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Air Canada Aeroplan revealed another great stay at home promotion for their members today. Following in the footsteps of their previous promotion where you can receive Altitude Qualifying Status Miles for donating Aeroplan miles you can now earn your way to an actual Altitude status level with this newest promotion. Simply earn 50,000 Aeroplan Miles by May 31 and you will receive Altitude Prestige 25K status that valid through 2021. And it appears that virtually an method of earning miles will count towards that 50,000 level. Sign up for a new Aeroplan card, convert hotel points, convert American Express Membership Reward points, shop online via the eStore and of course earn Aeroplan miles directly via your Aeroplan affiliated credit card!
Here are the details as provided to us by Air Canada Aeroplan:
Between today (Apr 20) and May 31st, when a member earns 50,000 Aeroplan Miles through everyday Travel at home activities (including miles earned via an Aeroplan-affiliated credit card), the member will receive Altitude Prestige 25K status valid through 2021. Members will need to register for this promotion.
* Altitude members can earn towards their next status level – Between April 20 and May 31st, members earn more when they earn Aeroplan Miles, including Bonus Altitude Qualifying Miles (AQM) and the potential for a one-time Altitude status tier upgrade up to a maximum award of Elite 75K.
How can members achieve this?
* As announced earlier, members can earn miles for every five Aeroplan Miles they donate to a charity fighting the COVID-19 crisis, they’ll receive one Altitude Qualifying Mile (AQM).
* Convert points from hotels and credit cards – an easy way to earn towards an Altitude status would be to convert points like your Marriott Bonvoy or AMEX Membership Rewards.
* Use an Aeroplan affiliated credit card or apply for one and the initial welcome bonus will count!
* Shop online via the 170+ brands on the Aeroplan eStore. There will be weekly bonuses released, specifically for everyday purchases from favourite brands like Gap, Sephora, Well.ca, Indigo and more.
Air Canada’s promotion development team have really kicked things into high gear to have their members engaged and earning miles in the program and I can foresee a lot of our readers pushing their way to earn that 50,000 miles by the end of May. I know for a lot of you this won’t be hard – you are sitting on decent amounts of Membership Rewards points and Marriott Bonvoy points where you can hit that 50K mark in one fell swoop. I know I’ll consider it for both my wife and I with conversions from American Express and/or Marriott.
What does Altitude 25K get you? It gets you Priority Check In and Priority Boarding, 2 Maple Leaf Lounge passes, 20 eUpgrade credits, Star Alliance Silver and more.
If you are looking for ways to earn more Aeroplan miles in Canada to reach this bonus you can look at their Point #3 – The initial welcome bonus from an Aeroplan affiliated credit card will count so without much further ado here are your best options if you want to grab a new card to help reach that 50K:
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
– Earn up to 30,000 Aeroplan Miles (equivalent to 2 economy short-haul roundtrip flight rewards)1 and first year no Annual Fee for the Primary and 1st Additional Cardholder1. Conditions Apply. Must apply by May 31, 2020.
The key with this card is that you’ll get 15,000 miles on first purchase while the other 15K have to be spread out over 3 months. So for this promotion you may be able to squeak out 20K via this card. The good news is the annual fee is rebated in the first year so these miles come to you at no extra cost outside of your everyday spend. Learn more about and apply for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card here
CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Card
– Earn up to 35,000 Aeroplan Miles Plus, get a first-year annual fee rebate. Must apply by July 5, 2020
The key with this card is that you’ll get 20,000 miles on first purchase while the other 15K come a year later on your anniversary if you hit $10,000 in spending. That means for this promotion you may can easily just go for the 20K first purchase bonus. And like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card this card also has no annual fee in the first year. Between the two you could have 35,000 Aeroplan in a short minute. Learn more about and apply for the CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Card here
The Platinum Card
– New Platinum Cardmembers, earn 50,000 welcome bonus Membership Rewards® points when you charge $3,000 in purchases to your Card in your first three months of Cardmembership. Plus, you can receive an additional 10,000 Membership Rewards® points after six months of Cardmembership.
So with this card you do have to spend quite a bit and you’ll have to do it quick but the good news with Amex Membership Rewards points is they post really quick – you don’t have to wait until the end of your billing cycle and then when you convert them to Aeroplan miles it is virtually an instant transfer. And with 50,000 points converting 1:1 to Aeroplan you have the number of miles required to get that Altitude 25K. Learn more about and apply for The Platinum Card here
American Express Gold Rewards Card
– New American Express® Gold Rewards Cardmembers can earn a Welcome Bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards® points when you charge $1,500 in purchases to your Card in your first 3 months of Cardmembership .
This card will get you half way to that 50K as the 25,000 welcome bonus points convert 1:1 to Aeroplan. Like the Platinum Card you don’t have to wait until the end of your billing cycle to receive your points. Learn more about and apply for the American Express Gold Rewards Card here
I would consider the above cards your best bets but you also have other card options as like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card, CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Privilege Card and the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card to consider for this promotion.
Like mentioned above if you already have enough points with American Express Membership Rewards simply convert away and you’ll have that status PDQ. Same goes for Marriott Bonvoy – if you have 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you’ll hit that 50K no problem. Bonvoy points convert at a 3:1 ratio so 120,000 points gets you 40,000 Aeroplan Miles and you may be saying that’s not enough! However Marriott provides an additional 5,000 miles for every 60,000 points converted which means when you convert 120,000 points they give you an additional 10,000 miles and that’s how you get 50K Aeroplan Miles. Learn more about converting Marriott points here. You can also convert points from other hotel programs – albeit at not as good of a conversion ratio however if you have stranded hotel points that you’ll never use have at it and convert them over to Aeroplan to help you get to the 50,000 mile level.
As pointed out by Aeroplan you have other ways as well to reach the 50K. If you already have an Aeroplan affiliated credit card spend away to get those miles and then funnel all your online shopping via the Aeroplan eStore as those miles will count as well.
Recommend reading: Rewards Canada’s ultimate guide to earning miles, points, and cash back for online shopping and food delivery services
Finally if you already have Altitude status you are not forgotten with this promotion. You can earn additional AQMs, eCredits and more for your earning:
It’s great to see Aeroplan come out with this promotion as so many of us aren’t travelling and earning miles via that route and this will definitely encourage many to focus on Aeroplan over other programs for the next 6 weeks or so!
Learn more about and register for the Aeroplan Travel at Home to accelerate your status promotion here.
(You do have to register for the offer to be eligible)
All images via Air Canada
