Chase refreshed the Air Canada Aeroplan card on September 10, 2026. The annual fee went from $95 to $195. Grocery earning dropped from 3x to 2x. The 500-point monthly spending bonus is gone, and the 10% bonus on Ultimate Rewards transfers to Aeroplan ends December 31.

In exchange, cardholders get automatic Aeroplan 25K status, two $50 Air Canada credits a year and a 15% discount on awards flown on Air Canada. New applicants see a welcome offer of up to 115,000 points.

The offer is large. The card underneath it got worse for almost everyone who does not fly Air Canada on paid tickets several times a year.

The short version

  • Annual fee: $195, up from $95.
  • Welcome offer: 75,000 points after $4,000 in 3 months, plus 40,000 after $20,000 total in 12 months.
  • Earning: 3x on all travel, 2x on groceries, dining and gas, 1x elsewhere. Groceries used to earn 3x.
  • Gone: the 500-point monthly bonus, and the 10% Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus after December 31, 2026.
  • New: automatic 25K status, two $50 Air Canada credits a year, a flat 15% award discount on Air Canada flights.
  • Existing cardholders keep the old benefits through December 31 and get the new ones now.

Is the 115,000-point welcome offer worth it?

The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card pays 75,000 points after $4,000 of spending in the first three months, then 40,000 more after $20,000 of total spending in the first twelve months. Chase calls it “Our Best Offer Ever: Earn up to 115,000 bonus points.” The full 115,000 covers a one-way business class award from North America to almost any region on Aeroplan’s chart, and a round trip on the shorter ones.

The catch sits in the second tier. Reaching $20,000 in a year means about $1,666 a month on a card earning 1x on most purchases.

Put the same $20,000 on a Chase Sapphire, Capital One Venture or Amex Membership Rewards card and you earn more per dollar, collect a welcome offer of similar size and keep the option to transfer to Aeroplan later. Aeroplan is a transfer partner of all three programs. Locking the points into one airline before you know where you want to fly is the price of this offer.

If you apply anyway, take the 75,000 and stop. Half of a tiered offer is still a good offer.

What does the $195 fee buy?

The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card now charges $195 a year and returns up to $100 of it as Air Canada statement credits. The credits arrive as two $50 halves, one for January through June and one for July through December. Each half requires an Air Canada purchase in that window. The credit also covers taxes and fees on an award ticket booked through Aeroplan.

Use both halves and the net cost is $95, which is what the card charged before. Miss one and you paid $145 for a card that used to cost $95.

Airline cards from Delta and United start at $150, so the market moved. This is still the only Aeroplan card available to U.S. residents, and it now costs more than the United or Delta card at the same tier. Those cards carry credits on airlines most Americans fly more often.

Is automatic 25K status useful?

The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card now grants Aeroplan 25K status with no spending requirement. The old card gave you 25K in year one and then asked for $15,000 of spending each year to keep it. 25K gets you a free checked bag, priority check-in, Zone 2 boarding and Star Alliance Silver on partner airlines.

This helps a specific person: someone who flies Air Canada a few times a year on paid tickets and has no status. If you fly Air Canada often, you have status already and the card adds nothing here. You can still reach 35K status with $75,000 of spending on the card, and earn up to 25,000 Status Qualifying Credits with $50,000. Those thresholds did not change.

How does the 15% award discount work?

The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card takes 15% off the points price of awards flown on Air Canada. The old card advertised preferred award pricing, which meant an undisclosed discount on Air Canada’s variable-priced flights. The new benefit is a fixed 15%, the same structure Delta uses for its cardholders.

Partner-only awards do not qualify. A Lufthansa or United booking with no Air Canada segment pays full price. Mixed itineraries were unclear on launch day, and Air Canada later told Frequent Miler the discount “does apply to any one-way itinerary as long as it includes at least one Air Canada-operated flight.”

Whether this matters depends on how you book. Many Aeroplan users in the U.S. book partner awards to Europe and Asia and never touch an Air Canada plane. For them the discount is worth nothing until they route through Toronto or Montreal on purpose.

What got worse?

Four things on the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card are worse than before, and together they outweigh the additions.

  • Groceries drop from 3x to 2x. Dining stays at 2x. Gas moves to 2x, and all travel now earns 3x instead of Air Canada purchases alone.
  • The 500-point bonus for $2,000 of spending in a calendar month is gone. It was small, and it was the one reason to make this your everyday card.
  • The 10% bonus on Ultimate Rewards transfers of 50,000 points or more ends December 31, 2026. That bonus made a Chase point worth up to 1.6 cents through Pay Yourself Back. Our guide to the Chase Aeroplan transfer bonus covers how those transfers work.
  • The fee doubled.

Pay Yourself Back stays at 1.25 cents per point for travel purchases, capped at 200,000 points a year. Since travel now earns 3x, using the card for the purchase you plan to erase wastes less than before. The free checked bag, the fourth-night-free hotel benefit and the Global Entry or NEXUS fee rebate all survive. Fourth-day-free now extends to car rentals.

Every one of the earning rates is beaten by a transferable-points card. There is no category on this card worth carrying it for.

What this means for you

The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card makes sense for one group: people who buy Air Canada tickets a few times a year, want a free bag and early boarding, and do not already hold status. The two credits and the status cover the fee for them.

Everyone else should earn transferable points and move them to Aeroplan when a specific award calls for it. The program is still one of the best in the world for partner awards, with more than 45 airline partners and no fuel surcharges on its own flights. The card is not the way to feed it.

If you already hold the card, nothing changes until January. The 10% transfer bonus still works through December 31, so move any large Ultimate Rewards balance you had planned to transfer before then. Then decide at renewal whether the $195 version earns its place. Our points and miles valuation guide shows what an Aeroplan point is worth, and our best travel credit cards guide covers the transferable cards that replace it.

FAQ

Is the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card annual fee now $195?

Yes. The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card annual fee rose from $95 to $195 with the September 10, 2026 refresh. Up to $100 comes back each year as two $50 Air Canada statement credits, one per half of the calendar year.

Do existing cardholders get the new benefits?

Existing Chase Air Canada Aeroplan cardholders receive the new credits, automatic status and award discount now, and keep the old earning rates and bonuses through December 31, 2026. The $195 fee applies at the first renewal after that.

Does the 15% award discount work on partner flights?

The Aeroplan 15% discount applies when a one-way award includes at least one Air Canada-operated flight, per Air Canada. An award flown entirely on partners such as Lufthansa or United pays the full points price.

When does the Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus end?

The 10% bonus on Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers of 50,000 points or more to Aeroplan runs through December 31, 2026. Transfer before then or lose it.

Should I get the Chase Aeroplan card for the 115,000-point offer?

The Chase Air Canada Aeroplan card offer is large, and the second tier requires $20,000 of spending in a year at 1x. A transferable-points card earns more on the same spending and still lets you transfer to Aeroplan. Apply only if you fly Air Canada on paid tickets and will use the credits.

Sources

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