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This is a great example of a status match. If you’re unfamiliar with status matching, it’s the process by which you leverage the status you currently hold with an airline or hotel to gain status in a competitor’s program simply by requesting they match it. Aeroplan just dropped a public status match yesterday. What does that mean? Let’s check it out and how it could land you lounge access when flying here in the US. H/T VFTW
First Off, what is the Aeroplan Status Match?
As you know, Canada and the US have had their borders to each other closed for quite some, and recently, they opened. Let the promotions begin. While I’m not sure how much of Air Canada’s business was from US residents, they are clearly looking to entice them onto their airlines and lure them away from US Carriers.
If you carry status with the following carriers, you can match it to a commensurate elite status within Air Canada
- American
- Delta
- Alaska
- Jet Blue
- Southwest
- Hawaiian
All you need to do is go here and fill out the following information
What status will I be matched to and for how long?
Here’s a chart provided by Air Canada that answers that exact question and they say it should only take 5 days. How long will you have the status for…
- Status will last until 12/31/21
However…if you fly 2 segments on Air Canada between now and January 15, 2022, you’ll keep it for another year, until 12/31/22.
You said I could get lounge access in the US?
So here’s the thing…Aeroplan Elite 50k members carry Star Alliance Gold status. They way it works with Star Alliance Gold status is that whenever you’re flying on a Star Alliance airline, outside your loyalty home country ( in this case it would be Canada ) you have access to the member lounges in the network. So, if you were American Airlines Platinum Pro, SkyMiles Platinum, or MVPG75k, and matched to Air Canada, you would have Star Alliance lounge access when you fly domestically in the US on United.
I’m on the fence about matching…here’s why
First off, they only have a limited supply of these, so if you’re thinking about it…get going.
However, you can only match to Aeroplan every two years and I don’t really hold status that is that attractive in their program. But…I’m currently on a status challenge with American Airlines that could land me Platinum Pro. I’ve blown the EQM out of the water and may end up hitting the EQD requirement. If that happens, I’d be able to match to Air Canada 50k and get lounge access whenever I flew United here in the US potentially through 12/31/22 ( assuming I do one roundtrip…I have a trip to Vancouver coming up so it wouldn’t be too hard I don’t think ). I’m really debating this match, cause quite honestly, I don’t know that its worth it to me without this perk.
You can go here to see all the terms and conditions
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back. .
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
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