Aeroplan’s Black Friday 2020 Offers: Earn an Easy 5,000 Points!

Aeroplan has launched their new Black Friday offers from today until November 29, 2020, including the opportunity to earn a pretty effortless 5,000 Aeroplan points by completing a handful of offers in conjunction with each other.

Let’s talk about some of the most interesting individual offers in the order of how interesting they are, and then we’ll discuss some of the best strategies for stacking up those extra 5,000 Aeroplan points upon completing multiple offers.

Up to 10x Points on the Aeroplan eStore

As part of the new program’s arrival, the Aeroplan eStore has also relaunched with a brand-new look, and as in previous years, it should be your go-to shopping portal during Black Friday for all kinds of things you may or may not need.

Dyson, Lenovo, Sephora, and Indochino are the four retailers offering 10x points, with the remaining retailers varying between 1x and 7x elevated returns. Disappointingly, perennial favourite Apple is only at 1x this time around.

Plus, if you’re an Aeroplan Elite Status member with any status level starting from 25K, you’ll earn an additional 2x points on all eStore purchases (similar to how Aeroplan Status worked previously under the old program), so you could potentially unlock 12x Aeroplan points on a new vacuum, laptop, makeup haul, or three-piece suit.

There are also some discounts on redeeming Aeroplan points for merchandise through the eStore catalogue, although these do represent pretty poor value for your points, so it’s not a great idea.

Jessy and I recently experienced the misfortune of moving back in to our Toronto unit and finding an extra instant cooker pot in the cupboards, only for our tenant to ask for it back two weeks later; even then, I won’t be throwing 15,400 Aeroplan points at a replacement anytime soon.

5x Points on Air Canada Gift Cards

As part of the Black Friday event, you’ll earn up to 5x Aeroplan points if you purchase an Air Canada gift card for upcoming travel:

  • You’ll earn 2x Aeroplan points if you purchase up to $750 worth of gift cards
  • You’ll earn 5x Aeroplan points if you purchase $751+ worth of gift cards

For anyone planning to book upcoming paid travel with Air Canada, purchasing a gift card and then using it as your method of payment may be a good idea to earn additional Aeroplan points, keeping in mind the following:

  • Air Canada gift cards are processed and distributed by Buyatab Online Inc., so they don’t code as an airline or travel purchase on your credit card.
  • Using Air Canada gift cards to pay for your flight means that you won’t be able to benefit from any insurance protections that you would get if you had paid with a travel credit card instead.

Best of all, now that the new Aeroplan program has moved under one roof with Air Canada, you can use gift cards towards the taxes and fees on Aeroplan redemptions too, simply by choosing the “Use Gift Card” option on the payment page. 

Buy Aeroplan Points with a 50% Bonus

Aeroplan points are on sale with a 50% bonus over the next little while, bringing the standard purchase price of 3 cents per point (cpp) down to 2cpp. A minimum purchase of 2,000 Aeroplan points is required, which would net you 3,000 Aeroplan points after the bonus, at a total cost of $60 plus taxes.

(Remember, if you have a non-Canadian address listed in your Aeroplan profile, then you won’t be subject to sales tax on Aeroplan points purchases.)

Now, would I recommend anyone buy or gift Aeroplan points at 2cpp?

No, because savvy Aeroplan members know that the optimal way to purchase Aeroplan points is at an effective rate of 1.8cpp (equivalent to a superior 65% bonus) through one of the following ways:

  • Purchasing Air Canada tickets and converting them into Aeroplan points at a 65% bonus
    • This would even count as an Air Canada purchase on your credit card (allowing you to earn up to 3x Aeroplan points on the Amex Aeroplan Reserve or the Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve), as opposed to purchasing points directly, which is handled by Points.com and does not count as an Air Canada purchase.
  • Using the new Points + Cash feature to “buy back” up to 40% of your points at 1.8cpp during the process of making a redemption

Discounts on Flights, Vacation Packages, and More

Then, we have the usual discounts on Air Canada flights and vacation packages that we see around Black Friday:

  • Up to 20% off base fares on select Economy, Premium Economy, Business Class flights to all Air Canada destinations for travel through June 30, 2021
  • Up to 40% off Air Canada Vacations packages to Canada, USA, Europe, and Sun destinations.
  • 20% off all hotel and car redemptions – perhaps useful for an unorthodox hotel redemption or two
  • 1,500 bonus Aeroplan points on car rentals at Avis locations worldwide for travel through January 26, 2021

Apply for an Aeroplan Credit Card

If you haven’t applied for one of the new Aeroplan credit cards yet, then doing so will also count as fulfilling one of the Black Friday offers for the purposes of earning the bonus 5,000 Aeroplan points (which we’ll discuss below).

Indeed, for anyone contemplating upcoming trips over the winter or spring, the Black Friday promotions as a whole could represent a good time to do some careful planning.

For example, on a new TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege, you could meet the $1,000 minimum spending with a purchase of Air Canada gift cards, netting you 5x points on the purchase, while unlocking the signup bonus of 50,000 Aeroplan points plus an Air Canada Buddy Pass.

Then, you’d be able to use those gift cards to purchase a flight for the first passenger with 20% off the base fare, while redeeming your Air Canada Buddy Pass for the second passenger’s flight. How’s that for stacking the savings?

Earn an Easy 5,000 Aeroplan Points via Multiple Offers

Speaking of stacking, you’ll be able to earn up to 5,000 bonus Aeroplan points simply by taking advantage of multiple Black Friday offers.

  • By taking advantage of two offers, you’ll earn an additional 100 Aeroplan points
  • By taking advantage of three offers, you’ll earn an additional 1,000 Aeroplan points
  • By taking advantage of four offers, you’ll earn an additional 5,000 Aeroplan points

There are some nuances as to which offers can be used multiple times:

As you can see, there’s a myriad of ways in which you could fulfill four offers and earn the extra 5,000 Aeroplan points:

  • Book four separate Air Canada flights (either paid fares or Aeroplan redemptions)
  • Book three separate Air Canada flights and use your Aeroplan credit card to pay for one of them
  • Make three separate eStore purchases and apply for an Aeroplan credit card
  • Make three separate eStore purchases and buy a $25 Air Canada gift card which you’d be able to apply to a future flight

If you aren’t looking to make any big moves, then the last option is probably the easiest way to earn those 5,000 Aeroplan points pretty effortlessly.

Furthermore, as noted by my friend Jean-Max from Milesopedia, the new Family Sharing feature is an excellent way to scale up your earnings whenever there’s easy points on the table like this.

Your spouse, children, and members of your extended family can all have their own Aeroplan accounts and qualify for this offer individually, and hey, it’s quite common for the head of the household to manage everyone’s accounts on their behalf.

With a few strategic eStore purchases at the 5x or 10x level, it’s not hard to imagine each family member racking up a total of 7,000 Aeroplan points after completing their four bonus offers.

If you had the maximum of eight family members in your Family Sharing group, that’s going to be 56,000 Aeroplan points right there – already enough for a one-way flight in business class to Japan for one member of the household! 😉

Conclusion

Aeroplan and Air Canada’s Black Friday offers are here, and you can reward yourself with bonus points on your holiday shopping or significant savings on upcoming trips by taking advantage of these offers before November 29.

Truthfully, I would’ve loved to see even stronger Black Friday offers (perhaps on par something like 50% Miles Back) to celebrate the new program’s recent launch, but I suspect those will be coming sooner or later anyway.

For now, make sure to take some time over the next week or so to grab your easy 5,000 Aeroplan points simply by clicking a few buttons and making a few small purchases, potentially totalling up to 40,000 Aeroplan points across a Family Sharing pool.

97 Comments
  1. Paulk YYZ

    The whole e-store thing seems to be a scam. I put through a number of purchases through the aeroplan e-store starting Feb 27, and then through “bonus points” periods in early March and late March. 14 separate purchases mainly through Apple, probably about $15K in various purchases at 5X – that is a lot of points. Yes, made sure cookies were enabled and purchased immediately after going through the portal. So…going on six weeks for the longest purchase and a week for the shortest.

    Result – nada, zero, nothing. Absolutely no purchases registered in the last month. I called and got the usual spiel – wait 6-10 weeks. I am not confident anything will show up.

    Ricky, if you have an in with Air Canada – tell them their e-store and its operations are a disgrace and false advertising.

  2. Lukas

    For your other readers in the same spot:
    I purchased 1x AC Gift Card and 3x eStore partners for the promotion but was only credited the 500 AP points.
    I called to follow up and they said although there is a known issue, they would investigate my account. They did, and determined that 2 of my eStore purchases were from retailers that didn’t qualify for the promotion. According to the supervisor, not all eStore merchants qualified for the Black Friday promotion. Might explain why some of us got short changed.

    1. Quinn OBrien

      I recall the stores that were participating in the Black Friday promo had a Black Friday logo in that stores logo box, if that makes sense.
      I finally got the points for the other 2 retail stores I was missing (after 5 months of hassling them) and am now waiting on the 5000 Black Friday bonus points, to which they said they’d look into it but weren’t sure…? They didn’t sound very confident. This whole promo has been a sour experience.

  3. Ariana CAL

    Still waiting for this Black Friday offer debacle to be sorted out on my Aeroplan …nearly 4 months on…….sigh…..

  4. Quinn O'Brien

    I did the 3 E-store purchases (Marks, Under Armor, Sail) and the AC gift card as part of the Black Friday promo. I received the Under Armor and AC gift card points but nothing for the other 2 purchases and was just awarded 500 bonus Black Friday points today. A far cry from the 5,000 I was expecting. I called and they said to complete a missing points request but haven’t heard anything in a week or so now.

    Reading others comments, it doesn’t sound like I’m the only one having problems…

  5. Jason

    Ricky, you should do a follow up on this.

    It has been a failure. Purchases have not posted, posted late or remain pending… therefore no points awarded for the purchase or the promo. Big letdown for the new Aeroplan.

    Word is “try us back in 10 weeks” (!!!). Well 10 weeks is up on a Monday.

    I suspect (due to a cozy relationship) that we probably won’t see a hard hitting critical piece from you…. but maybe you can use your “influence” with them to make this right for all of us.

    Now that would be useful.

    1. Ricky YVR

      Thanks for the update Jason. I’ll do some following up.

      1. amplified0ne

        Brutal, only got credited with 2 offers and there is no way of knowing which ones are the ones you got credited for, so you basically have to send them everything but you cant add all the attachments in a single request. The Activity date should be the date of the click/purchase instead of the date they credited points for. I did the credit card, gift card and made 4 estore purchases because I wasnt sure if Amazon would ship item prior to end of the promo. Crazy stuff.

  6. Annie

    Has anyone get the 5,000 bonus points for 4 offers yet? Aeroplan seems realllllly slow posting points, even the points for buying gift card isn’t processed yet (which should be faster than estore I guess). If anyone got it, keep us posted 🙂

    1. Zach

      Haven’t gotten most points since November. Been keeping a spreadsheet to keep up. Additionally, one 1x status bonus is posting (Altitude 25K, former Diamond) instead of the 2x status bonus.

      Black Friday bonus hasn’t posted because none of the transactions from that period have posted. Tried reaching out to them but was immediately told not to email until at least 10 weeks have passed….

  7. Zach

    So I’ve been tracking all my purchases on a separate spreadsheet since November and it seems maybe 10% of them have shown up. If you try to contact Aeroplan, they tell you to get in touch 8 weeks after the purchase date – such a hassle.

    But on top of that, all the blogs reference “an additional 2x points” for those with Elite 25K or above status. So far, I’ve only been getting 1x additional…… I can’t seem to find any information about this on the Aeroplan website.

  8. Guy

    Ricky, is the Aeroplan eStore broken? I made several purchases over the past few months, including during this promo, and no point have posted yet. Transactions used to post quite reliably in the past.

    1. Dave

      I’ve also noticed this – the base points from only one of my four Black Friday purchases have posted thus far and no sign of the bonus (though it did have a January timeline).

  9. Nick

    For e-store purchases, there is no minimum amount required to spend to qualify the offer right ?

    1. Ricky YVR

      No minimum spend.

  10. Anderw

    So who found the 3 absolute *cheapest* e-store purcahses to make? Socks at the GAP? Whatcha got folks!

    1. Tyler

      $0.99 kobo ebook

    2. Emil

      $2 gift card at Indigo

  11. Den

    Could not complete a purchases of $25 AC giftcard. Tried several cards, several AP accounts and I keep getting it an Unable to Complete your Air Canada Online Gift-Card email.

    1. Jared

      Been getting same thing it says I have to call. Reading the below reply doesn’t bode well.

    2. K

      Yeah, they are only letting you purchase minimum $100 egift cards it is looking like. Called Aeroplan and she indicated the same. Any ways around this?

      1. Tyler

        I was able to purchase $25 today…

        1. K

          Hi Tyler, how did you go about that? In the Categories section there is Air Canada Products and in going to that there are only $100, $200, and $500 eGift cards listed.
          Thanks

          1. Tyler

            Are you looking at GCs in the estore? I believe you need to buy directly from AC, otherwise it’s just another estore transaction (which you can only count 3 of). Buying direct from AC and inputting your Aeroplan number should work, but someone can chime in if I’m mistaken.

            1. K

              Ah! gotcha. Thanks Tyler. Yes hopefully that works

              1. Tyler

                Should work…from the promo page if you click on the GC option it takes you to AC where you can enter $25. GL!

  12. Jeff H TOR

    wait; you Threw out the tenants’ instant pot cooker?

    1. Ricky YVR

      No, we made some delicious chicken curry with it, and then had to give it back 🙂

  13. steve

    It says this:
    You can use any of these offers multiple times:
    Air Canada flights purchased with points or cash.

    So I would think I could make three separate flights using points under my account (for three family members) and that would be 3 offers right there?

    1. Ricky YVR

      I would think so too.

  14. Nick

    I am wondering if applying the CIBC AEROPLAN® VISA* CARD FOR STUDENTS will counts as one offer?

    1. Ricky YVR

      Yes, it should count as I believe it’s a variant of the regular no-fee CIBC Aeroplan Visa Card.

  15. Gabriel

    For the 5,000 points offer, can I make a flight booking with an AC voucher? Can’t seem to find anything excluding this in the Terms and conditions.

    1. Ricky YVR

      Me neither, so I think that should be fine.

  16. Tom

    Hi Ricky, for the 5000 bonus points, do you know if the book a hotel and then cancel trick will work?

    1. Ricky YVR

      If you cancel one of the eligible transactions that earned you the 5,000 bonus points, then the bonus points may be clawed back as per the T&Cs.

  17. Andre

    When you shop through eStore, you see often a following statement: “Please note the following items are not eligible for the accumulation of Aeroplan Miles: purchase or redemption of gift cards.” What happens if I pay only a part of my order with a gift card and another part with a credit? Does that mean that I will get points only for the amount paid by credit card or I will get no points at all?

  18. Emil

    Hi Ricky, I think something does not match. It is possible that AC changed the offer. Now, you can use only once the option of buying an AC gift card for the offer. It seems that is one of the necessary four. Am I missing something?

    1. Andre

      It was like that in the beginning. Nothing’s changed.

      1. Emil

        Ups. I think I misread this: Make three separate eStore purchases and buy a $25 Air Canada gift card which you’d be able to apply to a future flight. I was about to make three separate purchases of $25 AC gift card.
        Sorry. My mistake.

  19. simon

    Hi Ricky, I couldn’t find above 5,000 bonus points on multiple Black Friday offers in Air Canada or it’s eStore webpages – has this bonus offer been withdrawn by AC?

  20. Peter

    Hi Ricky,

    It seems like UberEats would be a REALLY easy way to get 1 of the 4 transaction s, heh?

    That counts, right? Peter

    1. Ricky YVR

      Yes!

  21. AK YYZ

    Thanks for the info, Ricky! Wondering if you can direct me to where Aeroplan has more details on Elite Status members earning an additional 2x points on all eStore purchases?

    1. Ricky YVR

      If you head to the FAQ page on the eStore: https://aeroplan.rewardops.com/en-CA/faq

      And look under “How many points will I receive from my purchases through Aeroplan retailers?”

      You’ll see: “Aeroplan Elite™ Status Members will earn an extra 2 points per dollar spent on the Aeroplan eStore.”

      1. AK YYZ

        Thanks Ricky!

        It appears as though the status I gained through the Travel at Home promo didn’t translate to me earning the extra 2 points per dollar spent on my Aeroplan eStore purchases – Aeroplan is currently investigating.

        I suggest anyone who gained their elite status through Travel at Home double check that they’re earning these additional points.

  22. li0904426

    Ricky;

    Do you know if there is any promotion (now or future) to transfer points from Hotels or Amex to Aeroplan? I have like 200K of membership rewards with Amex

    1. Ricky YVR

      For hotel programs, yes, there are regular 25–35% conversion bonuses (which we haven’t seen this year likely due to COVID). For Amex MR, no, it has been a very long time since the last bonus and I don’t think we’re likely to see one anytime soon.

      1. li0904426

        Thank YOU very much for your reply and amazing website!!!
        Just a follow up question: is it worth convert all my AMEX membership rewards points (~220K) to Aeroplan?

  23. Parth

    I had a silly question: If I buy the aeroplan miles, do they qualify for altitude status?

    1. Ricky YVR

      In the past we’ve seen Buy Miles promotions that specified you’d earn SQD on your purchase, but that’s not specified this time, so I don’t think so.

  24. CT YOW

    Hi Ricky,
    Apple eStore on Aeroplan only gives 1x earning, not 2x.

    1. kart

      For Black Friday, they are now giving 2X!!

    2. Ricky YVR

      Seems like they’ve downgraded it since Thursday, disappointing.

  25. Helpful Fox

    I love your channel. Thank you so much for this article. Once I go the Aeroplan estore and click on the link to a retailer, for example Roots, can I log into my Roots account and use a promo code that was emailed to me to apply to my purchases? Same thing with other retailers like Old Navy, they often have promo codes that can be applied to the cart.

    1. Ricky YVR

      You should be able to stack the eStore with a promo code. I say “should” because this has never been a problem in the past, but some other shopping portals (like Rakuten) sometimes don’t allow you to stack with a retailer promo code, and only time will tell if that’s the case with the new Aeroplan eStore that’s managed by RewardOps.

  26. Guy

    I product switched from a TD Visa Infinite to the Infinite Privilege. Any idea if that counts for this promo?If that changes anything, I received an email from Aeroplan confirming that my card had been linked with my Aeroplan account minutes after getting approved.

    1. kart

      Even I am looking to do the switch. Did you get the 50,000 bonus points for the switch or is it awarded only on a fresh application?

      1. Guy

        Kart, in a product switch, you only earn the difference between the initial product and the new one, so you get 10k+30k by product switching from Infinite to Infinite Privilege.

        1. kart

          Thanks for the clarification Guy! I am wondering if its worth paying the Annual fee of $599 to get 40K points!!

    2. Stefan Voswinkel

      Hello Guy, I’d be interested in how you did the switch from Infinite to Infinite Privilege – because I want to do the same. Thank you, Stefan

      1. Guy

        Stefan – easy enough, you just need to call TD customer service and they can process it over the phone. It only takes a few minutes and everything from your old card is transferred over to the new one. You get a pro-rated refund of the annual fee of the Infinite card too.

        1. Voswinkel Stefan

          much appreciated, Guy! Cheers, Stefan

  27. Kevin

    How long after ordering a gift card do you receive it? Is it instant? Just ordered one and haven’t received it after half an hour :/

    1. Andre

      It’s not instant. Based on my experience, it takes about 1-2 hours.

  28. Herb Kruizenga

    So a $5 Hotel booking in Saigon using points would also work?

    1. Ricky YVR

      Looks like it – although you can only do it once to count for the four offers.

  29. Dino

    If I booked the trip using points or cash and I have to cancel later due to covid, would aeroplan claw back the bonus points?

    1. Ricky YVR

      The terms and conditions state: If any of the eligible transactions are cancelled or any of the related purchases returned, the Bonus Aeroplan points will be cancelled.

  30. Andre

    Does buying an Uber Eats GC at Uber Eats via eStore count as eligible transaction or only ordering food counts? T&C’s say that only using GC violates eligibility. Any experience, guys?

    1. Ricky YVR

      While I don’t have a data point to share, getting Uber Eats gift cards and risking not getting the points due to a T&C violation seems like more trouble than it’s worth to me. It seems far easier to just order some food through Uber Eats during the promotion period.

  31. soap

    Couple of questions…

    1. I still have my Amex Plat travel credit. With the recent shutdowns, I’m hesitant to use the refundable hotel trick to cash it out. Is it possible to book a flight on Platinum Travel to use the travel credit and still have it register as one of the Aeroplan Black Friday Offer? Then refund the ticket for the 65% bonus Aeroplan points?

    2. Does buying Aeroplan points trigger the 2x on the Platinum and/or 1.5x on the Aeroplan VI?

    1. Adam

      I thought the Amex plat travel credit can only be applied if booking with Amex Travel? How would you apply the refundable hotel trick? Just curious because I’m in the same situation and would rather take advantage of the travel credit without actually travelling given the GTA and surrounding areas are likely going into lockdown.

    2. Ricky YVR

      I believe the flight must be booked through Air Canada directly. I’d be very surprised if third-party travel agency bookings counted.

      Buying Aeroplan points is processed through Points.com, so it’d count as a general purchase and only earn 1x. This seems to be a common question so I’ll make a note of it in the article.

  32. Justin

    So can you apply for the Amex Aeroplan Reserve card through the Waitlist (+10K bonus points) and then use that card to buy Aeroplan points in order to knock off 3 of the 4 offers for the 5K bonus points?

    1. kart

      I thought the Waitlist bonus option closed a while back!

    2. Ricky YVR

      That would only knock off two: getting a card and buying Aeroplan points. Using the card would only apply if you used it to pay for a flight.

  33. Brian Tillon

    Someone left their own instant cooker at your place then had the nerve to ask for it back? Wow what a horrific misfortune you went through. How dare they ask for it back hey? Good lord you are way too high on your self.

    1. Danny

      Lol I thought the same thing. With all the money AC is paying him, I think he’s lost touch with reality!

      1. Ricky YVR

        I wish they’d pay me enough for a new instant cooker. Ideally one that can handle all the saltiness here.

        1. Not Danny

          This is a nice feature.

    2. Ricky YVR

      Seriously. Hadn’t they ever heard of finders keepers? 😉

      1. Julie Stark

        Brian and Danny need to chill out…go somewhere else w that negativity 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 thx Ricky for all the content!!

  34. Patti

    Do purchases of gift cards at shops on aeroplan estore count as a purchase? I don’t see an exclusion but may have missed it…? Want to avoid shipping costs for small purchases.

  35. Parth Shah

    How do you add a US Address to the Aeroplan account? Do you need any proof?

    1. Jill

      If I bought AC GC and then booked tickets, can I cancel those tickets and get aeroplan points?

      1. Ricky YVR

        Yes! This would count for both buying a gift card and buying an AC flight for the purposes of the 5,000 bonus points.

        Just keep in mind that one disadvantage to doing this would be that you’d only earn 1x Aeroplan points (compared to up to 3x for an Air Canada purchase if you bought the flight directly).

        Maybe a $25 gift card + paying the rest of the flight directly would be optimal.

        1. Annie

          Hi
          Was this posted before the promo gift card giving 5x Aeroplan points?

        2. Frank

          Hi Ricky, just wanna follow up on this, if Jill cancel the ticket, although she could covert it to 65% bonus points, isn’t the 5000 bonus points will be clawed back as per your reply to Dino and T&C? Thanks.

          1. Ricky YVR

            You’re right, there are a lot of moving parts here. In that case it’d be safest to do five tasks in case they deem the “booking flight” one ineligible because it gets cancelled. The “gift card” one would still count, and it’d still be a better deal if you actually wish to acquire Aeroplan points than buying them directly at 2cpp.

    2. Ricky YVR

      You just add it. I’d only recommend using an address that you can prove, since Aeroplan are well within their rights to ask for proof.

      1. Parth Shah

        Thanks Ricky. I have my US credit cards and bank account active so I have valid proof of address. Thanks for the info.

  36. Monte

    Also… when you buy points or gift cards does that count for air Canada purchases or does it go through reward ops or something like that?

    1. Ricky YVR

      Gift cards are though Buyatab and points are through Points.com, so neither would count as a flight/travel purchase unfortunately.

  37. Monte

    I got approved for aeroplan reserve 2 days ago… would this qualify?

    1. Ricky YVR

      The promotion starts today, so I don’t believe so.

      1. Monte

        meh whatever… got uber eats for dinner and got a Dyson filter… almost there

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