Best Ways to Earn and Redeem Aeroplan Points

Aeroplan is a Star Alliance loyalty program acquired by Air Canada in 2019 for 450 million Canadian dollars (about $350 million). 

After enrolling and earning rewards with this program, Air Canada frequent flyers can enjoy reward seats from 26 Star Alliance airline members and several non-alliance partners across the world.

Let's look at the ways to earn and redeem Aeroplan points to get the most value out of the program. 

Attain Aeroplan Elite Status for Greater Deals

Moving up the Aeroplan program's five-tier elite status ladder is among the best ways to get some benefits from Air Canada

A Deep Dive into Aeroplan Awards

Air Canada’s loyalty program, Aeroplan, has been involved in so much drama in the last few years, any telenovela would be jealous of the twists and the turns.

For about 25 years, Aimia Inc. operated Aeroplan independently of Air Canada. The Montreal-based carrier planned to launch a new program but eventually bought Aeroplan back from Aimia for 450 million Canadian dollars in 2018. Now that Aeroplan has returned to Air Canada, the program underwent many changes, and we have the final result.

The program has migrated to a new system, but luckily everyone’s miles are intact.

Largest Hotel Point to Aeroplan Transfer Bonus Ever Ends Tomorrow

Aeroplan's 30% bonus for transferring hotel points ends tomorrow night. If you have a stash of SPG or Marriott points, read this post to see if taking advantage of the bonus makes sense for your travel plans.

Through August 21 (11:59 ET), 2017, Aeroplan is offering the biggest bonus on record at the moment for transferring hotel points to Aeroplan miles. It's also not a tiered bonus like the others in the past have been. Transferring any amount will earn the advertised 35% bonus.

Why I Just Chose to Redeem Aeroplan Miles Over Singapore

Tonight (for me it is almost 11 PM) my goal was to book a flight to get me from Norway to Spain around July 11, because for the rest of the days leading up to the 11th, I'll be camping in rural Norway with little to no internet access.

Cash flights at this point are exorbitantly expensive, but hey, that's what miles are for.

The Best Four Airline Transfer Partners of SPG Starpoints

Let's run through the best airline transfer options while the Starwood Preferred Guest personal and business credit cards from American Express come with 35,000 bonus Starpoints for spending $5,000 and $8,000 respectively in the first six months of cardmembership.

Swiss Business Class Award Space Wide Open to Europe

Swiss Airlines is releasing two Business Class award seats during Fall 2017 and Winter 2018 on its American routes, including from the West Coast.

Swiss flies the following routes to Zurich with connections throughout Europe.

You can book this rare award space in a top-notch flat bed for 55,000 Aeroplan miles, 63,000 LifeMiles, or 70,000 United miles. None of those programs collect fuel surcharges on Swiss awards, and all allow connecting United flights free of charge.
The Product
Swiss has a few Business Class products that you can check out on Seat Guru.

SPG to Aeroplan Transfer Bonus: Get Up to 59% More Aeroplan Miles for Cheap Roundtrips to Europe

Right now 40k Starpoints plus taxes will get you a roundtrip economy class trip to Europe, 80k Starpoints will get you a roundtrip Business Class ticket, and 95k will get you a roundtrip First Class ticket.

Starpoints always transfer to dozens of airlines at a 1:1 rate with a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred.

How to Search for Award Space on Aeroplan.com

Aeroplan is Air Canada’s spun-off loyalty program. Aeroplan.com is an awesome search engine that displays award availability on almost all Star Alliance flights.

You should know how to use aeroplan.com whether or not you ever plan to redeem Aeroplan miles because you shouldn’t necessarily search the website of the miles you’re using. You should just search the website that is easiest and best at displaying award availability. Any award availability shown at aeroplan.com will be bookable with Aeroplan, United, Singapore, ANA, Lufthansa, and Avianca miles.

Aeroplan.com is usually my backup search engine.

59% Transfer Bonus from Starpoints to Aeroplan Miles!

Aeroplan has brought back its huge transfer bonuses that it last offered in April, August, and December 2015.

Right now 40k Starpoints plus taxes will get you a roundtrip economy class trip to Europe, 145k Starpoints will get you two roundtrip Business Class ticket to Europe, and 110k will get you two roundtrip First Class tickets to Hawaii.

Starpoints always transfer to dozens of airlines at a 1:1 rate with a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred.

Comprehensive Spread Sheets of Eight Star Alliance Award Charts: Cheapest Awards to Every Region

Updated 1/29/16 to reflect new Aeroplan award prices effective for awards booked 12/15/15 or later.
Updated 10/6/15 to reflect new ANA award prices effective for awards booked 10/15/15 or later.

In the last few weeks, I have published some comparative charts of Star Alliance award charts. I'm putting all of those charts into this post for easier reference.

You can use any type of Star Alliance miles to book almost any Star Alliance flight. (Swiss, Lufthansa, and Singapore hold back some premium cabin award space for their own members.