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Since 2023, Aeroplan® Credit Card cardholders have been able to utilize Chase's Pay Yourself Back feature to redeem Aeroplan points for a statement credits — either to cover travel purchases or the card’s $95 annual fee. And unlike many points-for-cash options, this one offers decent value.
Now, Chase and Aeroplan are adding even more ways to cash out Aeroplan points. Starting this quarter, cardholders can also redeem points for rotating promotional categories, beginning with gas stations and home improvement stores.
Especially with this new addition, the Aeroplan Card Pay Yourself Back benefit is more flexible than what’s currently available on Chase Sapphire and Ink cards. But does it make sense to cash out Aeroplan points to cover eligible purchases or your card's annual fee? Here's what cardholders need to know.
Pay Yourself Back with the Aeroplan® Credit Card
The Aeroplan Card now offers three eligible Pay Yourself Back categories: travel expenses, the card's annual fee, and a new “promotional category.”
Cover travel expenses using your Aeroplan points
Each Aeroplan point provides 1.25 cents in value when redeemed for eligible travel purchases. Say you want to use your Aeroplan points to cover a $100 rental car, flight, or hotel room. You'd need to redeem 8,000 points to get an offsetting $100 statement credit on your account.
Previously, this redemption opportunity was unlimited. However, Chase instituted a new cap for 2025. Now, cardholders can redeem up to 200,000 Aeroplan points each calendar year to cover eligible transactions. Although we aren't fans of limits, this new cap still lets cardholders redeem points to cover up to $2,500 each calendar year.
To use Pay Yourself Back, you must manually request a statement credit for an eligible purchase within 90 days of the purchase and before December 31, 2025.
Related: How to Use Chase's Pay Yourself Back
Cover your $95 annual fee with Aeroplan points
In addition to redeeming Aeroplan points for travel purchases, cardholders can redeem points at 1.25¢ to cover the cost of the card's annual fee. At this fixed rate, the sticker price for offsetting the Aeroplan Card‘s annual fee is 7,600 Aeroplan points.
This may seem like a small number of points to offset your annual fee. But, it's worth considering how much value those points can unlock for free travel.
New: Aeroplan Pay Yourself Back promotional category
Without announcement, Chase just added a new 2025 promotional category calendar to its Aeroplan Pay Yourself Back page. Cardholders can now redeem Aeroplan points for gas stations and home improvement stores. Although this feature was just added today, the effective date for this new category applies retroactively to purchases made from April 1, 2025.
Here's the interesting part: Rather than only offering one category each quarter, Chase is adding a new category each quarter through the year-end. That means you can redeem Aeroplan points for gas stations and home improvement stores through December 31. Then, on July 1, Chase is adding another category — and another on October 1 — all running through December 31:
- April 1 – December 31: Gas stations and home improvement stores
- July 1 – December 31: Utilities and department stores
- October 1 – December 31: Amazon.com
Does it make sense to pay yourself back using Aeroplan points?
In recent AwardWallet user redemptions, travelers have redeemed Aeroplan points for flights at an average of 1.85¢ cents per point. Compared to that rate, redeeming Aeroplan points to cover the annual fee (or any other eligible travel purchase) presents mediocre value. Why redeem points for 1.25¢ when AwardWallet users average 1.85¢ per Aeroplan point through flight redemptions?
The difference becomes even more striking when looking at the value obtained from redeeming points for flights in premium cabins — which is one of our favorite ways to redeem Aeroplan points. The 2.63¢ per Aeroplan point of value AwardWallet users typically average for international long-haul flight redemptions is over two times the value offered for paying yourself back.
So, while redeeming Aeroplan points for 1.25¢ each isn't the worst redemption rate, travelers have better ways to redeem Aeroplan points.
Let's put it another way: Would you buy Aeroplan points for 1.25¢ each? That's about as good of a deal as Aeroplan has ever offered — and there's no telling if that rate will ever return. By opting to pay your annual fee out of pocket, you're effectively buying back those 7,600 Aeroplan points at 1.25¢ each. And with a bit of planning, you should be able to redeem those points at a much higher value.
What Is The Chase Aeroplan Card?
Canadian residents have a slew of Aeroplan co-branded credit cards, including cards issued by TD Bank and American Express. However, U.S. residents only have just one Air Canada credit card: The Aeroplan Card.
The Aeroplan Card offers solid value to Air Canada frequent flyers and those loyal to airlines in the Star Alliance. One of the many uses for Aeroplan points includes redemption for travel on Star Alliance partners such as United Airlines, Lufthansa, and ANA.
Charging a reasonable $95 annual fee, the card also comes with plenty of travel-friendly benefits. These benefits include a free checked bag on Air Canada, $120 Global Entry/TSAPreCheck statement credit every four years, and a 10% bonus on eligible Ultimate Rewards points transfers. Plus, new cardmembers get Air Canada 25K elite status through the end of the year after which they apply — meaning up to 24 months if you apply in January. For a full review of the card, check out our post here.
The Aeroplan Card also comes with a valuable welcome bonus. New cardholders will earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- Earn 75,000 bonus points
- Earn 75K bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- $95 Annual Fee
- Redeem points for both international and domestic flights with the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
- Fly to another continent and travel the world with the Aeroplan® Credit Card.
- Earn 3X points for each dollar spent at grocery stores, on dining at restaurants, and Air Canada directly. Earn 1X point for each dollar spent on all other purchases.
- 500 bonus points for every $2,000 you spend in a calendar month - up to 1,500 points per month.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 3x points directly with Air Canada
- 3x points on dining, including takeout and eligible delivery services
- 3x points at grocery stores
- 1x point on all other purchases
The Bottom Line
Chase just further expanded the “Pay Yourself Back” feature for Aeroplan Card cardholders to now include a new promotional category. While we are fans of more redemption options and the redemption rate isn't bad compared to other points-for-statement-credit options, it still presents a mediocre use of Aeroplan points. With some planning, there are better ways to redeem Aeroplan points than redeeming them for more than 1.25¢ each.
Utilizing Pay Yourself Back on the Aeroplan Card only really makes sense if you have more Aeroplan points than you can efficiently use for flights — or your goal is to spend nothing out-of-pocket for travel purchases. Then, redeeming Aeroplan points for travel purchases at the modest rate of 1.25¢ each could be a good option.
Otherwise, you should be able to do much better when redeeming your Aeroplan points for award flights.
Do you utilize Pay Yourself Back to cover travel purchases or your annual fee? If so, what's your motivation for doing so?
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Aeroplan® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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