TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.
Air Canada has been the airline that seems to have been doing the most to keep its frequent flyers engaged and to keep its loyalty currency relevant throughout the current crisis, and now it’s back with a few good offers that will probably look tempting to those lucky enough to still be able to fly within, to or from Canada.
Book A Flight & Earn Bonus Miles
- Book by 4 August 2020
- Travel by 30 September 2020
- Eligible flights are flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and under the Air Canada Express brand.
- Earn 100% bonus miles on the following fare classes:
- Economy Standard
- Economy Flex
- Comfort
- Economy Latitude
- Earn 150% bonus miles on the following fare classes:
- Premium Economy
- Business Class
Registration is needed via this page.
Note: This offer is only valid on new bookings made during the offer period so existing reservations made before 8:00 EST on 21 July will not qualify. Also, per Air Canada, Any booking made prior to the start of the offer period that is subsequently changed to include travel dates within the Travel Period will not be considered a new booking that is eligible for the offer.
Make An Award Booking & Get A Rebate
- make an award booking by 4 August 2020
- Travel by 30 September 2020
- Eligible flights are flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, and under the Air Canada Express brand.
- Get a 30% rebate on Economy Class awards
- Get a 35% rebate on Premium Economy awards
- Get a 40% rebate on Business Class awards
Registration is needed via this page.
There are two key things to note here:
- As with the bonus miles offer, this offer is only valid on new bookings made during the offer period so existing reservations made before 8:00 EST on 21 July will not qualify. Also, per Air Canada, Any booking made prior to the start of the offer period that is subsequently changed to include travel dates within the Travel Period will not be considered a new booking that is eligible for the offer.
- This offer is for a rebate and not a discount. This means that an Aeroplan member will need to have enough miles in an account to make a booking at the normal levels/cost as the rebate will not appear in a member’s account until “three to four weeks after the last qualifying segment on the Eligible Flight Reward booked during the Offer Period and flown during the Travel Period is completed”.
Full terms and conditions for both offers should be read carefully and can be found at the bottom of the registration page.
Quick Thoughts
If you’re already in Canada (or if you’re allowed into Canada) and you’re happy to travel these are some very tempting deals that Air Canada has published. If you’re short of miles for an award booking and have access to US credit cards, don’t forget that Aeroplan is a transfer partner for Amex Membership Rewards so points from your Amex account can be moved over to Aeroplan to top up an account.
As positive as these deals are (I think Air Canada deserves a lot of credit for continuing to be inventive with the offers it publishes) there are a couple of negative aspects that I should point out.
Firstly, there are going to be a fair number of disappointed people whose existing bookings will not count for these promotions. I can understand why Air Canada has inserted this clause into the terms (the airline is trying to drive more spending and redemptions and has little reason to reward people who have already booked) but that doesn’t make things any better for those who may now miss out.
Secondly, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Air Canada awards attract surcharges. Yes, they’re nowhere near as heinous as the surcharges some airlines like to add to award bookings (e.g. British Airways), but they’re additional charges none the less (up to ~$800 for a roundtrip long-haul Business Class booking) so there’s still a price to pay when redeeming Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada.
Bottom Line
For bookings made by 4 August and for travel through 30 September 2020, Air Canada is offering up to 150% bonus miles for revenue fares and rebates of up to 40% on award bookings. These are mostly very generous promotions but they’re still not perfect and not all Aeroplan members will be happy with the terms and conditions.
