For the better part of month now most of the discussion surrounding Air Canada’s Aeroplan has been on the officially unpublished but well documented option to convert Air Canada Buddy Passes to Aeroplan points. News surfaced in March that you could call up Aeroplan and have the Buddy Pass that comes as part of the welcome bonus on numerous Air Canada Aeroplan co-brand credit cards to Aeroplan points. This was welcome news for those who had applied for one of the new cards but were solo travellers who would never use the pass or for those whose future travel plans may have changed due to the ongoing pandemic creating so much uncertainty.
When the news broke about this unpublished benefit there was a lot of confusion, or I should say lack of information about the conversion option other than you would get 30,000 Aeroplan Points in exchange for the pass. As the days went by we learned more thanks to various Points & Miles bloggers and enthusiasts in Canada. The first news was that the conversion option would end on April 30 so if you didn’t have the buddy pass in your Aeroplan account by then you wouldn’t be able to convert the pass. But then later in April the Air Canada Aeroplan executives cleared the water and let everyone know that the ability for a cardholder to convert their Buddy Pass to Aeroplan points was based on card application date not when the Buddy Pass posted to their Aeroplan accounts. This meant you could still apply for the card up until April 30 and avail of this conversion option. Rumours swirled around that the date would be extended to May 28 but Aeroplan told us the only concrete date was April 30 but now we have confirmation from Aeroplan and it’s not May 28. It’s open ended right now!
That’s correct, in the past few hours the Air Canada executives let Rewards Canada know that the conversion of the Air Canada Buddy Pass option has had the April 30 deadline removed and for the time being there is no set expiration of the option! This means you’ll be able to apply for any of the co-brand cards that have the Buddy Pass as part of the welcome bonus (they are all listed below) and know that you have the option to convert that pass to points should you realize that you won’t use the pass. Air Canada did tell us they will give us advance notice if and when they put a concrete end date to the conversion option.
This is a great move by Air Canada to allow cardholders to have the choice to keep their Buddy Pass for future travel – remember this pass can provide some really really big value that is worth way more than 30,000 Aeroplan Points (I recommend reading our article The Air Canada Buddy Pass explained and evaluated to learn more) as it can literally save travellers thousands of dollars. On the flip side the Buddy Pass isn’t an attractive option for solo travellers so by being able to convert the Buddy Pass those people can grab an Aeroplan card now instead of waiting to see what the next offer will be all the while take advantage of the benefits the cards provide and being able to start earning Aeroplan points on all their purchases right away.
Here’s some of our articles that discuss or touch upon this topic that we recommend reading:
- You can now convert Air Canada Buddy Passes into 30,000 Aeroplan points!
- Now’s the time to grab an Air Canada Aeroplan credit card – get up to 50,000 points at no cost other than card spending!
- How to earn over 148,000 Aeroplan points for free*
Once again the Aeroplan team have showed that they are listening and doing their utmost right now to keep their members happy and engaged with the program. They quickly addressed and clarified some of the questions and issues with the Buddy Pass conversion options and now with today’s news have alleviated anyone who may have been stressing about getting the card now or being able to wait for a bit and grab it in the near future but still have that conversion option!
To convert your Buddy Pass you need to call Aeroplan after you see the Pass has been posted to the benefits section of your Aeroplan account and tell the agent that you would like to convert the pass to points. They will remove the pass right away from your account but it may take up to 14 days for those points to show up in your account.
The card offers
Let’s see what the card offers that have the Buddy Pass look like now with this conversion option:
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card – 50,000 Aeroplan points
Current
offer: 20,000 Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass for an eligible
round-trip flight within North America after spending $1,000 in
purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. Plus, get an
annual fee rebate for the primary and first additional cardholder for
the first year.
This means if you convert your Buddy Pass to
points you’ll get 50,000 Aeroplan points and your first year free with
the card! 50,000 Aeroplan points at no cost is amazing! We value
Aeroplan points at a minimum 1.2 cents so those 50,000 points are worth
no less than $600 but in most cases you’ll be able to extract a lot more
value especially of you redeem for business or first class flights!
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card – 80,000 Aeroplan Points
Current
offer: 50,000 Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass for an eligible
round-trip flight within North America after spending $1,000 in
purchases within the first 90 days of account opening
With this
conversion this card technically offers 80,000 Aeroplan Points – there
has never been a direct Aeroplan credit card welcome bonus this high –
ever! However you do have to pay the $599 annual fee on this card so the
point value actually ends up being less than the Infinite version of
the card. That’s the trade off however as people getting this card are
doing so for the benefits and stronger earn rates.
American Express® Aeroplan®* Card – 45,000 Aeroplan Points
Current
offer: 9,000 Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass for an eligible
round-trip flight within North America after spending $1,500 in
purchases within the first three months of Cardmembershi plus, you can
also earn 1,000 Aeroplan points for each monthly billing period in which
you spend $500 in purchases on your Card for the first six months of
Cardmembership. That could add up to 6,000 Aeroplan points.
This
card ends up offering 45,000 Aeroplan points with the buddy pass
conversion and you do have to pay the $120 annual fee in the first year.
Still some great value and remember this card has strong earn rates for
Air Canada and dining/food delivery purchases.
CIBC Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card – 50,000 Aeroplan Points
Current
offer: 20,000 Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass for an eligible
round-trip flight within North America after spending $1,000 in
purchases within the first four months of Cardmembership Plus, get an
annual fee rebate for the primary and up to three additional cards for
the first year.
This is essentially the same offer as the TD
Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card offer. If you prefer to have a relationship
with CIBC go for this card!
TD® Aeroplan® Visa* Business Card – 55,000 Aeroplan Points
Current
offer: Up to 25,000 Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass for an
eligible round-trip flight within North America after spending $5,000 in
purchases (for the points) / $1,000 in purchases for the Buddy Pass within the first 90 days of account opening. Plus, get an
annual fee rebate for the primary and up to two additional cards for the
first year.
Convert that Buddy Pass and you have 55,000 Aeroplan
points with this card and again since there is no annual fee in the
first year you score 55,000 points at no cost other than card spending!
CIBC Aeroplan® Visa* Business Card – 50,000 Aeroplan Points
Current
offer: Up to 20,000 Aeroplan points on your first purchase and a bonus
Buddy Pass for an eligible round-trip flight within North America after
spending $3,000 in purchases within the first four months of
Cardmembership. Plus, get an annual fee rebate for the primary and up to
three additional cards for the first year.
Convert that Buddy Pass and you have 50,000 Aeroplan points with this
card and again since there is no annual fee in the first year you score
50,000 points at no cost other than card spending!
Recommended reading: The new Aeroplan credit cards compared