Air Canada Finalizes Purchase of Aeroplan
Air Canada announced Thursday it has finalized a deal to buy the Aeroplan rewards program. This comes as the airline is launching its own loyalty program in 2020. Air Canada said in the statement that members' current Aeroplan Miles will be honored 1:1 under the airline's new program when it launches next year.
Air Canada has also secured agreements with the Toronto-Dominion Bank(TD), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBD) and Visa Canada for credit card loyalty components of the future program. The company also secured an agreement in principal with American Express, which offers Aeroplan co-branded products, for continued participation beyond 2020.
Air Canada first announced its plan to create its own loyalty program in 2017. The company has since been reaching out to more than 30,000 customers to gather feedback on what they would like the new program to offer. According to the airline, the new program will offer more ways to earn and redeem points for "travel, upgrades, experiences, on-board products and everyday indulgences."
While it'll be interesting to learn more details about these enhancements, for now the Aeroplan program remains a powerful one for Star Alliance award tickets. While awards on certain partners do incur hefty fuel surcharges, most redemption rates are quite reasonable, and it even offers round-the-world redemption options that'll hopefully remain in the new program. You can read all about the ins and outs of booking award tickets with Aeroplan for full details.
For now, customers can continue to earn and redeem Aeroplan Miles as normal. There will be no changes to current status levels for members when Air Canada launches the new program some time next year.