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Earlier this year we saw Aeroplan adopt a new 4-zone award chart, and while it was a devaluation, it wasn’t massive and still represents a great way to redeem points for luxury travel. Learning that Chase plans on partnering with Air Canada and implementing Aeroplan not only as a cobranded credit card partner, but also as an Ultimate Rewards transfer partner is fantastic. Chase will debut both a new Aeroplan Mastercard and Aeroplan as a transfer partner later in 2021.
A quick look at Aeroplan’s award map
The key:
The 4 zones:
This means most partner flights from the US/Canada to Atlantic ( Europe, Middle East, Africa ) will clock in at:
- 70k for business
- 100k for First Class
If you end up flying longer than 6k miles…it’ll pop up according to the chart below.
With the taxes and fees nearly eliminated, throwing points at Lufthansa could make a lot of sense. Aeroplan will be a transfer partner of Chase, Amex, and Cap1 – lots of earning possibilities
Don’t forget that Air Canada is now partnered with Etihad
The apartment is currently not in operation since Etihad’s A380s are currently grounded, but perhaps by the time Aeroplan is a transfer partner that will change?
My overall take
This is a great pickup for the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, and hopefully is a good omen of value continuing to be added in the future. I’ll eager to know what the welcome offer will be – a nice juicy 100k offer would be fantastic! One can hope 🙂
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
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
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
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
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. 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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