More Details of New Aeroplan Released

Aimia’s (owner of Aeroplan) Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Rabe released a video explaining some of the changes expected from July 2020 onward to its reward program. In short, the changes look very promising.

Highlights to watch for

  • Ability to transfer points to around 20 frequent flyer programs.
  • Cash and miles reward redemption option.
  • Ability to purchase airlines tickets directly with Aeroplan and earn miles as the same time.
  • Ability to redeem reward flight on any seat, on any airline, any time, anywhere.
  • Round-trip reward flights redemption will be:
    • North American short-haul: 15,000 miles
    • North American long-haul: 25,000 miles
    • Mexico and Caribbean: 40,000 miles
    • Europe: 60,000 miles
    • Asia: 75,000 miles

Unanswered questions

  • What will be the 20 frequent flyer transferable partners?
  • How much will the taxes and fuel surcharges be on an Aeroplan reward redemption?
  • Will there be continued co-branded credit cards beyond June 2020?

Thoughts

At first glance, I am very excited about these new initiatives. The taxes and fuel surcharges is going to be a deal breaker on their reward redemption. But with the new ability to transfer to partner airlines, it can be a game changer in Canada. Their value will highly depend on which partners they will have.

Either way, I am looking forward to their next round of details that they will release!

13 Comments

  1. What bothers me is that the round-trip reward flights redemption wording is “will be offered beginning at the following Aeroplan Miles”… Somehow I think this means that the stated miles are the minimum and there is no way to know how high it can really go. Also there is no information about redemption for business and first class flights, which are today still the best value for Aeroplan miles.

  2. Thanks for the update. I agree it sounds good…as long as it survives to July 2020 (which I certainly hope it does). For me, Aeroplan has always worked out very well!

  3. Being able to transfer points to another airline is no big deal in itself. No one has said that this would be on a 1:1 basis. The devil is in the details. (Anyone actually using points.com?)

    1. That will be a factor. But at the very least we will have the option to top up our frequent flyer account for a specific reward redemption if need be. Even if it is a horrible transfer ratio.

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