How to Earn Aeroplan Miles Without Flying

Travelling in the air is definitely one of the most accelerated solutions to earning enough miles to redeem for complimentary travel. Depending the type of frequent flyer program you are affiliated with, you can earn from the distance flown or amount paid for the ticket. Being an elite status member, you can earn these miles at an even impetuous speed.

Most people believe that if they do not fly often, it is an impossible mission to rack up enough miles in their account sufficient for that free trip they have always dreamed of. However, earning miles without actually flying can be just as lucrative as stepping aboard that aircraft.

In this post, I will talk about how we can earn Aeroplan miles without flying.

Sign Up Bonus

Many financial institutions such as CIBC, American Express and Toronto Dominion have teamed up with airline loyalty programs to create co-branded travel credit cards to assist travellers in reaching their goals. Some of the better choices to help jump-start your Aeroplan account faster, include:

Earning Membership Rewards points which transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Aeroplan

• American Express Gold Rewards Card (25,000 sign up bonus)
• American Express Business Gold Rewards Card (30,000 sign up bonus or 40,000 with referral)
• American Express Platinum Card (50,000 sign up bonus or 60,000 with referral)

Aeroplan co-branded credit cards

• TD Aeroplan Infinite Visa Card (25,000 sign up bonus promotion until October 30, 2015)
• American Express AeroplanPlus Gold Card (25,000 sign up bonus)
• TD Aeroplan Visa Signature Card (25,000 sign up bonus) (for U.S. residents only)
• TD Aeroplan Visa Business Card (30,000 sign up bonus promotion until October 30, 2015)
• TD Aeroplan Infinite Privilege Visa Card (50,000 sign up bonus promotion until October 30, 2015)
• American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum Card (50,000 sign up bonus promotion until October 31, 2015)
• American Express AeroplanPlus Reserve Card (60,000 sign up bonus promotion until October 31, 2015)

Everyday Shopping

Asides from a generous sign-up bonus, the TD Aeroplan Infinite Visa Card offers an earning of 1.5 miles per dollar spent on aircanada.com, gas, grocery and drug store purchases while the American Express Gold Rewards Card offers an earning of 2 points per dollar spent on travel expenses, gas, groceries and drug store purchases. If you’re shopping for groceries or paying for gas, you can rack up quite a few points with just your daily expenses.

Furthermore, Aeroplan partners up with a host of retailers, where even if you don’t have a Aeroplan co-branded credit card, you can earn miles just by presenting your Aeroplan card when you pay. Some of the more common retailers include: Esso, Uniprix, Home Hardware, etc.

Online Portals / Online Retailers

You may be shopping for a large purchase such as a new computer, furniture, home appliance not realizing that online shopping portals offer discounts and a greater earning in points. Most airlines and major financial institutions offer a shopping portal offering products from retailers you would find in your local shopping mall. Online retailers can range from Costco, Chapters, Apple Store, Ebay, Gap, Sears, The Bay, Sephora, Nordstrom, Sony, Macy’s, Foot Locker, etc.

Shop.ca is a Canadian shopping portal who has collaborated with Aeroplan to offer you great miles earnings while shopping on their website.

Surveys

There are survey programs where after you complete the survey, you can earn miles for a specific loyalty program. The main survey program for Aeroplan is AskingCanadians, where you need to pre-set your awards earning account to HBC Rewards, Aeroplan or Petro-Points before you begin earning. There is also Aeroplan Advisors, which is for an exclusive online community of Aeroplan Members. With Aeroplan Advisors, members participate in discussion forums, provide feedback, test products, and complete short surveys that helps influence Aeroplan decisions.

Hotels

There are two ways to earn Aeroplan miles by staying at hotels. First of all, you can pre-set your account to automatically earn Aeroplan miles directly, instead of earning hotel points. This is a great option especially when there are bonus promotions, where you can earn multiplier promotions for a hotel stay. This earning option usually gives a fixed amount of miles per stay, such as 125 or 250 per stay.

A second option to earn hotel points first, then convert the points to miles. This is a more flexible option, because you can decide when you want to top up your Aeroplan account for specific reward if need be. Or else you can leave them as hotel points to redeem for a reward night instead. Every now and then you will see transfer bonus promotions to Aeroplan.

Hotel loyalty programs that allow you to earn Aeroplan miles include: Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Club Carlson, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, IHG Rewards Club, Marriot Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, etc.

The Bottom Line

Besides flying halfway across the world to lock in some miles, there are many other “ground” options as well. Using the ways mentioned above, you will be maximizing your earnings and never have to worry about your account expiring. Finally, earning on the ground seems much easier than in the air, and before you know it, you will be flying on a reward flight.