Here’s one we didn’t have on our 2024 BINGO card of credit cards to open: the Chase Aeroplan Mastercard. Aeroplan is the rewards program of Air Canada, which we have used from time to time, but we didn’t decide on it because of our hopes to fly to Vancouver more often (though that might be fun). We opened it for its travel purchase Pay Yourself Back feature.
Holders of this card are able to use Aeroplan points to cover travel charges for up to three months after making a purchase. This would include vacation rentals through sites like Air BnB, train tickets, parking, and most other travel-related purchases. What’s more, the rate of pay yourself back is actually 1.25 cents per point, meaning for the 75,000 point welcome offer, you could actually cover $937.50 of travel expenses if you use this feature. This beats the typical 1 cent per point that other programs offer for similar features, and offers wide flexibility to use these points outside of the confines of travel portals. We love using points for flights and hotels, of course, but it’s exciting to find more ways to be able to book other types of accommodations on points.
Wait, there’s more! If you have a Chase Sapphire or Ink Preferred, you can also transfer your Ultimate Rewards to Aeroplan, which transfer 1:1, and even better, you can try to time your transfer during a transfer bonus to make your points go even further. And one more thing! When you transfer 50,000 points or more from Chase, you get an additional 10% bonus in points up to a total of 25,000 bonus points per year. So let’s say you transfer 100,000 points from Chase to Aeroplan during a 20% transfer bonus, and you also get that 10% bump. You would now have 130,000 points to play with, which would be equivalent to $1625 in travel. You’d be getting 1.625 cents per point on your original 100,000 points in this case – it really doesn’t get much better than that for covering basically any travel expenses you wish. This ability to transfer unlimited points from Chase to Aeroplan, and in turn use them with the Pay Yourself Back Feature, is only guaranteed through next December, but we think we can get good value from it this year.
This card had been on Tom’s radar as something to consider when the convergence of a slightly elevated offer of 75,000 points and our decision to stay in a VRBO rental apartment for our travels next summer made this a no-brainer. We’ve already gotten the card and used it to book this cute rental overlooking Lake Annecy in France with the plan to erase the charge.
Man, do I hate waiting for my trips
The Pay Yourself Back feature was the main impetus for opening this card, but below are other perks and considerations as to why this card may make sense for some:
– Only has a $95 annual fee
– Relatively low spend of $4,000 in three months to earn the 75,000 point welcome offer
– Earns 3% back on groceries, restaurants, and take-out
– Cardholders are given Aeroplan 25k status and get a free first checked bag for all in their party (up to 8 people total) on Air Canada flights
– Cardholders often will get preferred pricing on Air Canada flights
– Air Canada is part of Star Alliance, and flights on United, Swiss, TAP, Lufthansa, Avianca, Singapore, among very many others can be booked using the Aeroplan program
– The card comes with a $120 credit that can be used for TSA Pre-check, Global Entry, or Nexus
– Generous travel protections including Trip Delay insurance (Same as the Sapphire Preferred), rental collision damage waiver (only primary coverage International), purchase protection, and baggage delay insurance
– Chase has a broad travel category. Examples from our transaction history include: tolls; Disney tickets purchased through Undercover Tourist; State Park Fees in NY, PA, and WV; National Parks including some concessions and merchandise; Travel Agent charges; parking fees; White Grass Ski Center
So, there you have it. This card might be a sleeper hit for us – might it work for you, too?