The Chase Aeroplan Card Becomes the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan Card, with Automatic 25K Status

The Chase Aeroplan Card has been given a major refresh as of September 10, 2026, with a new name, a new set of benefits, a new earning structure, and a higher annual fee.

The card is now the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan® Credit Card, and the changes reach into almost every part of the product, from the status it confers to how it earns on everyday spending. Some of it is a clear upgrade, and some of it will take a bit of math to judge.

This is a US card, so it isn't one most of us will carry. It's still worth a close read up here, because the direction Chase and Air Canada have taken says a lot about where Aeroplan co-branded cards could be headed.

What's Changing on September 10

The new construct switches on for new and existing cardmembers alike on September 10. Here's how the card looks before and after.

	Before September 10	From September 10
Card name	Aeroplan® Credit Card	Chase Air Canada Aeroplan® Credit Card
Annual fee	$95 (USD)	$195 (USD)
Aeroplan 25K status	Remainder of the first year plus the following year, then $15,000 (USD) in annual spend to keep it	Automatic every year, no spending requirement
Air Canada purchases	3x	3x, plus 2x on eligible Air Canada flights as a 25K member, for up to 5x
All other travel	1x	3x
Dining and grocery	3x	2x
Gas	1x	2x
Monthly bonus of 500 points per $2,000 (USD) spent	Yes, up to 1,500 points per month	Removed
Air Canada statement credits	None	Up to $100 (USD) per year, as two $50 (USD) credits
Discount on Air Canada flight rewards	None	15% off
Car rental redemptions	Standard pricing	Fourth day free from January 2027
10% bonus on Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers	Yes	Available until December 31, 2026, then removed

Not everything is changing, though. Cardmembers will continue to receive a free first checked bag on Air Canada flights for themselves and up to eight companions on the same booking, and there are still no foreign transaction fees.

Pay Yourself Back, Aeroplan Family Sharing, the fourth night free on Aeroplan hotel redemptions, and the card's travel insurance coverage remain in place as well, as does the $120 (USD) credit toward Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS every four years.

The spending-based benefits are also staying put. Cardmembers can still earn up to 25,000 Status Qualifying Credits (SQC) per year, with 5,000 SQC awarded annually, another 10,000 SQC after $25,000 (USD) in spending, and a further 10,000 SQC after $50,000 (USD) in spending.

Likewise, Aeroplan 35K status is still available after $75,000 (USD) in annual spending, Priority Rewards vouchers continue to be awarded at $100,000 (USD), $250,000 (USD), $500,000 (USD), and $750,000 (USD) in spending, and the Global Plus One benefit remains in place at $1,000,000 (USD).

Automatic 25K Status Is the Real Story

Since the card launched in 2021, new cardmembers have received Aeroplan 25K status for the rest of the year they applied, plus the following calendar year. After that, keeping it meant putting $15,000 (USD) a year on the card, which is exactly the kind of threshold that quietly lapses for anyone who splits their spending across a few cards.

From September 10, that threshold is gone. 25K status is simply built into the card, and it renews as long as the account stays open.

That's a meaningful benefit for anyone who flies Air Canada a few times a year. Aeroplan 25K brings priority check-in and Zone 2 priority boarding, complimentary preferred seat selection at check-in on Air Canada flights, and five eUpgrade credits a year, along with the milestone benefits that accrue as SQC pile up. It also comes with Star Alliance Silver, which is worth a free checked bag and priority waitlisting on United and Lufthansa Group flights.

There's a knock-on benefit for hotel stays, too. Since automatic 25K status makes every cardmember an Aeroplan Elite Status member, every cardmember now qualifies for the annual World of Hyatt status challenge, which awards Globalist status after 20 nights in 90 days, along with the ability to convert Aeroplan points into World of Hyatt points. That's one attempt at the challenge every year. The second annual attempt is reserved for holders of a premium Aeroplan card issued in Canada, so a cardmember who carries one of those alongside the Chase card would get both.

Chase has been candid that the old status construct was the most common complaint about the card, since status lapsed after the first year unless you cleared the spending bar. Making it permanent is the cleanest possible fix, and it's a benefit that none of the Canadian Aeroplan co-branded cards offer in any form.

The Earn Rates Lean into Travel

The earning changes are a trade rather than a straight upgrade. Air Canada purchases keep their 3x rate, and 25K members earn a further 2x on eligible Air Canada flights, so flights paid with the card can return up to 5x.

The bigger addition is a new 3x category on all other travel, which Chase has framed deliberately broadly to cover things like other airlines, rail, and rideshare. Gas moves from 1x to 2x as a new bonus category.

What gives is the everyday spending. Dining and grocery drop from 3x to 2x, and the monthly bonus of 500 points for every $2,000 (USD) spent disappears. For a household that leaned on the card for groceries and restaurants, that's a real step down, and the new travel category will only make up the difference if a decent share of your spending is on travel.

Honestly, that's a reasonable place to land for a card with status baked in. The people who get the most out of automatic 25K are the ones flying Air Canada regularly, and those are the same people who'll earn the most from the 3x and 5x travel rates.

The Annual Fee Increases to $195

The fee jump from $95 (USD) to $195 (USD) is the part that will sting, so it's worth tallying what arrives alongside it.

The $100 (USD) in Air Canada statement credits is split into two $50 (USD) credits, one for January through June and one for July through December, starting in 2027. For the rest of 2026, there's a single $50 (USD) credit covering September 10 through December 31. Anyone who buys even one Air Canada ticket a year will use these without trying, which brings the effective fee back to roughly where it was.

The 15% discount on Air Canada flight rewards is the more interesting piece. It's assessed per one-way, and the one-way qualifies as long as it includes at least one Air Canada segment, even if the rest of the routing is on a partner. It only fails to apply when the one-way has no Air Canada flight at all. The discount also stacks with a Priority Reward, which is a rare bit of generosity in a program that usually keeps its discounts separate.

Rounding things out, the fourth night free on Aeroplan hotel redemptions across the program's 300,000-plus properties stays in place, and from January 2027 the same treatment extends to four-day car rental redemptions at more than 11,000 locations.

How Existing Cardmembers Are Handled

Chase has been careful with the transition. Existing cardmembers get the new benefits on September 10, and they keep the old benefits alongside them through December 31, 2026, before moving fully to the new construct on January 1, 2027.

The $195 (USD) fee only applies at renewals on or after December 1, 2026, so everyone currently holding the card enjoys the new benefits for a stretch before paying the new price.

The one deadline worth circling is December 31, 2026, when the 10% bonus on Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to Aeroplan ends for good. If you pair this card with a Sapphire product and have been sitting on Ultimate Rewards points earmarked for Aeroplan, that bonus is worth using before it goes, and the current 20% transfer bonus running through September 30 is a better use still.

A Best-Ever Welcome Offer of 115,000 Points

To mark the relaunch, the welcome offer climbs to up to 115,000 Aeroplan points for a limited time, which Chase describes as its best ever on this card. It comes in two tranches, with 75,000 points after $4,000 (USD) in spending in the first three months, and a further 40,000 points after $20,000 (USD) in spending in the first 12 months.

The first tranche alone is a step up from the 60,000 points after $3,000 (USD) that the card has offered through the summer, and the second tranche is clearly aimed at people who plan to put serious travel spending on the card. At our valuation of 2.0 cents (CAD) per Aeroplan point, the full 115,000 points works out to roughly $2,300 (CAD) in value, which is a lot of Air Canada business class for a card with a $195 (USD) fee.

What Chase and Air Canada Are Really Doing Here

Step back from the line items and the direction is clear. This card is moving from a mid-tier co-brand that happened to include a status perk into a premium-lite product where status is the whole point. Even the new name, with Air Canada now sitting ahead of Aeroplan, signals a card built around flying the airline rather than simply collecting its points.

It fits a pattern we've seen from Chase all year. The Sapphire Preferred refresh in June traded a handful of legacy perks for credits and new categories, and this refresh follows the same playbook, with a fee increase, a bundle of credits designed to offset it, and a sharper focus on the customers the card is actually built for.

It also fits where Air Canada has been taking Aeroplan. The program moved to revenue-based earning and SQC-only status qualification in 2026, and as I noted when the first round of changes to this card was announced last year, the co-brand has been steadily rebuilt around that framework. Guaranteed 25K status on a credit card is the logical next step, since it gives Air Canada a reliable pipeline of status members in the US without asking them to fly their way there.

The comparison that stings is with our own cards. The Canadian Aeroplan lineup from TD, CIBC, and American Express offers preferred pricing, free checked bags, and lounge access and priority airport services at the top end, but nothing that hands you Aeroplan status outright and nothing that knocks 15% off a flight reward. I'll give Chase and Air Canada credit for building the more ambitious product, and I'd be surprised if Canadian cardholders don't start asking why their premium cards, some of which carry higher fees than this one, come with less.

So let me plant a flag. If automatic status proves popular south of the border, I'd expect the Canadian issuers to be having conversations with Air Canada about it before the next round of card refreshes. Whether they act on it is another matter.

Conclusion

For US-based readers, the math depends on how often you fly Air Canada. If you take even a few Air Canada flights a year, automatic 25K status, the 15% redemption discount, and $100 (USD) in credits comfortably justify the $195 (USD) fee, and the 115,000-point welcome offer makes September 10 a very good time to apply. If the card mainly lived in your wallet for 3x on groceries and dining, the case is weaker, and the December 1 renewal date gives you time to decide.

Existing cardmembers should use the 10% Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus before it disappears on December 31, and anyone with a Sapphire card and Aeroplan plans should look hard at the 20% bonus running now.

For those of us in Canada, this one is mostly something to watch, and to envy a little. Chase and Air Canada didn't just refresh a credit card. They showed what an Aeroplan card can look like when status is treated as a core benefit rather than a first-year teaser.