Air Canada currently has a promo to buy Aeroplan points with an 80% bonus, which seems nice… but even a nice bonus doesn’t mean that it’s a good price. Flytrippers rarely recommends buying any type of points, even if Aeroplan is the best airline rewards program. Even with these bonuses offered frequently, the prices don’t often make it worthwhile.
Card 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 this Monday, March 25th.
But it can be worth it to buy Aeroplan points in certain very specific situations: Aeroplan points are rewards of the more valuable type with literally unlimited value, after all!
Here are the details about the promo to buy Aeroplan points.
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 80% (lower than past ones that offered were 100%)
- It’s not often recommended to buy Aeroplan points, even with an 80% 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 it’s not often so wise to buy Aeroplan points, especially if you’re a travel rewards beginner.
It can be worth it to buy Aeroplan points in certain specific cases:
- If you don’t trust yourself enough to get credit cards
- 60,000 points with the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
- 50,000 points with the American Express Aeroplan Card
- 60,000 points with the American Express Cobalt Card
- 10+ other options
- If you want to fly in business/first class without credit cards
- It’s the points usage that saves you the most money
- If you want to travel in business/first class very often
- Credit cards might not be enough
- If you have a specific points usage 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 limiting bonuses
- Amex is the only bank with rules limiting bonuses
- You are allowed 5 Aeroplan bonuses
- Base, main, premium, business, and premium business
- You are allowed 7 Amex bonuses transferable to Aeroplan
- Once on each card that earns Amex MR points
The most important thing to understand with points of the more valuable type like Aeroplan is that their value varies ENORMOUSLY depending on your chosen use, because their value is not linked to the cash price of the travel the points give you. I give you concrete examples below.
Overview of the promo to buy Aeroplan points
Air Canada’s new promotion to buy Aeroplan points gives you an 80% 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 April 5th at 11:59 PM (PST)
- You can get a bonus of 80%
Here’s the price you’ll pay to buy Aeroplan points:
- You get an 80% bonus if you buy at least 15,000 points
- You pay the equivalent of 2.2¢/pt (varies slightly by province)
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, 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. credit 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
- No multiplier 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 if you are unfortunately not unlocking a bonus is the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card, which earns 2 points per dollar. It’s THE only card that no traveler shouldn’t have — 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 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, so let’s do the calculations on buying Aeroplan points. I’ll use the current 80% 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 1.94¢ per point at first glance.
You pay $875 to buy 45,000 points. Simple calculation: $875 divided by 45,000 points is equal to 1.94¢/pt!
But 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 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 most provinces, with the 80% promo and the taxes, the cost is around 2.2¢ per point.
Is it worth buying Aeroplan points
Our Flytrippers Valuation of Aeroplan points is just ≈ 1.5¢ per point.
So you can see why it’s not an amazing deal. We just saw that you will buy Aeroplan points at a cost of 2.2¢/pt. You’re paying almost 50% more than our theoretical valuation.
Our Flytrippers Valuation is a conservative and general valuation, as usual. If you’ve learned the basics of rewards of the more valuable 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 (see next section for concrete examples).
But 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.
Concrete examples of why to buy Aeroplan points
As a reminder, 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)!
I strongly encourage you to attend 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.
So 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.
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 with premium cabin travel. Because those flights have insane prices in cash. Obviously, 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 with travel rewards.
For example, buying 70,000 points would cost you $1540 at 2.2¢/pt (just because I want to use an example I already have the screenshots for; you’d obviously have enough for a roundtrip, with points it’s just double the price for a roundtrip).
That would give you a one-way flight in business class from Vienna to Montreal on Austrian Airlines.
The price in cash?
It is an insane amount of $6406 for the same price.
So you pay $1632 ($1540 to buy Aeroplan points + $92 in taxes on the reward flight) instead of $6406. You “save” $4774. 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!
But then again, to get a lot of points, you could just get premium cards too. For example, the American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card or the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card which give you a lot more points, and 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 for all your Air Canada and Star Alliance flights for the entire year of your welcome bonus.
Anyway, this is an extreme example, but it’s just so you understand: Aeroplan points have unlimited value!
They are variable-value rewards, so the value varies depending on how you use them. If you use them well, they can be worth more than the price they charge to buy Aeroplan points, even if that price isn’t great. It all depends!
Is it worth it to pay such a huge amount of money upfront? Not unless you’re 100% sure you’ll use them well!
Important reminder of the importance of doing the math right
An 80% bonus sounds great. Just like a fee sounds bad.
But that number alone is irrelevant without looking 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.
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):
- March to April 2024 (20th to 4th): 80% bonus
- January 2024 (23th to 29th): 100% bonus
- December 2023 (7th to 30th): 30% bonus
- November 2023 (13th to 29th): 100% bonus
- October 2023 (16th to 25th): 80% bonus
- September to October 2023 (12th to 2th): 80% bonus
- July 2023 (6th to 12th): 75% bonus
- June 2023 (7th to 17th): 50% bonus
- May 2023 (22th to 29th): 95% bonus
- May 2023 (18th to 22th): 110% bonus
- April 2023 (17th to 30th): 85% bonus
- March 2023 (13th to 29th): 80% bonus (or 45% discount)
Want to get more content about Aeroplan and free travel?
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.
Have any questions about why to buy Aeroplan points? Ask us in the comments below.
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Featured image: ANA business class cabin (photo credit: ANA)
