You are currently viewing Example Of The Easiest Way To Get The 5,000 Points Bonus From The Aeroplan Black Friday

Apart from easily getting thousands of points with credit card welcome bonuses, this weekend’s Black Friday promo from Aeroplan is one of the easiest ways to unlock bonus points you’ll ever find. So I want to reiterate how great a deal it is and summarize how simple it can be. As a reminder, just 4 small purchases can get you 5,000 points, which is often enough for a one-way short-distance flight in the new Aeroplan program.

We’ve already posted a detailed breakdown of how the Aeroplan Black Friday promo works, including how that 5,000 points give you a free flight to Washington for example, a great weekend getaway destination (or New York City, or other cool cities a bit closer if you are out West).

So here’s a follow-up post with how you can get the bonus as easily as possible, with a concrete example.

 

Overview

The promo ends on November 29th.

It is really great, as one way to get the 5,000 point bonus is to simply:

  • make 3 purchases via the Aeroplan eStore
  • buy a $25 Air Canada gift card

That should be achievable by almost everybody, but by making it even cheaper to reach, we want to help you double that (or more) thanks to the great new Aeroplan Family Sharing feature.

With up to 8 family members (or consenting friends) in the same account, your next free flight will be reached even quicker. Especially since you could get up to 40,000 bonus Aeroplan points with this promo pretty easily if you want to put in a bit of effort—recruiting & shopping 😉 !

And if you take a strong liking to the idea of earning free travel, you should also take a look at the 7 best current card offers, which all offer hundreds of dollars in free travel with the welcome bonus alone, up to ≈ $790 for the best one.

Best credit card offers - December 2020

HSBC-World-Elite-Mastercard

HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®

•Bonus: ≈ $790 net value
•$80k minimum income req.
•For the most value in Canada

American Express® Aeroplan®*

•Bonus: ≈ $433 net value
No minimum income req.
•For North American flights

Marriott Bonvoy Amex®

•Bonus: ≈ $357 net value
No minimum income req.
•For up to 8 free hotel nights

BMO eclipse Visa Infinite*

•Bonus: $342 net value
•$60k minimum income req.
•For simpler points

*conditions apply

 

Part 1: the 3 Aeroplan eStore purchases

So first, the eStore.

There are 46 Aeroplan eStore partners participating in the Black Friday promo (you can see the full list and the detailed post about how online shopping portals work if you’re new to this).

That gives you plenty of options just by making regular purchases that you need to make—which you should always do via online shopping portals anyway of course.

But there are a few sweet spots that make reaching the 3 required offers as budget-friendly as possible for those who aren’t big spenders.

That’s because there is surprisingly no minimum spending requirement in this promo—but beware, you still need to at least spend $1 per purchase because that’s the minimum threshold to earn 1 Aeroplan point via the portal at any time.

Here are the ones I used (and here’s the infographic summary once again).

 

Etsy

Etsy was the one that stood out at first, since I knew you can find extremely affordable items made by individual creators.

But I had never ordered anything before though, so I was curious to see whether items with free shipping were easy to find. And sure enough, they are.

I used 2 search filters: a $2 maximum price and free delivery. And there were plenty of items in a variety of categories.

 

My girlfriend is a big Back to the Future fan, so I ordered her a simple sticker for $1.12, and voila.

 

Keep in mind that not only must you order at least for $1 as mentioned, it also has to be before taxes (if any).

So just like that, one of the 3 offers is done!

 

Uber Eats

Uber Eats was the most obvious and easy way to be able to do a small purchase, as it’s the one I use the most often on the eStore already.

But you can do even better than order a cheap meal: you could make an order via the “Pickup” option and therefore avoid all delivery fees!

For example, you can order a $3 coffee and go grab it, and voila.

 

However, unlike on the app, the online version of Uber Eats (which you must use if you want to buy via the Aeroplan eStore) does not make it easy to see which restaurants offer the pickup option (many only offer delivery).

So here’s a pro tip: first go to the app, and click on “Pickup” at the top of the home screen. Now you’ll easily see which restaurants near you offer the pickup option.

 

Then go to the Aeroplan eStore, click out to the Uber Eats website and go find the restaurant.

During checkout, you’ll see the option to switch from delivery to pickup on the left under “Edit”.

 

If you’re at an eligible restaurant, the “Pickup” option will appear, and after clicking “Save & Continue”… you’ll be all set.

 

By the way, you can get $45 in free food with Uber Eats competitor DoorDash with our referral links if you like free food as much as you like free travel.

Best credit cards for grocery spending

American Express CobaltTM

•Best for those who can spend $500/month the first year
•5% on groceries (or more)
•Bonus: ≈ $706 net travel credit*

Scotiabank Gold Amex®

•Best for those who can’t spend $500/month
•5% on groceries
•Bonus: $140 net travel credit

Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite*

•Best for those who want a non-Amex card
•4% on groceries
•Bonus: $200 net cashback

BMO eclipse Visa Infinite*

•Best non-Amex card for those who want a higher welcome bonus
•3.55% on groceries (or 3.905%*)
•Bonus: $342 net travel credit

*conditions apply

 

Indigo

As mentioned in the post about online shopping portals, gift card purchases are often excluded from online shopping portals. Either that, or the minimum amount you need to load onto the card is closer to the $25 amount Air Canada requires for the 2nd part of the promo below.

Not ideal if you’re not sure you really need it or if you want to minimize the cost of unlocking this promo.

So I was going to use the next option because I didn’t feel like looking for a loophole, but a fellow travel-rewards-enthusiast friend texted me that Indigo was offering eligible $2 gift cards… that makes things a bit simpler.

I had checked a few partners that I order regularly with to see if I could buy a gift card to pre-pay future purchases, for example with Clearly. But as with many of them, it clearly says that gift cards are excluded (pun intended).

 

But sure enough: Indigo does not have that exclusion (at least not yet, so I would hurry if I were you…).

 

On the gift card, you’ll need to select “Other” in the amount dropdown menu and manually enter $2.

And that’s it!

 

So for a simple $2 (and just $6 total), that completes the eStore portion of the promo!

 

Other options

If Uber Eats isn’t available where you live or you prefer buying things you actually need even if it ends up costing you a bit more, many retailers also offer:

  • free shipping with no minimum purchase amount (or a low one)
  • free pickup in-store with no minimum purchase amount

For example, Simons allows you to buy anything and ship it in-store for free, even for if it’s just $2.

 

And many others in the list of 46 also offer that, like Sephora.

You get the idea.

That way, you can still make smaller purchases and unlock the 3 offers required for the Aeroplan promo… maybe on a few different accounts!

 

Part 2: the Air Canada gift card

There really isn’t much info to add about the Air Canada gift card purchase. After doing it yesterday, it’s very easy and intuitive.

You need to manually enter $25, which is the minimum amount. And that’s pretty much it.

 

Just make sure to add the appropriate Aeroplan account number on the 2nd page (don’t use the same number for all your transactions if you’re doing the promo in multiple accounts for example) and that’s it.

 

You’ll receive the eGift card instantly and be able to use it to pay for the taxes on the free flight you’ll have earned with this great promo! It never expires either.

 

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Summary

The Aeroplan Black Friday promo is an extremely easy way to earn 5,000 points with just 4 small purchases. That is often enough for a short-distance flight in North America, or can add to your balance to go even further.

Have any questions about the promo? Tell us in the comments below.

 

Explore awesome destinations: travel inspiration

Learn pro tricks: travel tips

Discover free travel: travel rewards

 

Featured image: Central Park (photo credit: Jermaine Ee)

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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