Buy Aeroplan points promo: 100% bonus (July 2024)

Air Canada currently has a promo to buy Aeroplan points with a 100% bonus, which seems nice… but even a nice bonus doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good price. Flytrippers only recommends buying any type of points if you know what you are doing. Even with Aeroplan, the best airline rewards program. Even with these bonuses offered frequently, the prices don’t often make it worthwhile. 

Welcome bonuses are what will give you a lot of points very easily without having to buy them, and we can tell you a lot more about this in our monthly video of the best travel rewards deals of the month coming before the end of July (date TBD).

But it can be worth it to buy Aeroplan points in certain very specific situations: after all, Aeroplan points are rewards of the more lucrative type with literally unlimited value!

Here are the details about the promo to buy Aeroplan points — don’t forget that there are 16 other Aeroplan promos and a huge giveaway going on right now!

Basics of buying Aeroplan points

Here are the basics about buying Aeroplan points:

• Air Canada allows you to buy Aeroplan points
  • Like most airlines and hotel chains
• These bonuses are offered regularly
  • This time, it’s 100% (among the highest seen in a while)
• It’s not often recommended to buy Aeroplan points, even with a 100% bonus
  • So imagine how bad it is to buy Aeroplan points without a bonus

At the regular price, it’s a terrible price to avoid almost always.

At the discounted price with the bonus, the short version is that if you are asking if it’s a good deal, it probably isn’t one for you. It’s just that those who should take advantage of it usually know very well if it’s a good deal. But it might be good… you can’t know if nobody explained it to you! That’s why we have a lot of content for travel rewards beginners (and we’ll have a lot more).

Here are certain specific cases when it makes sense to buy Aeroplan points:

• If you don’t trust yourself enough financially to get credit cards
  • 52,000 points with the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
  • 53,000 points with the American Express Aeroplan Card
  • 60,000 points with the American Express Cobalt Card 
  • 10+ other options for Aeroplan points
• If you want to fly in business/first class without credit cards 
  • It’s the points redemption that saves you the most money
  • So it’s the most likely to be a good deal if you pay for points
• If you want to travel in business/first class very often
  • Credit cards might not be enough
  • But you almost certainly underestimate how much you can get
• If you have a specific points redemption that you did the math on
  • And you can’t wait for credit card points
• If you have gotten all the welcome bonuses allowed
  • Aeroplan is the only program with rules that limit bonuses
  • Amex Bank is the bank with the rules that limit bonuses the most
  • You are allowed 5 Aeroplan bonuses (1 per level)
    • Base, main, premium, premium business, and main business
  • You are allowed 7 Amex bonuses transferable to Aeroplan
    • Once on each card that earns Amex MR points
• If you need just a few points to complete a redemption
  • And you can’t wait for credit card points
  • And you don’t have American Express MR points to transfer

The most important thing to understand with points of the more lucrative type like Aeroplan is that their value varies ENORMOUSLY depending on your chosen use, because the price of flights in points is not tied to the cash price of the flight.

I will explain in more detail and show you concrete examples below.

Promo to buy Aeroplan points in July 2024

Air Canada’s new promotion to buy Aeroplan points gives you a 125% bonus.

Here are the highlights of the current promo to buy Aeroplan points:

• You must buy on the official site to buy Aeroplan points
• You must buy Aeroplan points before July 11^th at 11:59 PM (Pacific)
• You get a bonus of 125% if you buy at least 80,000 points
• You get lower bonuses if you buy less than 80,000 points

Here’s the price you’ll pay to buy Aeroplan points:

• 1.79¢/pt (Québec and Atlantic Canada)
• 1.76¢/pt (Ontario)
• 1.63¢/pt (Western provinces)
• 1.56¢/pt (American card)

Here are the general rules to buy Aeroplan points that always apply:

• You must buy a minimum of 2,000 points
• You can buy only 1,000,000 points per account per year
• You can buy 250,000 points per individual transaction normally
• You can buy 500,000 points per individual transaction during promotions
• You can pool other people’s points into your account for free
• You do not get Status Qualifying Dollars (SQDs)
• You cannot change your mind, as all points purchases are nonrefundable
• You will be charged the tax, which is why the prices vary slightly by province
• You can save the taxes to reduce the above prices by using a U.S. card

Finally, here are the details of how to pay for your Aeroplan points purchase:

• Processed by Points.com
  • Will not code as an Air Canada purchase
  • Will not code as a travel purchase
  • So no multiplier earn rate will apply
• Billed in Canadian dollars
  • No need to worry about FX fees
• Choose the right card to maximize your rewards
  • One on which you are unlocking a huge welcome bonus
  • One with a good base earn rate

A great option to pay for your points purchase, if you are unfortunately not currently unlocking a bonus, is the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card, which earns 2 points per dollar. It’s THE only card that’s for all traveler without exceptions — AND the only one no traveler should ever close, to get the amazing annual free night certificate.

How to buy Aeroplan points?

To buy Aeroplan points, you must follow these simple steps:

• Go to the official page to buy Aeroplan points
• Login to your Aeroplan account
• Select the amount of Aeroplan points you want to buy
• Enter your payment information

How much does it cost to buy Aeroplan points?

The price to buy Aeroplan points is easy to figure out.

It is very important to know how to do the math in the world of travel rewards (it’s 1 of the 6 most important things), so let’s do the calculations on buying Aeroplan points. I’ll use the current 125% bonus for the example since you should almost never buy Aeroplan points without a bonus.

With this promo, the price Aeroplan is offering seems to be 1.56¢ per point at first glance.

You pay $2,800 to buy 180,000 points. Simple calculation: $2,800 divided by 180,000 points is equal to 1.56¢/pt! If this math is remotely surprising to you, I encourage you to read the basics of the value of rewards.

But beware!

You have to add Canadian taxes if you pay with a Canadian card. That rate varies a bit depending on whether you live in a province with high taxes or a province with very high taxes.

(This is completely stupid because you’ll actually be taxed twice: when buying the Aeroplan points AND when using them for reward flights. It’s like if you’d have to pay taxes when buying gift cards — buying gift cards is one of the pro tips in the world of travel rewards by the way. That tax would make no sense, yet the government does indeed tax point purchases!)

Anyway, for the worst provinces for taxes, with the 125% promo and the taxes, the cost is 1.79¢ per point, so I’ll use that for the examples.

Is it worth buying Aeroplan points?

Is it worth it to pay such a huge amount of money upfront by buying Aeroplan points? Not unless you’re absolutely sure you’ll use them well! If you use them well, they can definitely be worth more than the amount you pay!

It really depends on how you use them.

Our Flytrippers Valuation of Aeroplan points is just ≈ 1.5¢ per point.

So you can see why it’s not necessarily an amazing deal. We just determined that you will buy Aeroplan points at a cost of 1.79¢/pt. You’re paying almost 20% more than our theoretical valuation.

As usual, our Flytrippers Valuation is a conservative and general valuation, and is for economy-class flights.

If you’ve learned the basics of rewards of the more lucrative type, you know that you can certainly get way more than 1.5¢ per point in value, so it can be a great deal in some instances. Not only does the value of Aeroplan points entirely depend on how you use them, it also varies a lot for each redemption.

That potential for outsized value and unlimited value comes with restrictions and rules, though. Aeroplan points will give you the most value if you are flexible or if you normally buy flights that are very expensive in cash. They will give you a variable discount on flights on Air Canada, but also on 40+ partner airlines (often the best use, because prices in points are fixed)!

You can read the basics of airline points (for business class and economy class is right below) or the basics of Aeroplan points while you await our ultimate guide (with video content).

So it can be a great deal to buy Aeroplan points if you use them for business class flights, as they’re often worth 2.1¢/pt or a lot more for that. Even for specific flights in economy, the points can give you 2.1¢/pt. In those cases, the math checks out! Assuming you can’t get enough points by using all your spending to unlock welcome bonuses (as you should). You can see 2 concrete examples in the next section.

In short, you need to do the math and make sure you will use the points well because if not, you’re literally throwing money away for nothing.

That’s why you should rarely buy points speculatively; in other words, you should only buy points if you have a specific redemption in mind and have done the math. Or if you are an expert and know you’ll get more than the cost of your points in value from your redemptions because you have already done it in the past or understand how to do it.

I strongly encourage you to save your spot for our free webinar on the basics of travel rewards if you want to know the basics of Canada’s best airline rewards program, and a must-have points currency for any Canadian travel rewards enthusiast. You’ll also be the first to get our ultimate guide to the Aeroplan program.

Save your spot

Free webinar: Introduction to travel rewards

What are examples of when to buy Aeroplan points?

Here are 2 extreme examples because they illustrate well how Aeroplan points have a literally unlimited value. It’s extreme but it’s very doable if you want.

Premium cabin flights

One of the main reasons to buy Aeroplan points is to fly in premium cabins (business class or first class).

Just to be very clear, if you get a ton of Aeroplan points without paying for them thanks to welcome bonuses, there are plenty of good uses of Aeroplan points for travelers who want to travel more or for less (which means in economy class). I have used my Aeroplan points that way for 10+ years; I’ve gotten dozens and dozens of reward flights because I want to travel more.

Learn More

18 good uses of Aeroplan points

But since you’re paying a lot of money per point by buying Aeroplan points directly, you need to get more value out of your points obviously, to make it profitable.

And the best mathematical use of travel rewards (i.e. that saves you the most money) is always with premium cabin travel. Because those flights have insane prices in cash. You should NEVER pay for business class flights with cash; it’s pretty much the least savvy thing you can do in the whole travel world.

It’s okay not to know this; the world of travel rewards is very much unknown. But now that you do know, don’t do this anymore, considering how much you can save on this thanks to travel rewards.

For example, buying 70,000 points would cost you $1253 at 1.79¢/pt.

That would give you a one-way flight in business class between Vienna to Montreal on Austrian Airlines.

The price in cash?

It is an insane amount of $6406 for the same price.

So you pay $1345 ($1253 to buy Aeroplan points + $92 in taxes on the reward flight) instead of $6406. You “save” $5061. I put the word in quotation marks because you’re saving that only if you were really going to pay that amount with cash, of course.

Obviously, this would make it worthwhile to buy Aeroplan points!

You pay 1.79¢/pt when you buy the points, and you get 7.2¢/pt when you use them (savings of $5061 with 70,000 points).

But then again, to get a bigger quantity of points to fly in premium cabins, you could just get premium cards, too. For example, the American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card or the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card give you a lot more points than main-level Aeroplan cards. On top of that, you’re going to get great benefits like unlimited access to Air Canada airport lounges and lots of other benefits on Air Canada.

Economy sweet spot

Again, this is just to show you how important it is to understand that Aeroplan points can be worth more if you use them well!

A roundtrip flight from Montreal to Kuujjuaq in Nunavik costs $3147.

In points?

The same flight is just 20,000 points!

That’s a value of 15.3¢/pt! 

So, of course, if you want to fly there, it certainly makes sense to pay to buy the points. Again though, it’s so much simpler to get the American Express Aeroplan Card, get 53,000 Aeroplan points (worth $8109 if you get 15.3¢/pt like in this extreme example). You’ll also get a free checked bag on Air Canada (for you and 8 other companions on the same booking).

That said, this particular sweet spot for Canadian regional partners will soon be eliminated. Book it ASAP if you want to get a deeply discounted flight to beautiful Northern Canada. We’ll have a full guide soon.

Important reminder of the importance of doing the math right

A 125% bonus sounds great. Just like a fee sounds bad.

But that number alone is irrelevant if you don’t look at the rest. In this case, the regular price. If I sell you something for a price that’s 3 times too expensive, even if I give you 50% off, for example, it’s still not worth it!

You must always look at all variables of an equation in the world of travel rewards. You must always do the math for everything related to travel rewards. We say it often, but it’s because it really is the key!

There are 3 other very basic examples that are important:

• The annual fee for a card alone is irrelevant without looking at the welcome bonus that comes with it
• The fees that sometimes have to be paid for a rewards flight alone are not relevant without looking at the money saved with the points
• The activation fees of a prepaid credit card alone are not relevant without looking at the bonus points earned

It’s vital to know how to do the math.

You can consult our infographic that summarizes the basics of travel rewards to find out what else is important.

History of Aeroplan promos to buy points

Here’s the history of previous promotions (we’ll eventually dig up the ones from previous years to include them here too):

• July 2024 (12^th to 18^th): 100% bonus
• July 2024 (8^th to 11^th): 125% bonus
• June 2024 (7^th to 21^st): 100% bonus
• March to April 2024 (20^th to 4^th): 80% bonus
• January 2024 (23^th to 29^th): 100% bonus
• December 2023 (7^th to 30^th): 30% bonus
• November 2023 (13^th to 29^th): 100% bonus
• October 2023 (16^th to 25^th): 80% bonus
• September to October 2023 (12^th to 2^th): 80% bonus
• July 2023 (6^th to 12^th): 75% bonus
• June 2023 (7^th to 17^th): 50% bonus
• May 2023 (22^th to 29^th): 95% bonus
• May 2023 (18^th to 22^th): 110% bonus
• April 2023 (17^th to 30^th): 85% bonus
• March 2023 (13^th to 29^th): 80% bonus (or 45% discount)

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Summary

Air Canada’s promo to buy Aeroplan points is a great example of the need to always do the math for everything related to travel rewards points. It’s a good bonus offered for point purchases, but it’s still a bad idea for a vast majority of travelers. Only those with a specific (and profitable) redemption in mind should take advantage of this.

What would you like to know about buying Aeroplan points? Tell us in the comments below.

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Featured image: ANA business class cabin (photo credit: ANA)

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