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The Canadian airline Air Canada might not be too familiar with most travelers. Air Canada’s loyalty program Aeroplan has made some positive improvements over the past couple of years. This includes being a transfer partner of Chase. Previously, it was kind of difficult to earn Aeroplan points.

Aeroplan has a ton of favorable redemptions for points and miles enthusiasts. Some of their partners are better than others, but you’ll be able to get to 195 countries

Best Uses of Aeroplan Points:
Aeroplan Partners
The Aeroplan Award Chart
How to Earn Aeroplan Points
Business Class to India
Business Class to South Africa
Business Class to Europe
Domestic US Flights
Business Class to Australia and New Zealand
Niche Redemptions

Best Uses of Aeroplan Points

Aeroplan Partners

Air Canada is a member of the Star Alliance. They also partner with a ton of other airlines across the other two alliances (SkyTeam and oneworld) plus airlines not part of an alliance. Using points through Aeroplan gets you access to all those airlines.

Star Alliance Members include:

Other Partners:

As you can see, that’s 49 airlines to spend Aeroplan points on. From remote areas of Canada to capital cities in China, Switzerland, and the South Pacific. Some of these airlines are niche redemptions that will be discussed towards the end of this article.

The Aeroplan Award Chart

Air Canada still publishes an award chart. It’s a hybrid chart featuring zones, distance and dynamic pricing. Earth is split up in four zones, North America, Atlantic, Pacific and South America. Required points are then determined based on total distance within the zone or between zones depending on routing. While there is still an award chart, you may experience dynamic pricing that doesn’t align with the award chart.

Before running award searches on Air Canada’s website, I recommend searching on United’s website. That may seem counterproductive, but United does have a flexible calendar. Air Canada does not. United’s calendar will help you narrow down dates to search on Air Canada.

Other airlines like Singapore, do allow for waitlisting, but not Air Canada. If you aren’t able to find the class of service for your dates, you won’t be able to join a waitlist. Award tickets must be confirmed at ticketing.

It’s not all doom and gloom from Air Canada. They don’t charge a close-in booking fee unlike other airlines like United. As an FYI, United defines close-in as twenty-one days prior to departure.

Any ticket that includes a flight with one of Air Canada’s many partners will be assessed a thirty-nine CAD fee on top of taxes and fees. Luckily, Aeroplan doesn’t pass on surcharges. This can save you a pretty penny when booking airlines such as

While many airlines are eliminating cancellation fees, Air Canada is not one. If you plan on cancelling an award ticket, it will cost 125 CAD to do online or 150 CAD via telephone. You can cancel up to two hours prior to first flight departure.

One of the best perks of Air Canada Aeroplan is stopovers. Stopovers only cost 5,000!!!! You can add one stop over each direction of your trip, but it cannot be in North America. You also cannot backtrack through an airport. Best part? The stopover can last up to 45 days! As an example, you could fly LA to Istanbul. Explore Turkey for thirty days before continuing to Cape Town.

The downside of the stopover rule is it must be booked by calling Air Canada. This will cost you an additional 23 CAD. Before calling, make sure there is availability for all legs of your trip.

How to Earn Aeroplan Points

Aeroplan points are easy to earn. They partner with three major flexible currencies. These are American Express, Capital One and Chase. This means cards earning Membership Rewards like the American Express Gold Card, cards earning Venture miles like the Capital One Venture X, and Ultimate Rewards earning cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred can all be transferred to Air Canada Aeroplan.

Chase and Air Canada also partner for a cobranded personal credit card.

Business Class to India

If India is a destination you are dying to see, you’ll only need 85,000 Aeroplan points to fly business class to India. If economy is more your travel style, flights cost 55,000 points each way.

Air Canada doesn’t fly to India, but their partners Air India, ANA, Singapore, Swiss and Turkish. There are several one stop options on Air India, ANA and Turkish.

Air India flies from the United States from these airports.

Related: How to Transfer Membership Rewards Points

Business Class to South Africa

South Africa is quickly becoming a more popular destination year after year. More US airlines are adding flights to the United States.

Business class flights cost 85,000 points each way. Economy will set you back 55,000 points.

SWISS and Lufthansa offer one-stop options. United offers a non-stop from EWR to JNB.

Business Class to Europe

While you can easily find cheap deals to Europe around the year, business class flights aren’t cheap. Business class flights to Europe will set you back 70,000 points each way. Economy costs 40,000 points.

If you can’t find award space with Aeroplan, you might also want to check out these options to Dubrovnik, Paris and London.

First class is also an option on airlines like SWISS and Lufthansa. But it will cost you a pretty penny at 100,000 each way. Both airlines only release these seats around two weeks prior to departure.

SWISS departs from the US in these cities.

Lufthansa flies to a bunch of US cities.

Domestic US Flights

International flights aren’t the only way to use Aeroplan points. They are also great for domestic US flights. For these flights, you’ll be flying Air Canada’s Star Alliance partner, United.

Depending on the total distance of each way, you’ll need 12,000 to 25,000 Aeroplan points for economy flights within the continental United States.

Business Class to Australia and New Zealand

Business class flights to the South Pacific will cost you 85,000 points each way. Air New Zealand is one airline to fly between the US and Australia/New Zealand.

These are difficult to find. Award space will be limited. You’ll likely be hunting a while to find these.

Niche Redemptions

Free agent airline Etihad can be booked using Aeroplan points. Why even mention this? The airline has an incredible first class. Needing only 120,000 points each way!

Etihad currently flies to few cities in the United States.

ANA is one of the most popular ways to book an around the world trip. But it’s also possible to book a mini one through Air Canada. For only 180,000 points, you can fly to Europe for a few week before heading to Asia then back home.

Related: Best Points Hotels in Santiago, Chile

Best Uses of Aeroplan Points Bottom Line

As you can see, there are tons of uses for Aeroplan points. This is just a few ways you can use the loyalty program to travel.

Asia isn’t excluded from redemptions on Aeroplan. There are some great airlines to fly to places like Japan, Singapore or South Korea. But there are some more favorable redemptions than with Aeroplan.

Redemptions aren’t limited to Air Canada and their Star Alliance partners. With over 49 different airlines, if you want to travel somewhere you can probably get there using Aeroplan miles.

These opinions in this article are the author’s not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.