[Comes With Elite Status] New Air Canada Credit Card: Up to 100K Points, 3x Earn And Elite Status

The Aeroplan World Elite Mastercard was launched by Chase and Air Canada.

They could have done what everyone else does and offered 3-2-1 earning with a few categories, but they wouldn't really give you a lot of money, and then throw in free checked bags and call it a day. They did not do that. They made the card interesting for earning elite status, and they are incentivizing continued spend on the card with big rewards.

It shouldn't be surprising. Mark Nasr, the Senior Vice President who oversees loyalty marketing at the airline, shared that he prioritized a new U.S. co-brand card during an Aeroplan mileage run. Mark has said in the past that it is important for executives to eat their own dog food and understand the product they are selling.

100,000 points in value is the initial bonus.

The card comes with an initial bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points after $4000 is spent, which can be used for Aeroplan redemptions.

If you had an award that cost 65,000 points, you could apply it and spend 15,000 miles.

If you have a card, you can book two ways or two passengers to use both at the same time and maximize value.

Mark Nasr explained why these certificates were offered.

He said that this allows them to offer the highest value at the lowest cost since not all certificates will be redeemed for 50,000 points each.
They were inspired by hotel free night certificates but with improvements since they often expire and can't be topped off.
He believes that this encourages redemption as quickly as possible, and that they get the best engagement in the program by getting a big award. People who redeem at high value continue to earn quickly and certificates are treated as burning a hole in the pocket from a behavioral perspective.

When applying for the card, you will get 10,000 bonus points and 10 eUpgrades as part of your initial bonus.

It is possible to earn an earning.

3x earning at grocery stores, dining at restaurants, and spending with Air Canada and other places, is offered by the card.

It earns 500 points per $2000 spent and up to 1500 points per month. If you spend in categories that are at bonus thresholds, you can earn up to 3.25 points per dollar. If you use 50% off redemption certificates that can be earned with the card, it is equivalent to earning 6.5 points per dollar in these categories at the extreme.

There are benefits.

The card comes with a free first checked bag for cardmember and up to 8 other people on the same reservation.

Pay Yourself Back with the card will allow members to apply points towards travel expenses charged to the card at a rate of 1.25 cents per point, up to 50,000 points per calendar year.

Mastercard World Elite Benefits include concierge, priceless experiences, and a number of other perks.

You get a $100 statement credit for every 4 years for Global Entry and the first product to include the credit is the one that covers the U.S. Canada border.

The first tier of elite status is on the card. You can keep that status with $15,000 a year. The card will give you future status for the remainder of the year in which you are approved plus the following year.

Spending $50,000 on a card increases your level of achievement.

The 35,000 mile status was reflected right away.
A member who earns elite status with Air Canada will get a one-level boost at the beginning of the next calendar year. One of the best top tiers in the world can be earned by a member. If they can manage it, an Aeroplan 75K member who spends $50,000 on the card will become Super Elite in the next calendar year.

I wrote to expect status-earning opportunities with the card. Mark Nasr said that next year won't be a normal status-earning year and there will be a lot of promotions. I would expect that to be true with other companies.

Status earned via the card is real or full status and comes with all of its benefits, including a 50% off reward on redemptions, and premium cabins based on status level.

If you level up your status and use the points earned on this card in conjunction with the points you might transfer in from programs like Chase's Ultimate rewards, those points are going to go farther.

The way that the spend and status are reinforcing is something first done by Frontier Airlines and now by Hyatt, where spend earns elite nights and every 10 nights drive incremental benefits. It feels more gamified and fun because of the stacking of benefits, which is something American AAdvantage is moving towards with Loyalty Points.

Are you a heavy spender? They want you to keep going even after you've bumped up your status to elite.

50% off redemption of Priority rewards is offered.

25K and 35K members can use these for redemptions.
50K members for North America.
75K members can use them up to Premium Economy.
They can be used for business class worldwide.

For someone spending $1 million on the card in a year, they are offering something they call "GLOBAL+1" which is like a worldwide award redemption companion pass offering 100% of points redeemed back on all redemptions in all cabins for remainder of year earned plus the entire following year for a companion traveling That could be incredible.

There are 500 bonus points for each spend on the card. There are threshold rewards for spending over $1 million each year.

They will reduce your emissions.

Air Canada redemptions that are redeemed by members with an Aeroplan Chase card will be fully offset.

If the offset efforts are real, this is cool.

Air Canada will purchase these high quality offsets with funding from Chase. Direct carbon capture is a technology that seems to have real potential and needs more investment.

Mark says that he cares about this and that he wants to hang around for awhile to see his kids grow up. I applaud efforts that aren't just buying Catholic indulgences.

Air Canada Aeroplan is useful for Americans.

Aeroplan elite members get significant discounts on award redemption throughPriorityRewards so this program is already useful for those with large balances with Chase, American Express, Bilt or Capital One since Aeroplan is a transfer partner of all four.

Aeroplan award redemption is very useful with no fuel surcharges and access to both Star Alliance airline awards and award travel across an extensive network of partners.

Fuel surcharges have been eliminated and family accounts can pool points from up to 8 accounts free. If the whole family gets Aeroplan cards, that can be useful.

The best business class lounges in North America, the original Signature Suite in Toronto and the one in Vancouver, come with access to the best business class awards on Air Canada, a 10,000 to 12,000 point premium.

The Air Canada Signature Suite is in Toronto.

The Mastercard has to be paying through the nose.

Chase does not issue many Mastercards. They lease the network and capture most of the fees from the incremental charges. They are encouraged to spend more on Visa cards. Air Canada received funding from Visa for the re-acquisition of the Aeroplan program. Visa products are issued by Air Canada in Canada.

Mastercard has been aggressive with deals over the past couple of years. It suggests that Mastercard backed up the truck when they broke further into Chase and Aeroplan. It helps fund a strong product. It suggests that payment networks are more competitive than people think.

Eligibility.

Chase seems to be approving people with fewer than 5 new cards in the last 24 months, despite the fact that we have seen several reports of customers who are over 5/24 recently being approved for some Chase products.

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