Welcome bonuses are obviously the key to the wonderful world of travel rewards. That’s literally the most basic thing to know. So welcome bonus eligibility rules are obviously important to know, too! Aeroplan’s are the most unique and the most restrictive… in theory (not so much in practice).
All banks in Canada allow you to earn welcome bonuses on the same card an unlimited number of times! That’s right! An unlimited number of times! But there are 2 exceptions: Aeroplan cards and Amex Bank cards (American Express).
That’s all in our ultimate guide to welcome bonus eligibility rules. But it’s worth diving deeper for Aeroplan, especially with the all-new amazing increased offer on the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card! We want you to be very knowledgeable.
Here’s a detailed guide to Aeroplan welcome bonus eligibility rules.
Basics of Aeroplan welcome bonus eligibility rules
The most important thing, which is true for many topics in the world of travel rewards, is that there are 2 very distinct sets of rules. It’s especially true when it comes to welcome bonus eligibility rules.
Here are the 2 sets of rules:
- The rules in theory (what is official)
- The rules in practice (what is enforced)
This is really important to know!
Let’s look at what this means for Aeroplan in particular.
In theory: Aeroplan welcome bonus eligibility rules
Spoiler alert: these official rules are not enforced (and never have been since their introduction in early 2024). The real rules are less strict. But let’s still start with the minimum: the official rules.
It’s pretty simple, even if it looks complex at first glance. Like almost everything else in the world of travel rewards basically, there’s nothing complex about it; you just need to take a little time to learn.
Here are the basics of how the official Aeroplan rules work:
- There are different levels of Aeroplan credit cards
- Regardless of the bank issuing the Aeroplan card
- Levels are based on the cards’ annual fee
- And whether they are personal/business cards
Nothing complicated there, right? There are 5 levels according to the card fee and according to whether it’s a personal card or a business card.
I’ve made this infographic for those who are more visual (you can also click on it to go to each card’s resource page).
Here are the official rules:
- You can get just one welcome bonus per card level
It’s very simple.
So, at a minimum, based on the official rules, everyone can get 4 Aeroplan welcome bonuses, and those who have a real incorporated business (even if you’re just self-employed) can get 5 Aeroplan bonuses.
One welcome bonus per line on this chart; simple as that!
(Everyone can also get 6 welcome bonuses for American Express Membership Rewards points that are transferrable to Aeroplan at a 1-to-1 rate! The Aeroplan rules obviously only apply to Aeroplan cards!)
So one Aeroplan welcome bonus per Aeroplan card level. That’s in theory.
In practice: Aeroplan welcome bonus eligibility rules
In practice, those rules are currently not enforced.
Like many of the eligibility rules for welcome bonuses! For example, for the other exception, American Express has a similar rule. It’s 1 bonus per card though, not per level. So only 13 Amex welcome bonuses in total, in theory. But a few years after you’ve earned the bonus for a specific card, they often “forget” and you become eligible again in practice.
Here are the real Aeroplan rules as of September 2025:
- Sometimes they don’t apply the rules at all
- No restrictions whatsoever
- But a small portion of the bonus is sometimes clawed back
- It’s the portion offered with no spending requirement
- It’s often just 10,000 points
- That means you can keep most of the bonus!
- This is great news for those who want to try
- Of course, this could change
- But it’s been this way for a long time
Just to be clear: obviously, it would be better if the rules didn’t exist (like with all other cards) or if they were never enforced at all. Of course!
But for them to make a clawback of just 10,000 points is extremely positive as opposed to taking back the whole bonus, which is often 4 to 5 times that amount.
Like with the current amazing increased offer that gives you 45,000 points! Someone who might not have known about the official rule and applied might get the whole bonus, or they would get a still excellent 35,000 points.
Concrete example: Aeroplan welcome bonus eligibility rules
Here’s the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card‘s welcome bonus structure (the increased offer was just launched):
- 10,000 points Bonus after 1 purchase (no minimum amount)
- 15,000 points Bonus after spending $7,500 (in a maximum of 180 days)
- 20,000 points Bonus after spending an additional $4,500 ($12,000 in a maximum of 12 months) and renewing the card
Someone who is attracted to this offer and who does not remember their previous Aeroplan cards could receive the full 45,000-point bonus, since sometimes the official rules are simply not enforced at all (especially when there are several years between cards).
But the person would most likely have at least 35,000 points (value of ≈ $525 to UNLIMITED).
Essentially, Aeroplan could claw back only the small portion of 10,000 points. Because it doesn’t come with a spending requirement. That’s 35,000 points that you shouldn’t have according to the official rules!!!! We can agree that that’s still not so bad of a bonus! Even without the small 10,000-point bonus!
Getting 35,000 points is better than getting 0 points. You’ve got to know how to do the math in the world of travel rewards; that too is another of the 6 most important things in our simple infographic summarizing the basics of travel rewards.
Especially 35,000 points from the program that offers the most value; literally unlimited value!
Yes, 35,000 points is more than half the amount you need to fly to Europe in a luxurious lie-flat pod seat… the guaranteed fixed price is only 60,000 points. In May, my Montreal-Munich flight was worth 3000 CAD+! I also paid the same amount of just 60,000 points for my 10-hour business class flight a month ago, and I explained in detail how it works!
The rules in practice allow getting the biggest portion of the welcome bonuses again.
So it’s frankly great news compared to being limited to never getting another of the same level with the rules in theory.
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Summary
The real rules are not as strict as they seem.
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Featured image: Aeroplan card levels (image credit: Flytrippers)
