.
The Chase Aeroplan Card Bonus Offer Details are trickling out: the signup bonus is expected to be 100,000 Aeroplan points, an excellent offer assuming either a waived or low first year annual fee. Also, don't forget to join the Chase Aeroplan Waitlist to Earn 10,000 Bonus Points in addition to the new card signup bonus and other benefits. Keep in mind that the offer isn't yet publicly available; it's expected to debut late November or December 2021.
- Signup Bonus: 100,000 Aeroplan points via two Flight Reward Certificates of 50,000 Aeroplan points each, after spending $4000 within the first three months of card membership
- Earn 3X points per dollar for groceries, dining, Air Canada spend
- Earn 500 bonus Aeroplan points per $2000 spent in a month, up to 1500 bonus points per month for $6000 spend
- Free first checked bag for the cardmember and up to eight companions on the same Air Canada reservation (does not apply on partner flights)
.
Analysis
For those who are eligible for the new Aeroplan card, assuming the features above and either a waived or low annual fee (since the public offer hasn't yet been revealed) this is an excellent card to apply for. We value Aeroplan points at ~1.8-2 cents per point, so even at the lower end the 100,000 signup bonus would be worth $1800. We also like the 3X points per dollar for groceries, since even with all the grocery gift cards we buy using our Chase Freedom 5X when groceries earn 5X, we inevitably run out or have some grocery spend at a grocery store we haven't bought a gift card for. The 500 bonus Aeroplan points for every $2000 spend is nice, although chances are we wouldn't use this much, since with our AMEX Blue Business Plus we'd earn 4000 points on $2000 of otherwise unbonused spend, and we don't see ourselves racking up $2000 in 3X spend on groceries, restaurants or Air Canada spend.
To be eligible, you'll need to be under Chase 5/24, that is no more than 4 new credit cards over the past 24 months; most but not all business cards don't count towards this limit).
The two 50,000 points certificates could each be used towards business class award flights, such as Brussels Airlines Business Class or SWISS Business Class to or from Europe, which are 60,000-70,000 points each way–more on this below. Or if you're lucky and booking within the 15 days before you're flying, you may be able to snag Lufthansa First Class. Here's an example of Lufthansa First Class available for 100,000 points from MIA-FRA; you could even transit Frankfurt, say with MIA-FRA-CPH to enjoy some time in the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, still for 100K points.
.
Good Uses of Aeroplan Points
Aeroplan's new award charts have their pros and cons. Certainly its great that the significant fuel surcharges that attached to some partner award flights are now gone, and that a stopover can be had even on one way awards for a cost of 5000 points. The distance based pricing means that you'll pay more for longer awards even when the regions are the same. For example, San Francisco SFO to Zurich ZRH in SWISS Business Class is 70,000 Aeroplan points + CAD 46 (~USD $37), but 60,000 Aeroplan points + CAD 46 for JFK-ZRH. Still, Aeroplan award pricing beats United MileagePlus, which charges 75,000-78,400 miles + $5.60 for SWISS Business Class SFO-ZRH and 73,000-76,300 points + $5.60 for JFK-ZRH.
At time of writing there are issues getting United Business Class awards to appear on the Aeroplan site, even for days when there's United saver award availability (and thus should be Aeroplan partner award space) but mainland U.S. to Hawaii awards in United Business Class are also a better deal when available, at 25,000 Aeroplan points for West Coast to Hawaii (vs. 40,000 United miles) and 35,000 Aeroplan points for other non-West Coast U.S. flights to Hawaii (vs. 70,000 miles or more with United).
Recommended Posts
Why Booking Hotels with AMEX Points is a Terrible Value
Activate Chase Freedom 5X for Q4 2021
What It's Like Flying JetBlue Mint in 2021
HT: DoC
If you enjoyed this, join 200,000+ readers: follow TravelSort on Twitter or like us on Facebook to be alerted to new posts.
Subscribe to TravelSort on YouTube for travel inspiration.
Become a TravelSort Client and Book 5-Star Hotels with Virtuoso or Four Seasons Preferred Partner Benefits