topic question, but how long does it generally take to convert Avion to AAdvantage points?
Thanks!
Cautiously optimistic about Air Canada.
Avion to America may be a week or more. Takes longer than converting to BAEC.
We will see how this works out for Air Canada in terms of a rewards program. I know for very frequent flyers, loyalty rewards from flights is a large generator. For most of us who only fly two or three times a year, we need other ways to collect … so we will see if they come out with a credit card. In the meantime, I am focusing my spending with West Jet and their reward dollars. I prefer West Jet anyways having had a much better customer experience over the years.
That’s right. Keep your portfolio diversified!
Off topic, but worth passing on, I received a letter from Chase Amazon Visa about the closing of my account (all Amazon Visas were shut down in March). I had about 1,000 pts (worth about $10) and was asked to call in to confirm my address so that they could send me a cheque for the credit. It was a simple 2 minute automated to human process.
The reason for posting is that not all credit card providers are like this. I recently enquired about closing an RBC Business CashBack card and was informed that I would have to forfeit my “CashBack” because it was just under the $25 threshold that they had buried in the user agreement.
Long story short, whenever a credit card provider does the simple and customer friendly thing, they should be applauded. There are a lot of snags and unfriendly user agreement caveats by many issuers that are deep in the fine print and very difficult to keep track of. Companies that do the customer-friendly thing deserve to be praised and noticed.
Thank you, Chase, and I hope that you will be back in the Canadain market soon.
Yes. They terminated their products gracefully if they honor all that they promised.
Amazon cheques seemed to have come through for the most part.
I think many are still waiting on Marriott certificates.
Hi Matt, I was wondering if you still have the original offer for the Comfort promotion. Aeroplan is refusing to award the points because they say that the offer ended at 19:59 and I bought my ticket at 21:00. Every single offer for everything has always been 23:59, and I do read the fine prints when I am interested in an offer. I simply don’t believe it but unfortunately, I can’t find the original offer. Thanks!
I do not have the orginial offer. They are generally strict with deadlines. I would try a different agent when you call in.