Aeroplan Launches “Pay with Points” Pilot Promotion

For the past month or so, Aeroplan has been piloting a new “Pay With Points” promotion in conjunction with Visa for TD Aeroplan co-branded credit cardholders.

The “Pay With Points” promotion provides eligible TD Aeroplan credit cardholders the opportunity to redeem Aeroplan points to offset eligible dining, drugstore, grocery, and entertainment purchases in the form of a statement credit.

The pilot runs until August 15, 2024 at 11:59pm Eastern Time, and depending on the results, Aeroplan may decide to make it a permanent feature going forward.

Aeroplan’s New Pay with Points Pilot Promotion

Aeroplan has launched a limited-time “Pay With Points” promotion in conjunction with Visa, which offers eligible TD Aeroplan co-branded credit cardholders the opportunity to offset eligible dining, drugstore, grocery, and entertainment purchases with Aeroplan points.

The purpose of this pilot is to gauge the interest of eligible cardholders to use their points for everyday purchases, beyond what’s currently possible through the Aeroplan eStore, HotelSavers, flights, and more.

When the promotion first launched as a pilot in February 2024, select cardholders were invited to take part. Aeroplan has started sending another round of invitations to take part, so keep an eye on your inbox; however, all eligible TD Aeroplan cardholders are welcome to register for the pilot.

If you have an eligible TD Aeroplan co-branded credit card, you’ll first need to register your card on the promotion’s website, which is hosted by Visa Merchant’s Loyalty Solutions.

Eligible cards include the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Platinum* Card, the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card, the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card, and the TD Aeroplan Visa Business Card.

To register, you’ll need to link your TD Aeroplan co-branded credit card to your Aeroplan website on the dedicated landing page. 

You can choose the categories for which you’d like to receive offers by selecting or de-selecting them on the promotion’s website. 

Then, once you make a qualifying dining, drugstore, grocery, or entertainment purchase of $25–250 (CAD), you’ll receive a text message in near-real time outlining the redemption opportunity.

If you’d like to redeem points at the rate outlined in the message, you can do so via text message, or on the website. You’ll need to have enough points available in your Aeroplan account to facilitate the transaction.

The value you’ll get with each redemption opportunity may vary, and the redemption offers are valid for 24 hours from the time the text message is sent. If you don’t respond to the offer within 24 hours, it’ll no longer be available.

Once you’ve accepted a redemption offer, it cannot be reversed. However, if you return a purchase for which you’ve redeemed points for a statement credit, you’ll retain the statement credit on your account.

You won’t earn Aeroplan points on purchases for which you’ve elected to redeem points during the promotion, and the statement credit may take up to 30 days to post to your account. Purchases made by supplementary cardholders on your account aren’t eligible for redemption offers.

Should you wish to add or remove a card from your account, you can do so with a few clicks on the promotion’s website. If you have more than one eligible credit card, you’re able to add them all.

The “Pay With Points” pilot promotion runs until 11:59pm Eastern Time on August 15, 2024. Depending on the results of the pilot, Aeroplan may choose to extend or expand upon the Pay With Points feature.

Is Aeroplan’s “Pay with Points” Pilot Promotion a Good Deal?

Our team is in the process of registering for this promotion and making qualifying purchases, and we’ll update this article as we get a sense of the ranges of value offered.

It’s worth noting that the “Pay With Points” promotion gives cardholders another avenue for redeeming points, and in that sense, Aeroplan points are more flexible now than they were before. 

If you’re eligible to register, you may find value in redeeming your points for everyday purchases if you didn’t otherwise have plans to redeem them for flights, hotels, or hotels.

However, the best value for redeeming Aeroplan points tends to come with using them for flights instead, so be sure to consider all of the ways you can redeem points and compare them with the value you’d get from the “Pay With Points” offers. 

We value Aeroplan points at 2.1 cents per point (CAD), and we suggest aiming for this as a minimum redemption value when you use your points. 

You can certainly get much more value by, say, redeeming them for flights in premium cabins; however, you can also get lower value, perhaps by redeeming them for merchandise. 

In the US, Aeroplan debuted the “Pay Yourself Back” feature on the Chase Aeroplan Card in January 2023, which allows cardholders to redeem Aeroplan points at a fixed value of 1.25 cents per point (USD) against any travel purchase charged to the card. 

This feature ensures that cardholders can get a minimum value of 1.25 cents per point (USD) for any travel redemption.

As we get to know the “Pay With Points” feature, we’ll be able to offer some more insight and analysis into how valuable it might be, and how it compares to the “Pay Yourself Back” feature.

Conclusion

Aeroplan and Visa have jointly launched the “Pay With Points” promotion, through which eligible TD Aeroplan co-branded credit cardholders can choose to redeem points for eligible everyday dining, drugstore, grocery, and entertainment purposes.

After registering, you’ll receive a near-instant redemption offer by text message after making an eligible purchase, and you can choose to redeem points for a statement credit to offset the cost.

The promotion runs through to August 15, 2024 at 11:59pm Eastern Time, and based on the results of the pilot, it may be extended and expanded beyond then.

^† Terms and conditions apply. Refer to the card issuer’s website for complete, up-to-date information.