Update for Aeroplan cardholders: we have received confirmation that this bonus will stack with the existing 10% bonus for Aeroplan Cardmembers when they transfer at least 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Aeroplan (this requires a minimum transfer of 50K points in one shot and has a maximum bonus of 25K miles per year, which means you will max out this bonus at 250K points transferred). This means that an Aeroplan cardholder who hasn’t yet taken advantage of the 10% bonus this year and transfers 250K Ultimate Rewards points will get a total of 350,000 Aeroplan miles (75K with the 30% bonus + 25K with the 10% bonus for cardholders). That’s a fantastic bonus.
Chase Ultimate Rewards is offering a 30% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan. Considering the many incredible things you can do with Aeroplan (See: Nick’s 6-country, 5-airline Air Canada Aeroplan award ticket to read about how I visited 6 countries over 5 days with a single one-way award or Aeroplan plans for future dream trips for inspiration), this could make for some really awesome values for those ready to delve in to Aeroplan awards. It is possible that this is targeted, so make sure you see it advertised in your account, but I imagine this is likely open to everyone.
The Deal
- Through November 30, 2022, get a 30% transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Air Canada Aeroplan
Key Terms
- Expires 11/30/22
- Bonus will be reflected on the Aeroplan side after making your transfer
- Be sure that you see the 30% bonus indication shown in the screen shot above before transferring to be sure this is available
Quick Thoughts
This could be an incredible deal if you’re excited by all the things you can do with Air Canada Aeroplan. While Aeroplan hasn’t been great for very simple one-way redemptions, they suddenly become a great deal for even those types of trips.
For instance, just the other day I wrote about finding nine seats available on some summer 2023 dates on Swiss Airlines from New York to Geneva.
While 60K certainly isn’t a bad price for business class to Europe, some Star Alliance programs charge even fewer miles. For instance, Turkish Miles & Smiles would charge 45,000 miles for the same flight. However, Turkish would pass on about $800 in carrier-imposed surcharges — whereas Air Canada does not pass on surcharges. With a 30% transfer bonus, 47,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points would be more than enough to end up with 60,000 miles after the bonus. Paying an effective 47K points for a one-way business class to/from Europe with no surcharges is an excellent deal.
Of course, it gets even better when you string together longer awards. Consider that during the 3 Cards 3 continents challenge, I put together the following award ticket for what would now cost 115,000 Aeroplan miles and $66 in business class:
- New York to Cairo on Egpytair
- Cairo to Istanbul on Turkish
- Istanbul to Muscat, Oman on Turkish
- Muscat to Bangkok on Omanair
- Bangkok to Singapore on Gulf Air
- Singapore to Cebu, Philippines on Singapore Airlines
Again, all of that was in business class and I had 12-18 hour layovers in each city (plenty of time to do something interesting in each place). With the 30% transfer bonus, you could make that type of trip happen for less than 89K miles.
Remember that you can add a single stopover on a one-way award ticket for 5,000 Aeroplan miles (which requires less than 4,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) — so maybe trim my itinerary down a bit / change the destination and add a long stop somewhere for less than 93K points. That could be a very, very good deal considering Air Canada’s many partner airlines. Or fly round trip to Europe with a stopover, potentially for less than 100K Ultimate Rewards points. There are a lot of possibilities.
Personally, I tend to look at my Chase Ultimate Rewards points as strictly Hyatt points. I tend to transfer and use points for Hyatt quite a bit. However, this deal is going to be very tempting, particularly for the second half of a trip I’m in the process of planning for next year…..
We always say that it isn’t worth transferring speculatively — you want to find award space and have a plan before you make a transfer. I think it’s worth doubling down a bit on that caution here. While it’s very tempting to me personally to make a speculative transfer given my excitement over Aeroplan, the fact that Aeroplan devalued the program once already tempers my enthusiasm some. Still, if you can find a great award (and chances are good that you probably can), it might be hard to resist taking advantage. If I didn’t already have a lot of 2023 travel in the works, Mauritius would be calling my name . . . .
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What do you guys think… is it worth applying for AP card now to get the 10% bonus by the end of the month?
The thought certainly crossed my mind, but I’m not in a position where I’m going to max that out — and at the end of the day it makes a max difference of 25K points. Don’t get me wrong, I like a “free” 25K points as much as anyone, but I’m not convinced it’s worth not getting something else.
(makes a difference of “up to” 25K points — if you max it out transferring 25K points).
I should say that if you’re under 5/24 and not in position to get an Ink card (or another Ink card) and you are thinking about transferring 250K or more, then I could certainly see doing it.
Yeah it’s a close call. My thinking was 70k + 25k plus the spend would almost get it to 100k which is similar to the SUB when they had those stupid certificates (but you get actual miles).
Initiated the transfer late on the evening of Nov 1. Points + 30% bonus showed up in my Aeroplan account instantly.
Transferred early and have been trying to get on the phone with aeroplan for days as I’m still not seeing the bonus. Has anyone been able to get through over the phone at all? Chase told me to call back after it had been 7 days post transfer
Nope, their system is frustrating. When you finally get to the step to enter your Aeroplan number, they just saying there are high call volumes and then they hang up. I assume you have the same issue. It’s probably more likely the case that they’re just low staff and we are low priority.
P2 and I both have the Aeroplan card but only P2 has a chase premium card to transfer UR to Aeroplan miles (however I am an AU on that account)
We plan to cash out about 125k points to add to our four Aeroplan 50k certs (to book four one way tickets for the two of us and 2 kids (who are not Aeroplan members)
Does it matter which Aeroplan account we transfer the UR points to? Not sure if the AU still get the 10% chase bonus.
Since we’re enrolled in the family plan mile pooling I guess it doesn’t really matter? I assume family plan miles are totally combinable with certificates from anyone in that family plan? And tickets can be issued to anyone ( even our kids who are not Aeroplan members and obviously not part of the family plan)?
Good questions. Sorry that I don’t know all the answers!
Spoke to an Aeroplan rep and she said it shouldn’t matter who has all the miles and so P2 transferred 150k chase UR points to Aerioplan and it did double stack with both offers for a total of 1.4x . The 1.3x was immediate and the extra 10% came in a day. I haven’t yet booked the tickets (dates not released yet) but seems like it should be fine going through a dummy booking and it showing the certs being used and the miles coming from P2’s account.
Rep also said certificates and family sharing miles can be used to book tickets for anyone (not just those within your family sharing plan). Will update if there are any issues.
I was one of those that transferred early – today around 7 pm EST. The banner on ultimate rewards did not indicate it started on Nov 1st. Called Chase, and finally got through to a supervisor, who admitted this was not right. She submitted a ticket, so we’ll see how that goes.
I got screwed as well lol, we will see how it goes. Said decision is final…
An update – they credited it (few hrs ago)! So glad that they did.
hey what phone number did you use to call ultimate rewards? I can’t get a hold of them!
Number on back of the card: 1-800-493-3319 for Sapphire Preferred or 1-800-436-7970 for Sapphire Reserve. Hope that helps!
Hi yes! I called and they said they started an escalated ticket.. i really hope I can get the points. What exactly did you say and how long did it take for them to get back??
I told them about not getting the 30% promo and how it was displayed early. They escalated (on 11/1) and I saw the points in my account today. Hopefully it works out for you too!
wow! it worked I see the points! Thank you so much for your help. really appreciate it 🙂
I also transferred early- on 10/29/22. I didn’t call as I expected chase to make this right and they did. Just logged in and see the points without needing to call in.
I can confirm I got my 300 bonus miles for my test 1k transfer on 10/29. I didn’t call Chase as not worth it for that few miles but certainly glad to see them make it right.
How did you find out? Did you get a notice/letter from chase? Did you check your chase or aeroplan account balance?
No letter/notice from Chase, checked Aeroplan
what was the turn-around time for you? I was told 10-14 days with the marketing department. Do you know what department the supervisor you spoke to was in?
I believe it was 2 to 5 days, as she said she would mark it high priority. Kat – san antonio escalations team servicing.
Finally received the bonus today (also several replies from Chase through secure message lol).
How long before aeroplan miles expire? Considering speculative transfer of some, but not sure when I can use.
I believe normally it’s after 18 months of inactivity but currently I think Aeroplan has suspended all expiration thru May 2023.
More to the point: How long before Aeroplan miles devalue?
I believe Turkish devalued their program a few weeks ago and now a business class ticket is 115K miles JFK-GVA!
Am I missing something?
Yes, you are. That’s “anytime” pricing that only applies on Turkish-operated flights (just like United, American, and most other programs offer some sort of “anytime” pricing on their own flights that can be astronomically expensive). You need to use the Star Alliance booking tool, not the home page booking tool, and focus on availability on other airlines (which will only be available at saver level). See my post from last Thursday — I posted an example screen shot of a US-Europe business class flight for 45K Turkish miles just last week (I took the screen shot on Wednesday of last week).
Do you have a link to this 10% bonus cardholder benefit? I’m not seeing it.
I’m actually not sure whether we ever covered it. Here’s a link to a One Mile at a Time post about it: https://onemileatatime.com/news/aeroplan-card-chase-transfer-bonus/
I checked that link, and Lucky doesn’t provide a link to Aeroplan or Chase websites about the 10% bonus either. I also looked on both Aeroplan and Chase’s Aeroplan CC website and couldn’t find this benefit mentioned. I don’t see any email from Aeroplan either. So I’m a little bit skeptical. Any DPs of people actually receiving this 10% bonus?
Their PR team specifically reached out to us to tell us that the 10% bonus stacks. Lucky, Doctor of Credit, TPG, and lots of other people posted it back in May of 2022. If it didn’t exist, you’d surely see lots of retractions because there would be plenty of negative data points.
I don’t immediately see mention of it on Chase or Aeroplan either, but I can’t imagine their PR. People would reach out to say it stacks if it didn’t exist. Nor do I imagine all of those posts would go unchanged for 6 months. I’m sure it’s real.
I guess I’ll just wait for DPs. AC isn’t exactly the most trustworthy player.
The 10% bonus may not be applicable for cardholders who applied and received their cards recently (there’s nothing in the latest T&C about that). There’s another question about who needs to have the Aeroplan card in order to receive the bonus. The owner of the UR points or the Aeroplan account holder (the two may not be the same for such a transfer).
My biggest frequent flyer regret was transferring my UR points to Korean Air right before they ceased partnering with UR in the US. I hope this works for you.
Transferring is always a risk however Aeroplan partners with many bank programs and seems to have a business model of being appealing as a program to US based folks who may not fly Air Canada unlike Korean who appears to be focused more on their home market. I have burned up high-six figures of Aeroplan points but have never stepped foot on an AC aircraft. I think the risk her is quite a bit lower than the Korean Air transfer which I also did but only with a specific redemption in mind. The problem with that transfer was mostly Covid came in and there were a few years where the points were useless. I am ramping up to try to burn the points before the deval next year.
I’m not a speculative-transferrer, but curious why you regret doing that? I mean, the idea was to position the points for a great redemption that wouldn’t be possible after the partnership lapsed. Did that not happen?
My regret in transferring UR points to Korean is that my plan was to use them to fly in F to Australia. Korean currently only offers F to LAX and NYC. Korean has become much stingier recently with releasing F award space. While I’ve managed to book 1 trip in mixed First/Business from LAX to SYD, competition for F on Korean between now and 4/1/23 is likely to get fierce, given the looming devaluation. I suspect that many with hopes of flying Korean in F at current redemption levels will be disappointed. Prior to the pandemic, I actually had booked 2 (unused) roundtrips from SEA to SYD in F with all the UR points I had transferred to Korean.
You are not missing much. I just flew F with them, and it felt like J with other top airlines, like ANA, Asiana, Singapore, and JAL.
I wanted to go to Uzbekistan to see some of the silk road cities. Korean represented a great way to get there in J/F. My plan was to use within a couple of years. Then COVID happened and even though I have been traveling post COVID I have largely avoid Asia due to all their rules. At this point I am hoping to book something for late 2023 to early 2024 to Asia. There is also a pretty big deval hitting next spring as well.
@Michael, I made the same mistake! To book business class with Korean air miles now, you have to book one year in advance.
Fell into this trap and did not see my bonus points posted. I gave Chase a call just now and the issue has been escalated. Hopefully they can credit my Aeroplan account with the bonus point
have you heard anything back yet?
Since I’m inevitably cashing out MR and UR, this doesn’t seem like a great deal. I’d still just use MR points for Aeroplan in lieu of a 1.1 cent cash out and cash out UR at 1.5 cents.
Depends on you use. I got a redemption coming up on AC points later this year where I got nearly 4 cent of value per AC point. That is way better than cashing out to me. YMMV in all of this of course.
I would just use MR.
I have waaaay more UR than MR despite earning MR more MR than UR in a year. I just have fewer uses for UR than other folks. I generally don’t cash out and Hyatt is great but they just aren’t where I need them to be a lot of the time. So for me UR is what I’d prefer to use especially at a 40% bonus.
Tempting, but I already did a big transfer to Aeroplan from AMEX MR with a 15% transfer bonus. My Chase UR are exclusively reserved for Hyatt hotel redemptions.
I think Chase posted the transfer too soon.
Per Chase: Limited time offer: Get 30% Bonus Aeroplan Points when you transfer points through 11:59PM EST on November 30, 2022. Bonus Points will be awarded by Aeroplan in your Aeroplan account when your transfer is complete. Promotional offer terms and conditions apply.
Per Aeroplan:
Promotion Terms & Conditions
Bonus Aeroplan offer is valid for Chase
Ultimate Rewards® point transfers to
AeroplanⓇ completed between 12:00AM ET
on November 1, 2022 and 11:59PM ET on
November 30, 2022. Minimum transfer is
1,000 Ultimate Rewards points. Bonus Points
will be awarded by Aeroplan in your Aeroplan
account when your transfer is complete.
For the Bonus Aeroplan Points offer, you will
receive 30% Bonus Aeroplan Points for each
Ultimate Rewards point transferred during the
promotional period listed above. For example,
if you transfer 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points,
you will receive a total of 1,300 Aeroplan
Points. You must be enrolled in Aeroplan with
both your membership in good standing and
your Ultimate Rewards credit card account
open and not in default in order to participate
in this offer. If you are not already enrolled in
the Aeroplan Program, visit Aeroplan to
enroll.
Yep. Got burned on this. Transferred points but didn’t see it until after I went back through the entire process and found the fine print at the bottom of the “review” screen.
I expect either Chase or Aeroplan will figure whose at fault and make it right. What’s 30k points or miles to them!
Chase sent up an “escalation report” to the “Marketing and Rewards” department. They’ll get back to me with a formal written notice of their decision in 5-10 business days. I was told, whatever they decide, will be final, and that they don’t have a “direct phone line” for making a dispute.
Since I’m trying to use the points for an award booking already targeted, I didn’t want to wait “5-10 business days” for a resolution–that might not even be a fair resolution.
I thought I made a fair offer for them to compensate my Chase account with the UR points equivalent of what I needed to transfer to Aeroplan to meet the 30% bonus they had advertised. This would make me whole, and I could execute my award booking right now. But that’s not something they were able (or willing) to do.
You might have better luck explaining the problem and then asking if they could push some courtesy points your way for your trouble.
I also got burned by this. Initiated the transfer on 10/31. Guess it was my mistake not to do a small transfer first. I’m stuck with over 100k points which is still less than what I need for the flights I want.
I also tried calling Chase based on the info above and was told they created an “escalation” to the “Marketing” team and it will take 10-14 business days. They didn’t give me any more details. One agent even tried to transfer me to the fraud department and then I got a message saying they were closed and the line dropped. This is extremely frustrating and a waste of our time.
Too late now but this is why I always to a small test transfer first. That way if anything bad happens I usually only have 1k points on the line. There are a limited number or airlines (ANA for example) that limit the number of transfers in 24 hours but outside of that I always do a test transfer first.
Not working yet… could it be that this will announce official on Nov 1st?
It’s better to wait till November anyway if you can because that will extend your points one more month.
This is a phenomenal deal… I would say it is worth transferring speculatively. Not all of your UR obviously… but 100k for sure.