Aeroplan’s Amazing Suite Of Airline Partners

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Air Canada Aeroplan is my favorite frequent flyer program because of the points it gives me. Even if you don't fly with Air Canada, Aeroplan is still worth keeping an eye on.

Aeroplan has a lot of airline partners, and that list continues to grow. I wanted to learn more about Aeroplan's partnership with airlines and why it matters so much.

Aeroplan has more airline partners than any other program

You can redeem Aeroplan points on 45 airlines. Only one airline frequent flyer program in the world has this many redemption partners.

The major global airline alliances generally allow reciprocal award redemptions as one of the main perks of the concept. With Air Canada being part of the Star Alliance, of course you have access to the over two dozen Star Alliance member airlines. But what’s most impressive is the number of non-alliance partners that Aeroplan has.

Why are you so interested in this?

• Aeroplan points are extremely easy to come by, including with transferable points currencies, as I’ll explain below
• Aeroplan allows stopovers on awards for an extra 5,000 points, which is a rare feature nowadays
• Aeroplan allows awards on all partners to be booked online, and there are no fuel surcharges on any awards
• Aeroplan has some unique airline partners that are otherwise tough to redeem on, ranging from Air Mauritius, to Gulf Air, to Oman Air, to Vistara
• Being able to mix & match airline partners on a single award is awesome, especially for getting to more remote destinations

There is no other airline program that has this level of partnerships. It's useful if you want to travel to the Canadian Arctic in the Canadian North economy.

Want to travel to Madagascar in business class?

Would you like to travel to Sultanate in first class?

Full list of Aeroplan airline partners

Air Canada Aeroplan has 45 partner airlines.

• Aegean Airlines
• Aeromar
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air Creebec
• Air Dolomiti
• Air India
• Air Mauritius
• Air New Zealand
• Air Serbia
• All Nippon Airways (ANA)
• Asiana
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca
• Azul
• Brussels Airlines
• Calm Air
• Canadian North
• Copa Airlines
• Croatia Airlines
• EgyptAir
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Etihad Airways
• Eurowings
• Eurowings Discover
• EVA Air
• GOL
• Gulf Air
• Juneyao Airlines
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Olympic Air
• Oman Air
• Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• SunExpress
• SWISS
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines
• Virgin Australia
• Vistara

Why is Aeroplan seemingly alone in adding partners?

Aeroplan is in a league of its own when it comes to partnering with airlines. The program has a secret recipe that other programs don't have. The people behind the program see value in this for members and put a lot of effort into it and other programs don't.

It would be nice to see a focus on adding more partners for members to redeem their points in a loyalty program that has lost several airline partners over the years. The answer is not yet known. It's not a priority for us.

A lot of the changes we've seen at frequent flyer programs are questionable at best. Aeroplan added a never-ending list of new partners.

• First and foremost, Aeroplan is truly run by avgeeks who are obsessed with airlines and flying, and I imagine on some level they’re adding partners that they’d love to be able to redeem their own points on
• The reality is that there’s a business case for what Aeroplan is doing — award reimbursement rates are typically quite low, so Aeroplan will typically make money when you transfer your points to Aeroplan, and then redeem them on a partner; that’s not only a great business model independently, but also a great way to drive up engagement in Aeroplan, and awareness of Air Canada
• Air Canada has clearly given Aeroplan leadership latitude to add partnerships that are good for the program, rather than just adding a very limited number of partnerships that are driven by revenue management and other commercial agreements; compare this to Delta, which nowadays only seems to want to work with airlines it has equity stakes in

I would love to be a part of Aeroplan's negotiations when adding new partners. Aeroplan leadership convinced people at these airlines to allow Aeroplan members to redeem, without any sort of commercial agreement otherwise. That must have some skills.

If the Aeroplan thing doesn't work out, these people could fly to the Canadian North to sell fridges and use Aeroplan points to do it.

How to earn Aeroplan points

One of the great things about Aeroplan is that it's easy to get points. Air Canada Aeroplan can be used with Amex Membership rewards, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate rewards.

Transferring over points earned with American Express Gold Card, Capital One Venture X rewards credit card, and Chase Sapphire Reserve card is possible.

It's important to note that transfers from all of these partners are instant, which is important because sometimes there might be award availability, but then you find that a transfer can take days, which can ruin your plans.

The Aeroplan® Credit Card in the US has a great bonus and some unique perks. Aeroplan sells points at a good price.

Bottom line

Aeroplan has more airline partners than any other program in the world. A total of 45 airline partners are included in the program. I love the consistency offered by these redemptions, from being able to mix partners on a single award, to being able to have stops on one-way awards.

Aeroplan is only getting started and we are told to expect more interesting partners in the future. I am looking forward to seeing what airlines are next.

I appreciate Aeroplan more than anyone else.