TD Aeroplan Credit Cards: 20% Points Back on Redemptions!

TD and Air Canada have stepped up their promotion game as we approach the end of the year, offering a seriously impressive 20% points back promotion on flight redemptions and other rewards. 

From December 10 through 3am Eastern Time on December 21, 2021, TD Aeroplan cardholders can earn 20% Aeroplan points back on Air Canada flight rewards, Air Canada Vacations packages, hotel and car rentals, and Air Canada gift cards, as long as travel takes place before June 30, 2022.

Register for the Offer

All four TD Aeroplan co-branded cards are eligible for this promotion:

Registration is required at this link, and cardholders ought to receive emails letting them know to register.

Although you need to be a TD Aeroplan cardholder to participate, there is no requirement to pay for any portion of the flight redemptions or other rewards using your TD Aeroplan credit card. 

20% Points Back on Flight Redemptions

After registering, cardholders will be able to earn 20% Aeroplan points back on all flight rewards. Points will be redeposited back into the Aeroplan account after travel takes place.

The key deadlines to be aware of are as follows:

• Book by 3am Eastern Time on December 21, 2021.
• Travel must be completed by 3am Eastern Time on July 1, 2022.

Effectively, it’s a 20% discount on all the prices you see on the Flight Reward Chart, resulting in awesome deals across the board:

• ~4,000 points for a one-way transcontinental flight on Air Canada economy class
• ~20,000–30,000 points for a one-way transcontinental flight on Air Canada business class (at the low end of dynamic pricing)
• 44,000 points for a one-way flight on Air Canada or ANA business class from Vancouver or Calgary to Tokyo
• 48,000–56,000 points for a one-way flight from North America to Europe in business class
• 60,000 points for a one-way flight from North America to Asia in business class
• 68,000 points for a one-way flight from North America to “Asia 3” in business class of up to 11,000 miles in distance flown 
• 72,000 points for a one-way flight on Lufthansa First Class from the US East Coast to Germany
• 88,000 points for a one-way flight on ANA First Class from North America to Tokyo
• 96,000 points for a one-way flight on Etihad Airways 787 First Class from Washington to Abu Dhabi

Needless to say, this is an incredible opportunity to lock in some trips for the first half of 2022.

Certainly, those who are comfortable travelling internationally during this period will be rewarded with greater absolute savings, but a 20% discount on domestic and transborder redemptions is a solid chunk of savings too. 

The promotion is combinable with all of the usual Aeroplan redemption strategies that we’re familiar with:

• Aeroplan Elite Status members or co-branded credit card holders already enjoy discounted redemptions on Air Canada flights as part of the preferred pricing benefit; this promotion offers further savings on top of that.
• Adding a stopover on a one-way bound typically costs 5,000 Aeroplan points, which would be reduced to 4,000 Aeroplan points with this promotion.
• Applying a Priority Reward to an eligible redemption results in a 50% discount on the Aeroplan points needed to book; the remaining 50% of points would then be subject to a further 20% rebate, resulting in a satisfying 60% discount overall.

Interestingly, the terms of the offer do state:

The Offer only applies to new redemptions; previous redemptions that are cancelled and then rebooked during the Offer Period are not eligible for this Offer.

However, I find it difficult to see how this would be enforced: a previous redemption that gets cancelled and rebooked is virtually indistinguishable from a brand-new booking.

If you’ve already booked trips that take place during the promotion period, I’d recommend taking advantage of Aeroplan’s flexible change & cancellation policy and rebooking them before December 21 anyway.

Furthermore, the terms also state:

If the travel dates of the original Eligible Redemption are changed, the offer will still be awarded to the Participating Cardholder’s Account so long as travel is still completed by July 1, 2022 at 03:00 a.m. EST, respecting the Travel Period of the Offer, and will be awarded based on the updated number of points redeemed.

Since flight bookings made before December 31 enjoy a one-time free change, this means that you could lock in a few new bookings on a somewhat speculative basis before December 21, and then change them to firm up your travel plans anytime through June 30 – and still earn those 20% Aeroplan points back! 

20% Points Back on Hotels, Car Rentals, Vacations, and Gift Cards

The most exciting part of this promotion is certainly the possibility of getting 20% Aeroplan points back on flight rewards. 

However, the same rebate also applies to hotels, car rentals, Air Canada Vacations packages, and Air Canada gift cards if you wish to redeem your Aeroplan points here. 

Since the value is almost certainly going to be lower than redeeming points for flights, I wouldn’t recommend pursuing these other redemptions even if you get an effective 20% discount.

For example, the standard redemption value for Air Canada gift cards is 1 cent per point (cpp), which is far below our target valuation of Aeroplan points at 2.1cpp.

Even if you get 20% points back after the fact, the effective redemption value is still only 1.25cpp – still, significantly below the value of Aeroplan points when redeemed for flights instead. 

Conclusion

Back when the Aeroplan 50% points back promotion came out in the summer of 2020, Aeroplan had signalled that further promotions of this nature may be coming in the future – and we’re finally seeing that now. 

TD and Aeroplan are putting on an incredible 20% points back promotion in advance of the winter holidays in December with the aim of drumming up interest in travel in the first half of 2022.

Cardholders will receive 20% of all points redeposited into their account after travel takes place, as long as they book through December 20, 2021 and travel through June 30, 2022 (these are the effective deadlines given the 3am Eastern Time cutoff on the following calendar day).

It’s time to start seriously thinking about your 2022 travel plans if you haven’t already, and make sure to lock in some bookings before December 21!