Business Platinum Card from American Express
130,000 MR points
New Aeroplan: A Closer Look at Dynamic and Preferred Pricing
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Business Platinum Card from American Express
- Earn 90,000 MR points upon spending $15,000 in the first three months
- Plus, earn 40,000 MR points upon making a purchase in months 14–17 as a cardholder
- And, earn 1.25x MR points on all purchases
- Also, receive a $200 annual travel credit
- Transfer MR points to Aeroplan and other frequent flyer programs for premium flights
- Unlimited airport lounge access for you and one guest at Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, Centurion, and other lounges
- Credits and rebates for business expenses throughout the year with Amex Offers
- Bonus MR points for referring family and friends
- Qualify for the card as a sole proprietor
- Annual fee: $799
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Are we able to use another card to pay for the trip but have the no fee CIBC visa on file as linked for the preferred pricing? Would still prefer to pay with the Amex platinum.
Wanted to give everyone a sense of some recent personal experience. As of yesterday I had no aeroplan status and not core aeroplan credit card. I had been contemplating a trip from Montreal to Liberia, Costa Rica. I ran the numbers and it was looking like 70,400 for two people. Came across this article and cinched my decision to get the TD Aeroplan Infinite which I had been contemplating for a while (I’m already a TD easyweb customer so it was super easy). Got my approval in minutes and even card ready to go in Apple pay while I wait for the physical card. I went to aeroplan site to see it had already recognized my preferred pricing status which I was surprised to see. Reran the numbers and the same exact trip was now 48,400 points. So either dynamic procing changed in the hour or two I did all this or my preferred pricing made a big difference. Personally I think it was the preferred pricing! Thanks Ricky for this article. Will save me some points for my aeroplan redemptions!
Hi Ricky, I frequently refer to your blog for insight and precious info. This was a great article, thanks for your hard work. Can you clarify something for me? What preferred pricing benefit can SE members + premium card holders expect? Is it 8%-15% discount if I am reading correctly?
Yes, 8–15% discount as our findings have shown (and this hasn’t changed since the article was written).
Thanks for directing me here from YouTube Ricky, this is exactly what I was looking for! Unfortunately, I’m not seeing anywhere near the same savings as your research saw. I’m looking to book an Aeroplan business class return YYZ – LHR Nov 23-30 2021 and the savings I see from having a core AND premium card (no status) when I’m logged in is just a total of 2,200 miles (1,100 each leg) over not being logged in with no card discount. The closest example in your article would probably be YUL-CDG and that’s showing over 12,000 point discount on the return flight. Have things changed that much in a couple of months since you researched or is YYZ-LHR route just not discounted very much do you think? TBH, the point discount for having both a core and premium card, is extremely disappointing. When the trip is over 110k points, to save just 2k points is nothing.
ricky, so now i my profile on the aeroplan website shows that i have a credit card but i’m not seeing any difference in the number of points required for a reward. am i misunderstanding something? does the level of discount depend on how much i’ve spent on my card, which is this case is nothing yet?
It shouldn’t depend on your credit card spend; not entirely, anyway. Just by having the card, you should see a meaningful discount, and it’s been hinted that you may see further discounts based on spending in the future.
As I recall, you had only applied for the Aeroplan credit card a couple of days ago, correct? I’d give it a few more days for your account to reflect the preferred pricing. Let me know how it goes.
ok, finally seeing the discount in points. timeline was saturday card approved. tuesday status on aeroplan showed as “credit card member.” friday discount is showing.
so six days from approval of the amex AP card to getting a discount.
Is the preferred pricing supposed to be on all flights or is it just applied to a few? I don’t see that kind of difference when I compare.
Preferred pricing is only a thing on Air Canada flights – partner flights remain fixed!
How do we upgrade AC flights using miles?
There will be a Star Alliance Upgrade Award chart coming in 2021. Otherwise, you’d use eUpgrade credits (earned from Aeroplan Elite Status) to upgrade, rather than Aeroplan points.
But if we want to upgrade AC flights using Aeroplan points? Like we used to earlier.
This would be part of Bid Upgrade, which is part of the check-in process starting 24 hours in advance.
I’d like to know too about the discount while using Basic vs Core credit card since I cant get a core right now. Not asking for a review but to share your thoughts. Also it would be interesting since you mentioned it how to get 100k with some effort.
For the 100K points per year – that’s all about timing your purchases around eStore events (for stuff you may or may not need) and other promotions (like the 10x points on Air Canada purchases promotion we recently saw from TD, CIBC, and American Express). Good timing lowers the requirement by 90%.
Currently it seems like there’s no difference between Basic vs Core (based on reports from Basic cardholders who’ve conducted searches). Air Canada has hinted that these variable discounts will change over time, with Super Elites / premium cardholders being rewarded more heavily than they are now (and even potentially greater discounts depending on how much you spend on the card). So I’d say that difference in Basic vs Core could potentially become more meaningful in the future, too, but I’d still expect Basic cardholders to unlock that initial 8–15% discount at a minimum.
Thanks a lot Ricky for taking the time, really useful!
Ricky, is the discount for having an entry-level credit card the same as the for having a core card? i can’t see myself getting one of the higher-end cards at the moment so i was thinking of getting the no-fee CIBC card strictly for the discount. what do you think?
As of now it seems to be the same, but it can always change over time. See my response to Ezequiel above.
got it thanks. i tried to apply for the CIBC no-fee card but the website kept choking. I don’t know what was wrong but I just decided to bite the bullet and get the Amex card. I never have trouble with the amex website.
The new Aeroplan is much more expensive than the old one. We used to take trips across Canada and to the US for 25,000 points return. Now those flights are showing as 25,000 one way or more. We also often stopped in Toronto for a week to visit family on our regular trip from Vancouver Island to New Brunswick and this stop is no longer permitted so we would need to make 3 one way tickets to stop in Toronto
My next question would be on Family sharing. According to their info page (https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/aeroplan/family-sharing.html), “Members with redemption privileges can use points from the shared balance to redeem for rewards.” and “Have an Aeroplan Elite Status Member or primary Credit Cardholder in your pool? Everyone can benefit from their preferred pricing!” If this is the case, then just 1 person with the status is good for the whole team 🙂
Yes, that’s how the Family Sharing would work in this case. Just one person with status or with the no-fee CIBC card!
Great analysis as always Ricky. Appreciate your leg work
Coincidentally myself and P2 applied for the base CIBC AP card yesterday for just this purpose – keep around in perpetuity to maintain some form of status etc. The free 10K in pts don’t hurt either. Low hanging fruit, haha
Gotta pick up the low hanging fruit always. Not a bad idea to downgrade the higher-tier CIBC cards (when they have better bonuses of course) to the no-fee card in the future, too.
Would downgrading it gives the 10k WB?
I think you may be onto something and have lowered my anxiety about this route that I use annually.
The prices from Sydney to Vancouver are pretty normal (40-50k) and sometimes cheaper than the old program (I hold an aeroplan card but no status). I’ve also seen some business class tickets for 72K which is less than the old cost 80k.
I had my family booked this Christmas to go see family in Australia. I booked the first day that tickets came out and score four economy on the way, and four premium economy on the way home in mid-January. I was pretty excited and hope to replicate the bookings this year but won’t be if they are 238k from YVR-SYD.
@Mitch, who cares. SEs are OPM and captive. There is no need to give us benefits.
AC knows we for the most part have to fly them due to lack of options for work.
Anyone who has had the choice, left AC a long time ago
Sorry, Ricky, but I call BS. Case in point – I had a business class flight scheduled (noon ex YVR for YYZ) for November 28 until last Wednesday when it had to be cancelled. Aeroplan lived up to its word and returned the 25K miles to my account and refunded the $83 plus in fees to my credit card. I just NOW went to the “new” Aeroplan site and see that the same flight on the same day would cost 166.5K miles and $34 cash. Right, SOME improvement. Air Canada lives up to its past history – as expected! There ARE other flights that day for 23 to 34K miles but not the midday flight. Don’t be in such a rush to laud the little boys from YUL.
There’s no lauding intended in this post. It’s meant to be a way to accurately capture the pricing at this moment in time, so that we can determine the patterns and keep track of whether or not they change in the future.
Your point is addressed here: “It’s worth noting that the December 21 prices shown mostly reflect only one or two of about 10 daily flights – the remaining flights are all priced much higher, due to the peak demand on this date.”
After reading this article my opinion of the no fee CIBC Aeroplan credit card has gone up at least 8-15%.
Any idea where to see the Star Alliance Upgrades on the new Aeroplan site?
Those haven’t launched yet – they’ll be coming in 2021.
Great analysis. I suspect (hope) that SE + premium card holders will start seeing an additional price break when overall prices begin to rise with increased demand. As it is, it’s certainly under performing the expectations that were set before program launch, as there’s no price value for those of us holding top status and a premium card.
Let’s hope so – we’ll be keeping a close eye out!
Really nice Ricky. Good job as always.
Thank you Dino!
Do you need to add the appropriate credit card to your account to receive “preferred pricing”?
It gets automatically linked when you sign up, no need to add it yourself.
THANK you for a terrific analysis, Ricky. This information would have been impossible for most of of to obtain “on our own”. Good work!
My pleasure Peter, glad it was helpful!
I think the prices for flights to Australia may be explained because of the limit of 50 people being able to actually get in a flight unless that changed
Thanks for outlining this Ricky!
Aeroplan is overcomplicating the process for minimal savings in most cases. The sweet spot spot for minimal effort here is Core Card + 25K Status. If your reading this post you most likely have a core card and reap most of the benefits. I don’t imagine miles enthusiasts have no card + no status option.
There seems to be no incentive to pursue status or a premium card with this pricing.
Its interesting Aeroplan took this approach. However this may change in an environment with more flight demand.
YVR-YZP, also has some kinks that needs to be worked out since the distance is under 500 miles, yet definitely not pricing out in the appropropriate Miles bracket.
RIP Super Elite being worth anything anymore. That writing was on the wall when they started throttling IKK a few years back but here we are.