When the new Aeroplan credit card offers by TD, CIBC, and American Express were first launched in November 2020, many Aeroplan members were left frustrated that a large chunk of the welcome bonuses took the form of an Air Canada Buddy Pass rather than the juicy quantities of Aeroplan points that we were expecting.
While the Buddy Pass might offer good value to travellers who usually fly on paid Air Canada flights in groups of two or more, Aeroplan points can offer considerably higher value through international flights in premium cabins – not to mention that they’re much more useful than the Buddy Pass for solo travellers who rarely fly with a companion.
Well, you know what they say: good things come to those who wait. It appears that we’re going to get the juicy Aeroplan points offers that we’ve been waiting for after all.
Although this isn’t being publicly promoted by Air Canada, I’ve confirmed through an internal source that the Air Canada Buddy Pass can now be exchanged for 30,000 Aeroplan points – a feature that’s being introduced in recognition of the reality around travel planning during the pandemic.
Exchange Your Air Canada Buddy Pass for 30,000 Aeroplan Points
You’ll earn an Air Canada Buddy Pass upon completing the minimum spending requirement associated with one of the Aeroplan co-branded credit cards.
The Buddy Pass can take up to eight weeks to show up in your Aeroplan account – some members have reported getting the Buddy Pass pretty soon after completing their minimum spend, while others have had to wait close to the full eight weeks to see it show up.
It should look like this:
Once the Buddy Pass has arrived in your account, you can either go ahead and use it to book a paid Air Canada flight for two passengers, with the second passenger paying a $0 base fare… or, as of now, you can call Aeroplan and ask to exchange the Buddy Pass for 30,000 Aeroplan points.
While the Buddy Pass itself has a one-year expiry period, the 30,000 Aeroplan points simply get deposited into your account alongside the rest of your Aeroplan balance, and you can go ahead and redeem those 30,000 Aeroplan points for a flight redemption just like all your other points.
You might be wondering: should you go ahead and exchange the Buddy Pass for 30,000 Aeroplan points?
In my opinion, you absolutely should, unless you have very specific travel plans in mind in which you can leverage the Buddy Pass in its original form for a high value.
By our current valuation of 2.1 cents per Aeroplan point, 30,000 Aeroplan points are worth $630 – and quite likely far more than that if you redeem them for a business class or First Class flight in the future.
Unless you have very firm plans to book paid Air Canada flights within North America for two people, in which you would’ve paid full fare for both passengers anyway and the second passenger’s base fare is greater than $630, I’d say that exchanging the Buddy Pass for 30,000 Aeroplan points is a no-brainer decision.
Aeroplan Credit Card Offers Are Now Incredible!
Needless to say, this is a major boost to the value proposition of all the Aeroplan co-branded credit cards that currently include Buddy Passes as part of the signup incentive.
Factoring in the option to exchange the Buddy Pass for 30,000 Aeroplan points, we’re looking at the following effective welcome bonus offers on Aeroplan credit cards:
- TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite: 50,000 Aeroplan points + First Year Free
- 10,000 Aeroplan points upon first purchase
- 40,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $1,000 in the first three months
- $139 annual fee, waived for the first year
- TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege: 80,000 Aeroplan points
- 20,000 Aeroplan points upon first purchase
- 60,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $1,000 in the first three months
- $599 annual fee
- TD Aeroplan Visa Business: 55,000 Aeroplan points + First Year Free
- 10,000 Aeroplan points upon first purchase
- 30,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $1,000 in the first three months
- 15,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $5,000 in the first three months
- $149 annual fee, waived for the first year
- CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite: 50,000 Aeroplan points + First Year Free
- 10,000 Aeroplan points upon first purchase
- 40,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $1,000 in the first four months
- $139 annual fee, waived for the first year
- CIBC Aeroplan Visa Business: 50,000 Aeroplan points + First Year Free
- 10,000 Aeroplan points upon first purchase
- 40,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $3,000 in the first four months
- $180 annual fee, waived for the first year
- American Express Aeroplan Card: 45,000 Aeroplan points
- 39,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $1,500 in the first three months
- 1,000 Aeroplan points for each of the first six months in which you spend $500
- $120 annual fee
Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW!
50,000+ Aeroplan points for no first-year annual fee and only $1,000 in minimum spend – on no less than three co-branded credit cards. You’re looking at it!
Now, before you get too excited, I should remind you that the terms and conditions of the Aeroplan credit cards with Buddy Pass offerings include the following language:
This one-time Bonus Buddy Pass is only valid for eligible cardholders. You will not be eligible for the Bonus Buddy Pass if you have previously opened an Aeroplan Program credit card of the same type, regardless of the credit card issuer and have received the Welcome Bonus offer in the last 12 months.
Since you can only earn one Buddy Pass per “type” of Aeroplan credit card (i.e., core, premium, or small business) within a 12-month period, you’ll want to be selective about which cards to apply for.
Under the current offers (which are expected to last until the end of May), one possible winning combination might be as follows:
- TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege (premium)
- TD Aeroplan Visa Business (small business)
- CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite (core)
If you applied for this trio of cards, you’d be able to earn 185,000 Aeroplan points for a net $599 outlay in the first year.
And even if you were to skip the premium card, you’d end up with 105,000 Aeroplan points for $0 out-of-pocket in the first year.
Factor in the points you earn from the minimum spending… and that’s already a round-trip business class flight from the West Coast to Japan for $0 out-of-pocket.
That is simply outrageous, staggering, unreal… and dare I say, the “something amazing” that we were originally promised back in the day?
Conclusion
Due to the harsh realities of planning travel in the pandemic era, Air Canada has quietly introduced the ability to convert the Air Canada Buddy Pass into 30,000 Aeroplan points – a game-changer for the Canadian Miles & Points landscape.
If you have a Buddy Pass in your Aeroplan account, you can go ahead and call Aeroplan to exchange the Buddy Pass for 30,000 Aeroplan points, which should be deposited into your account very shortly thereafter.
As a result of this increased flexibility, the welcome bonuses on six of Aeroplan’s 11 co-branded credit cards are now looking sizzling hot, with up to 105,000 Aeroplan points on the table through first-year-free offers alone.
Make no mistake about it: it’s time to get yourself, your partner, and everyone in your Aeroplan Family Sharing group to jump onboard.
I opened the former CIBC Aerogold card in June of 2020 and got the signup bonus of 20k. Would I be eligible for the TD Aeroplan Buddy Pass offer?
Yes!
Hi, How long after meeting minimum spend did you get buddy pass ? ( from statement date )
Thanks
I was surprised it showed up in my Aeroplan account the day after my statement date
Wish Westjet would match this offer for their companion vouchers…
In a sense, WestJet was earlier to the game with conversion options for their companion voucher, allowing you to convert into four lounge passes.
I’ll let you make your own comparisons between the value propositions here…
Yes, but those lounge passes have the same expiry date as the exchanging companion vouchers.
Hi Ricky,
Where to find the AMEX offer below, I cant see it anywhere….
American Express Aeroplan Card: 45,000 Aeroplan points
39,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $1,500 in the first three months
1,000 Aeroplan points for each of the first six months in which you spend $500
$120 annual fee
Here you go: https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/charge-cards/aeroplan-card/
Hi Ricky,
My wife doesn’t have any Aeroplan cards, so she is looking at the 3 you mention as possible options for 185 000 points but is there enough time between now and the end of May? Should she apply for 2 (TD and CIBC) in April? Thanks
My understanding is that the April 30 “deadline” is a rolling deadline that’s quite likely to be extended based on the COVID situation, so there should be enough time. Naturally, the earlier you apply, the better.
I can’t seem to find the AMX card that offers 39k plus 6k points with $120 annual fee??
Here you go: https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/charge-cards/aeroplan-card/
Where on the Aeroplan site can you see if you have a buddy pass?
Under “Benefits” on the dashboard.
Hi Ricky,
If we held these products before the November switch do you know if these cards are considered new products and we are eligible for welcome bonus?
They’re considered to be successors to the old products, so each issuer’s usual eligibility rules (12 months for TD, once in a lifetime for American Express) and enforcement patterns (a bit of a toss-up for Amex, less strict for TD and CIBC) would apply.
What about CIBC’s eligibility rules?
If I have an existing CIBC AG VI opened on 2020-06-23 (and still open), do you know If I can still earn the full WB If I were to open another one today?
so please clarify, the total spend for cibc infinite and business, is 1k and 3 k respectively but over the prescribed statement times to get the buddy pass? So if do an instant 1k and 3k spend will buddy get deposited asap? Waiting to pull the trigger, thanks for the tireless work you guys do to guide our points accumulation, got enough for 2 round world business class so far and counting,( will get consulting on that one) cheers
Ricky, I think your MS periods are off for the CIBC products. I work at CIBC and it’s within 4 statement periods, not 4 months. The first statement period is very short and counts towards that. It’s actually effectively 3 months. You can call CIBC to clarify that if you’d like.
You are right. It looks like the language may have changed. It used to say 4 months. Now it says 4 monthly statement periods.
Hi Ricky,
Would you be able to get multiple buddy passes to convert into 30k points from the same card tier (ie. premium, core, business) or are you still limited to one buddy pass per tier. Specifically, looking at the business cards (TD and CIBC) which both offer a buddy pass and if get both would that enable 30k points conversion twice? (similarly for Core cards as well)
Hey Ricky, I heard someone said this buddy pass 30K AP point conversion is a promotion and will be expired on April 30, is that true? Thanks
It’s similar to the flexible rebooking policy or the Aeroplan cancellation policy – a rolling deadline that’s quite likely to be extended depending on how the COVID situation plays out.
Am I missing something? On the CIBC application page for the Aeroplan Infinite it says that AF rebate is only applicable if you have CIBC account.
Specifically: Annual fee rebate of up to $139 if you have a CIBC Smart Plus™ Account
That rebates the annual fee every year. The public offer currently has a first-year fee rebate: “Earn up to 20,000 Aeroplan points! Plus, get a first-year annual fee rebate!”
Waiting for pass to show in my account… your pic, you took that under “My Aeroplan” and then under “Benefits”, is that right?
If I apply both CIBC’s AP personal and business at the branch, would it be 1 hard poll credit check or 2 hard poll? Thanks!
CIBC can combine pulls at the branch, so it’d be one.
I would recommend TD business card over CIBC as the MSR of $1k with TD biz card will get your Buddy pass vs. CIBC $3k MSR.
so with one hard pull at branch both TD APVI and TD Biz AP should with $1k MSR should be the best strategy to get 50k + 40K = 90K with P2 on board its 180k with $0 AF.
Just talked to someone from Aeroplan and had a weird experience. They knew about the offer, but didn’t know how many points it would be exchanged for. Said they would need to request the bank to convert the buddy pass and deposit the points.
I recently got both the TD VI and CIBC VI. Have hit the min spend with TD and not yet hit it with CIBC so I assumed the buddy pass in my account was from TD. Apparently not, said this guy. Hope it all goes through ok, he said it’ll take up to 10 days. He also noted how it looks like I’ve “had many cards. Racking up the points there.” Hmmm
Hi Ricky, thanks for sharing this amazing news. I have a CIBC visa infinite since last July, before the cards revamped. If I apply for a new visa infinite from TD, does the 12 months restriction apply to me?
So, I chose to get the “loser” AmEx Aeroplan Reserve in February. At the time, it looked like a decent enough way to get 65,000 AP miles. No chance in hell of earning the buddy pass with this one, it requires $25,000 annual spend.
Question: at this point, would you advise calling AmEx to try to downgrade to the regular AmEx Aeroplan (non reserve)? Much cheaper and now with the extra 30,000 miles in lieu of buddy, not that big a difference in WB miles…
No because they are different products.
The CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite bonus is 20,000, not 50,000.
Ah, but with the Buddy Pass, it is!
“10,000 Aeroplan points upon first purchase
40,000 Aeroplan points upon spending $1,000 in the first four months”
Is not accurate.
Ah, but with the Buddy Pass, it is!
(You also get a Buddy Pass upon spending $1,000 in the first four months, which converts into 30,000 Aeroplan points.)
I got the CIBC AP Visa Infinite in January, 2020. If I cancel today, how long before I can re-apply?
Also got the TD AP Privilege on November 6, 2020 (before the 12 month language). Can I cancel and re-apply after 6 months?
Could not get multiple Buddy Passes. I logged in saw only one displayed despite having multiple AP different tier cards from both TD and CIBC. Upon calling, the agent could not confirm why only personal VI card was issued but Business Card did not. have to deal with TD and CIBC.
My guess is your second Buddy Pass hasn’t been deposited yet. In general, you’d speak to the banks about depositing the Buddy Pass, and you’d speak to Aeroplan about converting the Buddy Pass.
Ricky, do you know when the deadline to convert if this offer does not get extended?
There’s no explicit deadline as I understand it. It’s ongoing due to COVID. I’d expect us to have some notice before the conversion option ends.
Want to get the privilege card to make it 3, but $600 for 85000 is still hard to swallow.
That is similar to the Amex Reserve’s AF.
The TD/CIBC Privilege cards do not have a $200+ GCR rebate like Amex Reserve does though…
Interesting I thought we could only get one buddy pass but you say we get one per tier? I have the TD infinite and the amex ap which means I should have 2? Sadly I only see one.
If you’re referring to the Amex Aeroplan Card there, those are both the same tier (core) so you’d only get one.
In what section of the Air Canada website do you see your buddy pass? I’ve been looking all over and can’t tell where it says if I have mine yet.
It would be on your Aeroplan dashboard, under “Benefits”.
Thanks Ricky!
Isn’t the Buddy Pass good for flights to Hawaii and Mexico? Better value than 30,000 points, no?
Potentially – it’s all about whether you would’ve gotten high value out of the Buddy Pass (like in Steve’s example) in the first place. Travellers who are more interested in flying around North America with a partner may still prefer the Buddy Pass, whereas solo travellers or those who are all about maximizing Aeroplan points for premium cabins (as Jay mentioned) would greatly prefer the 30,000 points.
While it is nice to have the conversion option, and it depends on your travel plans, I wouldn’t consider doing this redemption a slam dunk. Take Toronto-Hawaii in economy (yuk, 9+ hours) return for one week next February, both ways non-stop flights.
The cost for two tickets – one purchased, plus the Buddy Pass taxes/fees, comes to $927. Two Aeroplan tickets would be 71,600 points plus $270 in taxes/fees. If I was faced with that situation, I would go the Buddy Pass route as the difference is $657 but I saved 71,600 Aeroplan points. I’d even end up getting 1,854 MR points paying with my Plat Amex.
Depends if you tend to fly in premium cabins.
I just talked to someone at Aeroplan and Air Canada Reservations. They both told me it is not possible to do this
HUCA.