Aeroplan Points are some of my favourite airline points to buy when they’re on sale, allowing redemption for business or first class flights at a fraction of the cost.
Aeroplan, a Star Alliance program, offers a tonne of partners we can utilise here in Australia. Some of the favourites are Singapore Airlines, Etihad, Thai Airways, United, Virgin Australia, Emirates, Oman Air, and yes… even Air Canada.
Buying Aeroplan Points at a discount can be a smart way to enjoy the pointy end of the plane in business and first, but as always it’s important to first research availability before jumping on a deal like this.
Currently, Aeroplan is running a targeted promotion until 30 January 2024. The bonus on offer ranges from 85% to 100%. My account is showing 85%, so I’m not sure what criteria need to be met to get the 100%.
Visit Air Canada to buy points: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home.html
In this post:
How much does it cost to buy Aeroplan?
Aeroplan is sold in Canadian Dollars. Without any discounts, the cost per point is $0.035 CAD, which works out to around $0.039 AUD. Keep in mind that when buying these points, you may attract a foreign exchange fee on your credit card of 3%. So it’s probably a good idea to either use a debit card with no FX fee such as Up, Ubank, or Revolut, or use a card that’s going to earn you a high number of points to offset the cost.
Aeroplan Points are sold in different discount tiers, with the best tier being available to those who buy 50,000 points or more.
- Buy 5,000 points: 40% bonus
- Buy 30,000 points: 60% bonus
- Buy 50,000 points: 85% bonus
At the highest bonus level of 85% (unless you’re lucky enough to get the 100% bonus), the cost per point is $0.0189 CAD per point or approximately $0.021 AUD.
Aeroplan Bonus History
| 85%-100% bonus | January 23, 2024 | January 30, 2024 |
| 125% bonus | November 13, 2023 | November 29, 2023 |
| 80% bonus | October 16, 2023 | October 25, 2023 |
| 80% bonus | September 12, 2023 | October 2, 2023 |
| 75% bonus | July 6, 2023 | July 12, 2023 |
| 50% discount | June 7, 2023 | June 17, 2023 |
| 95% bonus | May 23, 2023 | May 29, 2023 |
| 110% bonus | May 18, 2023 | May 22, 2023 |
| 85% bonus | April 17, 2023 | April 30, 2023 |
| 80% bonus | March 13, 2023 | March 30, 2023 |
| 100% bonus | January 19, 2023 | January 25, 2023 |
How many Aeroplan can you buy each year?
Each year, members are allowed to buy up to 1,000,000 points, and each transaction is limited to 250,000. During this promotion, the transaction limit has been increased to 500,000 (not including the bonus points you get).
What are the benefits of using Aeroplan?
One of the major benefits of Aeroplan is their extensive list of partners and the ease of use of their platform. Another great benefit is that Aeroplan doesn’t charge any fuel surcharges (something Emirates is well known for). So while it might cost you fewer Skywards miles to redeem an Emirates flight, Aeroplan won’t pass on the obscene surcharges but does charge more points. Another cool benefit is that Aeroplan allows you to add a stopover on a one way redemption for just 5,000 points.
While we talk about the benefits we should also note that Aeroplan often blocks partners from showing award space or blames this on IT issues so as always, make sure to check the flights you want are actually available before buying points!
When do Aeroplan Points Expire?
Air Canada Aeroplan points expire if there’s no account activity for 18 months. You can easily reset the expiration date by buying, redeeming, or earning points from flying.
Summing up
Buying Aeroplan points is one of the easiest ways to redeem business and first class flights for a much lower price than what it would cost you to pay for them outright. And thanks to the many Aeroplan Partners, there are lots of options on offer!
