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Air Canada is back again with its latest promotion to buy Aeroplan points — this time with an 80% bonus. After factoring in the bonus and conversion rate, this deal lets you buy Aeroplan points for as little as 1.44 U.S. cents per point (1.94 CAD cents per point). This promotion to buy Aeroplan points runs through October 2, 2023.
At the time of writing, $1 USD is equal to $1.35 CAD. As most AwardWallet Blog readers are U.S.-based, all prices in this post are converted to USD.
When Should You Buy Aeroplan Points?
As with every opportunity to buy points and miles with a bonus or discount, it's important to do the math and evaluate your situation before buying points. This holds especially true when buying from Aeroplan — which requires you to convert from Canadian Dollars. And since award programs can devalue with little notice, so you are almost always better off holding onto your cash.
With that said, there are a few instances where it can make sense to buy airline miles and points. The first and most obvious is if you are just a few points (Aeroplan calls them “points,” not “miles”) short of a redemption. If you would save more in the long run by paying to boost your points balance and then redeeming them for an award flight, this is a no-brainer.
Another consideration: if you lack points & miles to use for an upcoming flight. If you are looking at paying cash anyway, do the math to see if you would pay less to buy points from Aeroplan and then redeem them for an award ticket. If so, save money and make the redemption (after confirming that award seats are available first, of course).
You should NOT consider buying Aeroplan points to create activity on your account. There are other methods of extending the life of your Aeroplan point balance if that's your concern.
Aeroplan Buy Points — Offer Details
- Promotion is currently running and ends at 23:59 PST on October 2, 2023.
- Buy a minimum of 15,000 points to receive the 80% bonus.
- Minimum points purchase level is 2,000 points.
- You can buy up to a maximum of 500,000 Aeroplan points per transaction/calendar year.
- You can only gift a total of 500,000 Aeroplan points in a calendar year.
- Purchased points are non-refundable and non-reversible.
- Points purchased, transferred, or received as a gift do not count towards elite status qualification.
- Aeroplan will credit purchased/gifted points within 72 hours of the transaction.
Where to Find the Best Value
Based on the offer we are seeing, this promotion has two tiers:
- 2,000–14,000 points: No bonus (2.59¢ each)
- 15,000–500,000 points: 80% bonus (1.44¢ each)
By using the drop-down menu, you can select the exact number of points you want.
You can buy up to 900,000 Aeroplan points (including the 80% bonus) for a cost of $17,500 CAD — which comes out to $12,924.62 USD (1.44¢ per point). This isn't a bad offer by any means — considering the usual cost of Aeroplan points without any bonus. But this is certainly not the best deal we've seen from Aeroplan.
In recent AwardWallet user redemptions, Aeroplan points have provided an average value of 1.91¢ per point. However, the value varies depending on what type of redemption you make:
- Short-haul economy: 1.27¢
- Long-haul economy/premium economy: 1.37¢
- Short-haul business/first: 2.62¢
- Long-haul business/first: 2.56¢
Let's dig into some of the Aeroplan point redemption options that provide great value, showing that it could make sense to buy Aeroplan points in a few situations.
Pay Less When You Buy Aeroplan Points
You can read our full guide to the Aeroplan program to learn more about its ins and outs. Here are some examples of when you could save money if you buy Aeroplan points to redeem for flights, rather than just paying cash.
Washington, D.C. — Toronto in economy
- Points rate: 6,000 points + $76 CAD each way
- Typical cash price: $182 one-way
- Redemption rate: 2.1¢ per point
- Cost to buy 6,000 Aeroplan points (with no bonus): $155.15
- Cost to buy exactly 6,000 Aeroplan points at 1.44¢ each: $86.40
San Francisco — Honolulu in economy
- Points rate: 12,500 points + $61 CAD each way
- Typical cash price: $225 one-way
- Redemption rate: 1.44¢ per point
- Cost to buy 13,000 Aeroplan points (with no bonus): $336
- Cost to buy exactly 12,500 Aeroplan points at 1.44¢ each: $180
New York — Istanbul in Turkish Airlines business class
- Points rate: 70,000 points + $73 CAD each way
- Typical cash price: $4,151 one-way
- Redemption rate: 5.85¢ per point
- Cost to buy 72,000 Aeroplan points (with an 80% bonus): $1,034
- Cost to buy exactly 70,000 Aeroplan points at 1.44¢ each: $1,008
Boston — Munich in Lufthansa first class
- Point rate: 90,000 points + $73 CAD each way
- Typical cash price: $8,000 one-way
- Redemption rate: 8.83¢ per point
- Cost to buy 90,000 Aeroplan points (with an 80% bonus): $1,292.35
- Cost to buy exactly 90,000 Aeroplan points at 1.44¢ each:$1,292.35
Maximize Your Purchase
Aeroplan sells its points via Points.com, so your purchase won't code as airfare or travel. Consider using one of these credit cards for your purchase:
- A credit card where you're working to earn a sign-up bonus. These are the best welcome offers available right now.
- A credit card with spending-based perks, such as hotel free night awards, hotel elite status, or airline elite status.
- Your best credit card for everyday spending, such as the Citi® Double Cash Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.
Related: Which Credit Card Should You Use to Buy Points and Miles?
Other Ways to Earn Aeroplan Points
If you're not in a hurry, another way to beef up your Aeroplan stash is through a sign-up bonus on a co-branded credit card. In the U.S., Chase offers an Aeroplan co-branded credit card:
- Aeroplan® Credit Card: Earn up to 100,000 bonus points – 75,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, 25,000 points after you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months.
In Canada, there are multiple Aeroplan credit cards available to earn points and welcome offers:
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege Card
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Platinum
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Business
Additionally, you can transfer your points to Aeroplan from the following programs:
The Bottom Line
This sale's 1.44¢ per point rate is a solid rate — especially when you consider the cost of buying Aeroplan points normally. But it's not one of the best deals we've ever seen from Aeroplan. You can buy a total of 500,000 Aeroplan points in a calendar year at just 1.44¢ per point — 900,000 total after factoring in this 80% bonus promotion.
We generally recommend waiting until you have an immediate redemption in mind before buying Aeroplan points since program values, award availability, and exchange rates can change fairly quickly. However, at this rate, it might be worth triggering this promotion to grab some miles for now and in the future.
Are you planning on purchasing Aeroplan points at 1.44¢ a piece?
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Another great way to get Aeroplan points is to sign up for a site called “Asking Canadians” that gives you Aeroplan points for completing sur-veys. As with any panel, most of the time you get screened out. This one gives you 5 Aeroplan points even if you screen out, so it is a great way to keep Aeroplan points active. If you are offered to complete a sur-vey they offer 40 -100 points. N.B. You need a Canadian address to qualify to join the site
If you are looking to keep your points ‘active’, I did so by joining a sur-vey site called Asking Canadians that gives you Aeroplan points for completing surveys. As with any survey panel, most of the time you get screened out. This one gives you 2 or 3 Aeroplan points even if you screen out, so it is a great way to keep Aeroplan miles account active. Some surveys if you don’t get screened out offer 40-100 points for completing the survey. N.B.: You need a Canadian address to qualify to join the sur-vey site.
This is REALLY expensive. I can’t call it a promotion. Minimun 100 or 115% to condierer buying.
20% discount it’s an insult to their clients.
$0.013 is reasonable.per point
I’ve seen much better promos so shop around.
Agree… 20% discount is a joke
you don’t mention whether there’s a way to avoid the foreign transaction fee on many credit cards. (the bill here is in CAD).
Agreed, that is a critical point that we missed. I just updated the post to add a couple of sentences to reinforce that. Thanks!
Wow, some pretty low cost miles for a major north american airline.
I think they are points and not miles since everything in Canada is in kilometres and despite using miles to measure distances to award points, the unit of measurement for miles isn’t something common north of the 49th parallel; just adding trivia… =)
Excellent bonus promotion, I´m going to top my Aeroplan account for a flight to Europe
This hilarious…
This Canadian bacon airlines has this great offer of 80% bonus, WOW
Now try redeeming their points on aeroplan.com for business class award ticket jfk/del and their best offer was 460,000 miles with three stop and only 5% was in business class, rest two sectors in economy class
This search was off peak travel mid week in Nov 2021.
460,000 points = $ 9200 in value
WTF is wrong with this Canadian bacon airline??
Canadian bacon airline lol
Indeed, only buy the points when needed because nowadays new promotions will come around very soon.
I’ve found Aeroplan miles to be useful for United domestic flying to my great surprise. They also can be useful on STAR alliance partners for several int’l redemptions. This sale has a lot of potential value if you have a specific trip in mind in the near future.
The price per point is decent but be aware they do expire after 18 months if no activity in the account.
Air Canada is an excellent company. However they need to stop charging the horrendous fuel tax. This puts Aeroplan at a disadvantage compared to competitors.