Air Canada Aeroplan points are now easier to earn under new PayRewards deal

It’s now even easier for Australians to earn points in Air Canada’s growing Aeroplan frequent flyer program. Under a new deal with the business payment platform pay.com.au, members of PayRewards can now convert their points across to Aeroplan.

Until now, opportunities to earn a meaningful volume of Aeroplan points have been quite limited Down Under. That’s because Aeroplan isn’t a points conversion partner of American Express Membership Rewards in Australia. You also can’t convert points to Aeroplan from most other Australian credit card rewards programs, either.

But now, with PayRewards on board – and with uncapped earn rates of PayRewards Points on business payments – Aeroplan is an interesting play. Here’s a look at what it means for those earning and using points via pay.com.au.

Note, Point Hacks is affiliated with Pay.com.au.

Converting PayRewards Points to Air Canada Aeroplan

Points transfers from PayRewards to Aeroplan are now possible at a 2.5:1 rate. Effectively, for every five PayRewards Points converted, members receive two Aeroplan points with Air Canada. That’s the same rate that PayRewards applies for transfers to Qantas Business Rewards, Virgin Australia Business Flyer and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.

Once those points are in Aeroplan, they can, of course, be used to book flights with Air Canada. Thanks to Air Canada’s Star Alliance membership, they’re also redeemable on 24 other Star Alliance partner carriers. Further, Aeroplan has a number of bespoke partnerships beyond Star Alliance itself.

Combined, travellers can book flights using Aeroplan points to travel aboard the following airlines serving Australia:

• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air India
• Air Mauritius
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways (ANA)
• Asiana Airlines
• Emirates
• Etihad Airways
• EVA Air
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines
• Virgin Australia

Other popular redemption options include Avianca, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, SWISS and more.

Other ways of earning points with Aeroplan

Beyond PayRewards – and, of course, flying – there are three other main ways that Australians can collect a chunk of Aeroplan points. These include:

• Using an eligible CBA Awards credit card and converting those points to Aeroplan from CommBank Awards, albeit at a relatively unfavourable 4:1 conversion rate.
• Spending on the HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card to earn Star Alliance Points in Star Alliance Rewards. These points convert at a 5:4 rate.
• Buying Aeroplan points, especially during promotional periods.

Naturally, users of pay.com.au could double dip on rewards. That is, by earning points once from using an eligible points-earning credit card to make payments through the Pay platform. Then, by also opting to earn PayRewards Points on those same payments which can later be converted into Aeroplan points.

When it comes to spending Aeroplan points, the program is notable as it doesn’t levy any carrier charges on reward flight bookings. This includes flights operated by partner airlines. All that’s charged are the genuine taxes and fees on a booking, plus a modest partner airline booking fee of CA$39.

Yes, this means that Aeroplan points can get you a reward seat on Emirates without Emirates’ usually stratospheric carrier charges. Ahem.

The addition of Aeroplan to PayRewards marks the program’s fifth airline points conversion partner and seventh points transfer partner overall. Existing partners include Qantas Business Rewards, Virgin Australia Business Flyer, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club, Accor Live Limitless and Marriott Bonvoy.

Also read: Making the most of PayReward points conversions to Marriott Bonvoy

Imagery courtesy of Air Canada and Aeroplan.

---

Stay up to date with the latest news, reviews and guides by subscribing to Point Hacks’ email newsletter.