Air Canada relaunched its rewards program in 2020. Although it retained the Aeroplan name, quite a few aspects of the program changed. One of these changes is the number of points required for award flights on Air Canada and its partners.

While this transition closed the door on old Aeroplan sweet spots — specific routes and seats that offered uncommonly good deals for award travel — it opened up a whole new set of great deals. Here’s a quick overview of the recently revamped Aeroplan program, followed by a dive into some of the best booking strategies to maximize the value of your points.

How to get Aeroplan points

You can earn Aeroplan points by flying Air Canada or one of Aeroplan's 46 airline partners. On the ground, you can earn points through car rental partners, major hotel loyalty programs, Air Canada credit cards, and other travel and shopping partners.

The easiest way to amass Aeroplan points is by signing up for the Aeroplan® Credit Card. This Chase-issued credit card is currently offering new cardholders the following welcome bonus: Earn up to 100,000 bonus points – 75,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, 25,000 points after you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months.

After that, cardholders will earn three points per dollar spent at Air Canada, grocery stores and restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services) and one point per dollar on everything else. Plus, you can earn 500 bonus points for every $2,000 spent in a calendar month — up to 1,500 bonus points per month.

Alternatively, you can build up your Aeroplan balance by moving points from transferable point programs to Aeroplan. Aeroplan is currently a transfer partner of the following programs:

American Express Membership Rewards: 1:1 transfer ratio.

Capital One Miles: 1:1 transfer ratio.

Marriott Bonvoy: 3:1 transfer ratio with a 5,000 point bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

Chase Ultimate Rewards®: 1:1 transfer ratio for eligible cardholders.

Terms apply.

Basics of the new Aeroplan Rewards program

The number of Aeroplan points you need for a flight is based on the distance you fly. It costs more to fly longer flights than shorter flights, but the exact award rate depends on which zone of four that you’re traveling to and from.

Aeroplan’s chart shows how many points you need for a flight within North America. The distance, the class of service and whether the flight is operated by Air Canada or one of its partners all factor into the cost.

Economy award flights start at 6,000 points each way and top out at 25,000 points one way, depending on the distance you plan to fly. Business class awards start at 15,000 points and climb to no more than 70,000 points each way. Premium economy awards are available on Air Canada flights only and range from 10,000 to 45,000 points one way.

For flights on partner airlines, the number of points needed is set at a fixed rate. Air Canada pledges to make every seat on all of its flights available for redemptions, which is why there’s a range of pricing for awards on Air Canada flights.

The North America chart leads us to our first Aeroplan sweet spot.

Fly within North America from 6,000 points each way

For just 6,000 Aeroplan points, you can fly in economy class on Air Canada or its partners up to 500 miles in distance.

Five hundred miles might not sound very far. But there are plenty of ways this sweet spot can come in handy. This 500-mile range includes award flights on Aeroplan’s partner United Airlines on routes like:

Chicago to Nashville, Tenn., Memphis, Tenn., Knoxville, Tenn., and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Newark, N.J., to Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Toronto, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, N.Y., and Bangor, Maine.

Denver to Oklahoma City, Okla., Wichita, Kans., Lubbock, Texas, and Billings, Mont.

San Francisco to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Diego, Eugene, Ore., and Reno, Nev.

Houston to Lubbock, Texas, Memphis, Tenn., Tulsa, Okla., Fayetteville, N.C., Oklahoma City, Okla., and New Orleans.

This 500-mile range also includes the route between New York-LaGuardia and Toronto — one of the busiest international routes in the world.

Fly to Hawaii from 12,500 points each way

Unlike most airline programs, Aeroplan doesn’t consider Hawaii part of a different region than the contiguous U.S. That means a route under 2,750 miles will cost 12,500 - 17,500 Aeroplan points anywhere in North America — including Hawaii.

That’s just enough miles to include flights between the West Coast and Hawaii. So, for as few as 12,500 Aeroplan points, you can book United or Air Canada flights from:

Los Angeles to Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and Kona.

San Francisco to Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and Kona.

Vancouver to Honolulu and Maui.