Aeroplan Everyday Status Qualification: Earn Status Without Flying

Air Canada Aeroplan is the most powerful airline loyalty program available to residents of the Great White North, and subsequently, their elite status is well worth pursuing. Amazingly, Aeroplan makes their entry-level 25K status available to anyone who can amass 100,000 Everyday Status Qualification (EDQ) points in a calendar year. 

Realistically, you never have to step foot on an airplane if it doesn’t fit your travel pattern in order to earn 25K status thanks to this program. While the Aeroplan 25K benefits will not amaze you with perks, it can have a lot of value to it, depending on your travel goals. 

Let’s take a look at the Aeroplan Everyday Status Qualification program, how you can take advantage, and if it is worth pursuing status through this avenue.

What is Aeroplan’s Everyday Status Qualification?

The Aeroplan Every Day Qualification (EDQ) program is part of the Aeroplan loyalty program and gives members the opportunity to earn Air Canada 25K Elite Status simply by earning points (even without flying). In order to qualify, you must earn 100,000 Aeroplan points through eligible sources within a calendar year. Once earned, status is retained until the end of the following calendar year.

Aeroplan considers the following sources as eligible for accruing points towards Everyday Status Qualification:

• Co-branded credit card spending
• Co-branded credit card bonus categories (such as earning 3 points per dollar spent on Air Canada flights on the American Express Aeroplan Reserve card)
• Aeroplan eStore purchases
• Flying activity (Not including bonus points if you already have Elite Status)
• Partnership spending (LCBO, Uber, Starbucks)

Aeroplan considers the following sources as not eligible for accruing points towards Everyday Status Qualification:

• Credit card welcome bonuses (such as a first purchase bonus, minimum spending requirement bonus, or accelerated earning rates)
• Point transfers from banks (such as American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards Points, Capital One)
• Points Purchased (from Points.com or other sources)

It’s important to note that an EDQ point is still an Aeroplan point and can be redeemed like any other point (simply think of an EDQ point as a layer on top of your existing Aeroplan point earnings). In simpler terms, all eligible Everyday Status Qualification activities earn Aeroplan points, whereas all Aeroplan activities may not earn EDQ points.

Ways to Earn Aeroplan Everyday Status Qualification Points

There are quite a few ways to earn Aeroplan Everyday Status Qualification points, providing multiple avenues for Aeroplan members who are looking to unlock 25K status.

Aeroplan Co-Branded Credit Card Spending

Spending on Aeroplan credit cards is the most straightforward method to earn 100,000 Everyday Status Qualification points, but there is a bit of nuance to it. To begin with, using the correct credit card for purchases will make a BIG difference.

For example, if you use the CIBC Aeroplan Visa card for all purchases, it earns 0.67 Aeroplan points per dollar spent, so you’ll need to spend $149,254 on the card to gain 100,000 EDQ. I don’t care what your income is, that’s a lot of spending! But we can do better than that.

If you were to instead put your spending on the American Express Aeroplan card, it earns 1 Aeroplan point per dollar spent, so you’ll need to spend $100,000 to reach 100,000 EDQ, or a whopping 33% less spending. But wait, we can still do better than that.

If you were to instead put that spend on an Aeroplan premium credit card like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege card, it earns 1.25 Aeroplan points per dollar spent, so you would only need to spend $80,000 to earn 100,000 EDQ. That’s 20% less spending required than the American Express Aeroplan card and 46% less spending than the CIBC Aeroplan Visa card.

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TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card

The TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* card earns Aeroplan points and offers cardholders a variety of Air Canada benefits including priority boarding, free checked baggage, and Maple Leaf lounge access.

Check out our TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege card review for more details.

BONUS
85,000 Aeroplan

MINSPEND
$15,000

NET VALUE
$1,186+

ANNUAL FEE
$599

FOREX FEES
Yes

EXPIRY
Jun 3, 2024

These examples make it clear that spending on the right credit cards will hugely impact your efforts on the path to becoming an Aeroplan 25K member through Everyday Status Qualification. However, spending $80,000 on a credit card in a calendar year is still a tall task. Recent statistics show that the average 4-person Canadian household only spends $30,525 on a credit card annually.

There are many ways we can get creative to increase our credit card spending to get close to that $80,000 mark, though. For example, I bought our Volvo XC-90 with my TD Visa Aeroplan Infinite Privilege card last year.

To facilitate this transaction, I used the bill payment service Plastiq. If you’re unfamiliar with bill payment services, they act as a processor for credit cards and send your recipient a cheque. In return, they charge you a fee for providing this service.

Sadly, this is no longer possible with Visa cards as Plastiq now only accepts Mastercards for vehicle purchases (maybe I killed this method, sorry, everyone). But I did pay a 2.89% fee to complete this transaction, which totaled $1,722.44. You may be asking, why would I do this?

Well, the answer lies in the math. The 74,500 Aeroplan points I earned from spending are valued at $1,490 when used for flights, but that still means I am losing $230 on the transaction. This was a loss I was willing to accept as I wouldn’t have been able to generate $59,600 of spend without this purchase to gain the 12 Status Qualifying Segments (SQS).

Otherwise, to qualify for my Aeroplan 50K status, I would need to fly those 12 flights, and last I checked, Air Canada doesn’t sell tickets for $19 each. 😉

The same principle applies to EDQ even though I made this transaction to earn Status Qualifying Segments. It’s worth seeing which bills you can pay with Plastiq that you may not have considered. For example, my father paid his landscaper through Plastiq and gained Aeroplan 25K status for himself which he wouldn’t have been able to achieve through flying.

On that note, you can also use your credit card to pay your federal tax bill.

Yep, you read that right. Paying taxes might fund your next vacation or grant you Aeroplan Elite Status. Using Plastiq’s competitor, PaySimply, you can pay the CRA. They also charge a similar fee, but as long as you use the right card to generate enough value from the purchase, it becomes reasonable to pay. Perhaps you accidentally slightly overpay your tax bill, and the CRA needs to issue you a larger-than-normal refund. 😉

Perhaps you rent and haven’t yet realized that you can actually pay your rent with a credit card. Chexy presents another unique opportunity in earning credit card rewards by paying rent. Needless to say, there are many ways you can get creative to increase your credit card spending if you are working towards the goal of earning Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status.

Aeroplan Co-Branded Credit Card Bonus Catagories

Here’s where we can cut down on that $80,000 spending total by a considerable margin. Rather than earning just 1 or 1.25 EDQ points per dollar, we can earn a maximum of 3 points per dollar on all eligible transactions. 

The bonus categories and their multipliers vary based on the co-branded credit card being used, so the below table will give you a better idea of what cards earn the most points in each category. The bolded numbers are the highest earning rates in each listed category.

Understanding when and where to use each credit card will go a long way in maximizing your Everyday Status Qualification earnings and in turn, your Aeroplan points earnings.

Aeroplan eStore

The Aeroplan eStore represents the largest opportunity to earn EDQ points outside of regular credit card spending. If you’re not familiar with the Aeroplan eStore it works similarly to Rakuten, asking you to click through a link and then shop as normal. For making these purchases you intended to make anyway, you can sometimes earn up to 20 Aeroplan points per dollar.

More commonly, you’ll find bonuses for 3-10 points per dollar, which still represents an excellent path to elite status. For example, during “shopping” holidays like Black Friday or Holiday Season, Apple will often offer a 5-10 Aeroplan point per dollar bonus on purchases.

Considering it is more than likely you will make at least a handful of online purchases during a calendar year anyways, this is a great way to easily work towards earning your 100,000 Everyday Status Qualification points without much effort.

Flying Activity on Air Canada

This is one of the least talked about methods to earn 25k status via EDQ, but it plays an important part in the equation. Canada is a big country, and 2 of our largest economic hubs are far away from each other, 2,076 nautical miles, to be exact. 

So, if you were to take a round-trip flight from Toronto to Vancouver with Air Canada on a Flex fare or higher, you would rack up at least 4,170 EDQ.

While infrequent flyers won’t be running that route enough to gain elite status, flights can absolutely have a big impact on the EDQ total.

Partnership Spending

I must give kudos to Aeroplan for the final category in our EDQ Eligibility breakdown, as the product placement is genius. If you didn’t already know, you can earn Aeroplan points and in turn Everyday Qualification Dollars for making purchases with a set list of partners including Starbucks, Uber, and LCBO.

Starbucks is the most famous coffee shop in the world, and after you sign up for a loyalty account, you’re asked to link your Aeroplan number if you reside in Canada. The same thing goes for Uber! And whenever you check out at an LCBO, they ask if you have your Aeroplan card. As consumers, we hear the words Aeroplan a lot as we move through our daily lives, and it makes us think about the program.

Starbucks is one of the easiest partnerships for all Canadians to participate in, as they reward you with 100 Aeroplan points (counting as EDQ) when you reload your balance with $75. While it’s not an excellent return, it adds decent value to some overpriced coffee. Starbucks also gives the largest number of “Stars” per dollar when you pay with a gift card, which is what you are reloading to get the 100 Aeroplan points. 

Aeroplan’s relationship with Uber is a bit different, as they reward you for only orders over $25 with Uber Eats or 1 point for $1 on Uber Premium Rides (Comfort fare and up). So you won’t find yourself racking up the points unless you eat take-out a lot or choose not to ride in an Uber X.

Example Path to Aeroplan 25k Status Through Everyday Status Qualification

So, to make this an illustrative article, let’s use the example of a fictitious family, the McQueens, and how they might achieve 25K status for their semi-frequent traveler, John, using EDQ.

The McQueen family is a total of four people, with John, his wife, and two teenage children. To say their grocery bill is through the roof would be an understatement, as they spend at least $750 per month in that category. Over the course of a year, using their TD Visa Infinite, they will rack up 9,000 EDQ points, nearly 10% of the way to 25K status for John.

They also fill up their gas tanks 4 times per month at a cost of $75 per fill totaling $300 per month. Again earning 1.5 points per dollar, they gain another 5,400 EDQ to bring our yearly total to 14,400 EDQ, but they still have a way to go. 

Being located in the GTA, John and his family love to try all the unique fusion restaurants available in the area. Using their Amex Aeroplan card to get 1.5 points per dollar on restaurants, dining out is extra rewarding with 4 mouths to feed. Averaging $500/month on dining out, John racks up 10,800 EDQ points annually.

EDQ Count So Far: 25,200

John’s last spending category that qualifies for EDQ on a Credit Card Bonus Category is 2x on Air Canada flights. The McQueen’s are huge Disney fans and try to make their way to Disneyland or Disney World at least once yearly. Getting 4 people to and from California or Orlando isn’t cheap, but the sour taste is made sweeter when those tickets get John and his family closer to Elite Status.

Using a real example of traveling to Orlando in late 2023, bringing everyone along will cost $2,400 round trip.

With the 2x bonus, John adds another 4,800 EDQ to his total. We will touch on the EDQ earned from the flying activity later on in this example scenario.

EDQ Count So Far: 30,000

Moving back to our McQueen family. A scenario that could occur is that their children are in need of new computers for school. John decides to purchase 2 MacBook Airs during a 10x bonus event. They would add an additional 30,000 EDQ to their total. Perhaps John and his wife want to take their fitness to the next level, so they also add a pair of Apple Watches, bringing in another 12,000 EDQ.

Combine that with purchasing their household necessities like toilet paper, laundry detergent, and pet supplies through Amazon on the eStore. Let’s say yearly, those bills add up to 5,000 EDQ, as there are occasionally extra bonuses on Amazon, as we saw on Prime Day with a 7-point per dollar offer in 2023. 

EDQ Count So Far: 77,000

In John’s case, he works as a consultant for various companies and has his flights paid for by his employer. Taking at least one round trip to YVR, some shorter flights to Central Canada like YWG or YXE, and the family vacation to Disney, he can count on 13,400 EDQ points from natural flying activity. It won’t be enough to earn him Elite Status the old-fashioned way, but he’s got a great chance to qualify via EDQ.

EDQ Count So Far: 90,400

Unlucky for John McQueen, he doesn’t visit Starbucks often as he prefers to brew his own coffee. Being located north of Oakville in the GTA, Uber and Uber Eats are neither very useful. But he does love wine and hosting friends and family in his backyard, making the LCBO partnership a special one.

Picking and choosing your wines carefully can have a big impact. It’s not uncommon to find $20 bottles with a 135 Aeroplan point bonus on them. Stack up a few cases of wine like John does when LCBO has a bonus, and your EDQ will add up quickly!

If John picks up 3 cases of wine (12 bottles) every 6 months with a 135 point bonus per bottle, he will add 9,720 EDQ to his total.

EDQ Count So Far: 100,120

Wow, that was close, John McQueen qualified for 25K status by the skin of his teeth! It’s almost like I planned it that way. 😉

While this example will not apply to everyone, it should give you a good representation of what’s possible with the Aeroplan program and how you can envision yourself reaching 100,000 EDQ eligible points.

Even if you never fly on a plane, unlike John, as he collected 13,400 of his EDQ points via flying, you will probably acquire those missing points via credit card spending. You’ll notice my example for John included only bonus category credit card spend and left uncategorized spending out of the equation.

Is Aeroplan 25k Status Worth Chasing?

Again, this will depend greatly on the individual. Holding Aeroplan Elite Status will get you access to eUpgrades and all the benefits they bring to the table. They are a great mechanism to fight Air Canada’s dynamic pricing when you’re trying to fly in premium cabins, and I would classify them as the best reason to pursue the status. 

Many other benefits with 25K status are available by signing up for a Premium Aeroplan Credit card, like the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege card, if you aren’t interested in chasing status. In comparing the value, we can easily look at what 25K status offers versus a premium credit card.

As we can see, there are drawbacks and advantages to both methods of acquiring Air Canada Benefits. The unlimited Maple Leaf Lounge Access will benefit a solo traveler or a couple, but it won’t move the needle for a family traveler, as you probably won’t leave your kids outside the lounge!

The potential for a Priority Reward appeals to me if you get close to the SQD (Status Qualifying Dollars) requirement. You receive your first Priority Reward at 4,000 SQD, but you must have 25K status to receive it. If you’re not perusing EDQ points, you won’t hit 100,000 by accident unless you spend a lot on your cards.

Conclusion

Aeroplan’s Everyday Status Qualification is a fun program that I applaud Air Canada for producing. It allows a “gaming” element to the frequent flyer program that encourages participation in non-traditional ways as opposed to being solely focused on flying when it comes to being able to earn elite status.

Additionally, it enables everyone to participate in the Aeroplan loyalty program, whether they fly 100 times yearly or once yearly. I hope this article has allowed you to envision yourself amongst the Aeroplan elite ranks or helps you be content with your decision to be a Premium Aeroplan card holder, whatever your path.