Book your dream vacation using Air Canada Aeroplan’s latest promotions. To celebrate Aeroplan’s 40th birthday, the airline is offering a whopping 125% bonus when you buy Aeroplan points until July 11. From July 12 to 19 the bonus drops to 100%.
Aeroplan typically sells points for about 2.58 cents per point. With the new promotion offering a 125% bonus, you can now buy Aeroplan points for around 1.14 cents per point, which is below TPG’s July 2024 valuation of Aeroplan points (1.5 cents per point). So, this sale can save you money if you have a certain redemption. Keep reading for more details about this limited-time Airplane Points sale and how you can maximize this promo to book your next flight.
Related: How to Redeem Aeroplan Points for Maximum Value
Air Canada Aeroplan offers a 125% bonus when you buy points
Aeroplan members can purchase or gift up to 500,000 Aeroplan points per transaction. Keep in mind that there is an annual purchase limit of 1 million points, plus a 500,000-point annual limit on gifting points. Members must purchase at least 60,000 points to receive the 125% bonus, which would cost 2,100 Canadian dollars (about $1,540) for 135,000 points including the bonus.
While TPG generally does not recommend Buying Points – Unless you want to top up your account or have a specific redemption in mind – because the price is usually higher than our valuation, with this sale, you can buy points for less than our valuation. So, this sale can definitely save you money, especially on high-priced business-class award tickets.
It might be the best way to score Star Alliance flights at a discount — including a round-trip business-class award from the US to Europe for as low as $1,368 before taxes and fees, which is incredible.
You only need 60,000 Aeroplan points each way to fly business class from the East Coast to most of Western Europe. For example, you may be John F. of New York. Fly Singapore Airlines’ daily fifth-freedom route between Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Frankfurt Airport (FRA) in Germany. Of the 135,000 points you bought for $1,540, you’ll have 15,000 points left over, resulting in about $1,368 for the 120,000 points you need to fly to Europe.
You will still need to pay airport fees and government taxes on top of your redemption. In the Singapore Airlines example above, those fees and taxes would set you back CA$331.50 (about $228), although some European airlines such as Swiss will have lower fees and taxes.
If you were to buy a round-trip business-class ticket for the same flights, you’d spend about $4,000. So, you can save yourself over $2,000 by purchasing points with this bonus.
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Plus, the remaining 15,000 points can be used for domestic United Airlines flights, starting at just 6,000 Aeroplan points.
All Aeroplan members can purchase points at this rate as this is not a targeted deal. While Canadian residents are subject to sales tax on point purchases, US-based Aeroplan members are not.
Air Canada also allows members to add a stopover to a 5,000-mile one-way ticket and does not add a fuel surcharge to any of its award tickets.
Related: How to Earn Aeroplan Points
Aeroplan credit card’s best welcome offer ever
If you are looking for other ways to top up your Aeroplan account, Aeroplan® Credit Card From Chase is a value cobranded airline credit card that offers cardholders ongoing value for a low annual fee.
Right now, the card is possibly offering its best bonus ever; However, it comes with some caveats. You can earn:
- 70,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first three months
- 40% bonus points on purchases (up to $40,000 spent) for 40 days if you apply for your first Aeroplan card by July 17
Per TPG’s valuation, an Aeroplan point is worth 1.5 cents, making a base 70,000 Aeroplan points worth $1,050.
For Chase credit card holders, the issuer is currently offering a 20% transfer bonus to Aeroplan through July 31. Because Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio, you’ll now get 1,200 points with this current bonus offer.
Buy Aeroplan points with this credit card
If you purchase Aeroplan Points with this promotion, your purchase will be processed by Points.com instead of Air Canada. Unfortunately, you won’t receive bonus rewards for using the card together Airline expenses as a bonus category.
To get the most points for your purchases, pay with a credit card that offers solid returns on non-bonus spending. Additionally, since Aeroplan points purchases are charged in Canadian dollars, pay with a card that doesn’t add foreign transaction fees.
Here are some of our favorites:
*Based on TPG’s July 2024 valuation and not provided by issuers.
Bottom line
If you’re looking to book flights to Europe, now might be the time to stock up on Aeroplan points. With current promotions of up to 125%, you can use these extra points to cover discounted economy, premium economy and business-class flights. However, you must purchase points before July 11 to receive the full promotion. After that, the bonus drops to 100% until July 19.
This is a great deal to save money on your next flight or to upgrade your Aeroplan account and buy a business-class seat instead of an economy ticket.