Aeroplan Priority Rewards: Everything You Need to Know

Aeroplan Priority Rewards are one of the most powerful loyalty perks offered in Canada and can be worth thousands of dollars. Essentially, a Priority Reward is a 50% off voucher for any flight booked with Aeroplan points. 

This should be a straightforward concept, right? Not so fast, as there’s a lot of depth to Priority Rewards, and I plan to educate you about all their intricacies below.

What Are Aeroplan Priority Rewards?

As mentioned, Priority Rewards, in their simplest form, are 50% discount vouchers for Aeroplan bookings. You can use them for multi-city, round-trip, or one-way bookings, but of course, the more flights you can cram into one itinerary, the better! 

Similar to the Air Canada Annual Worldwide Companion Pass, as an Aeroplan member you can book a trip with your Priority Reward voucher up to the end of the flight schedule, even if that’s past its expiry date.

If you’re lucky enough to have multiple Priority Reward vouchers, it’s good practice to keep track of which Priority Reward was used for which trip. If you book a trip prior to a Reward’s expiry but then cancel that trip after the Priority Reward’s expiry date, the Reward will be forfeited.

How to Earn Aeroplan Priority Rewards

To earn a Priority Reward, you must first acquire Aeroplan Elite status. The fastest way to do so is by signing up for the Chase Aeroplan card. But if you don’t have your ITIN yet, it’s also pretty quick to qualify through Everyday Status Qualification. You’re also eligible for this lucrative perk if you acquire your status through flying on Air Canada flights as an SQM/SQS warrior. 

Air Canada Aeroplan has instilled this unique reward in its loyalty program for hitting different Status Qualifying Dollars (SQD) thresholds. This first reward is given at $4,000 SQD, with subsequent Priority Reward vouchers awarded at $7,000 SQD, $10,000 SQD, $15,000 SQD, and every $5,000 SQD after that point ($20,000, $25,000, etc.).

One thing I love about Air Canada Aeroplan is they allow their members to shoot for the moon. Just like the ridiculously high 200,000 SQM Rollover benefit of Aeroplan Premium Credit Cards, they installed a $50,000 SQD limit for Priority Rewards. If your butt-in-seat has brought that much revenue to Air Canada, you would be the proud owner of 11 Priority Reward vouchers, but they may differ.

One quirk of these Rewards is that they change based on your Aeroplan Elite status level. Moreover, you can only use them for specific fare classes or certain destinations. This creates some gamesmanship, as you will earn a Priority Reward voucher corresponding to your current status when the SQD posts to your account. 

For example, if you have Aeroplan 50K status, with 74 SQS and $9,600 SQD, it’s probably worth taking a cheap flight to earn 75K status before you cross $10,000 SQD. You’ll see why in the next section.

Before moving on to the differences in Priority Rewards, I must mention you can also earn Priority Rewards by spending money on the co-branded Chase Aeroplan card, but I would not recommend it. 

The first Priority Reward is only earned after $100,000 of USD purchases, which is 5x more spending than the average Canadian household of 4 spends in a year. If you plan to run significant business expenses through the card, you could earn another 3 Priority Rewards after reaching the $250,000, $500,000, and $750,000 thresholds.

Eligible Trips for Priority Reward Usage

It’s no surprise that these rewards increase in value as you climb the Aeroplan Elite status ranks. Priority Rewards take on a whole new level of value once you’re a 75K member, though, as they can be used Worldwide, while 50K members and lower are restricted to North America and Sun destinations.

25K members get the short end of the stick, as they can only use Priority Rewards in the US and Canada, but that doesn’t mean there’s no creative fun to be had. 

35K and 50K members should try to book Air Canada Premium Economy fares when available, as you’ll be ahead of everybody on the eUpgrade waitlist (including Super Elite Million Milers) who booked economy class. Also, the number of eUpgrades required for Premium Economy fares is significantly less than for a Latitude Economy booking, at 4 eUps for Premium Economy (lowest) and 2 for Premium Economy (flex).

75K and Super Elite members can use their Priority Reward vouchers on any Air Canada flights or their partner airline flights without any location restrictions, but 75K members are capped to Premium Economy fare classes. Super Elites can book directly into business class at 50% off, making those rewards the most powerful but also the most rare.

How to Redeem Aeroplan Priority Rewards

Using Aeroplan Priority Reward vouchers is quite simple when booking a flight reward. You can see how many you have under the benefits tab in your Aeroplan profile.

When searching for a flight you want 50% off of, you must have enough identical Priority Reward vouchers for the number of passengers in the itinerary. I once had to book separate tickets for my wife and me for the same trip because I had one Canada & US Reward and one North America Reward. 

It should go without saying, but you can book a ticket with your Priority Rewards for anyone. You don’t need to fly yourself to redeem them, but after all that hard work acquiring SQD, I hope it won’t come to that!

If your itinerary is eligible to use the Priority Reward vouchers you have, you’ll see them once you open the Credits and Discounts Tab at the bottom of the screen.

Like magic, your points price will now be cut in half and bolded with a star to indicate its ½ price. The date bar at the top will also show the lowest price available on that day, with your Priority Reward applied.

Maximizing Aeroplan Priority Rewards

Maximization is always a funny thing to write about. While the true maximization of these awards would be to cram 6 flights on one itinerary and cover as much distance as possible, true maximization is individual. While you could use a US and Canada 25K Priority Reward to travel from Halifax to Hawaii, the value isn’t there if you aren’t that keen on visiting Hawaii in the first place.

Keep that in mind while reading the following sections!

25K Status – US & Canada Economy Priority Rewards

As I mentioned earlier, there’s quite a lot of fun to be had with all Priority Rewards, not just the Worldwide vouchers. One of my favorite uses for these awards is the tried and true “Latitude Attitude” to instantly clear to Air Canada Signature Class.

In a perfect world, you could combine two of these US & Canada Rewards to fly from Toronto to Honolulu round-trip for 45,000 Aeroplan points per person in Business Class on Air Canada. You would have to be pretty lucky with instant eUpgrade space, but this is possible if you book as soon as the flights are available online!

If flying to the US is more in line with your travel plans, then seeking out routes that United flies from Canada could prove fruitful. As partner points’ prices are fixed, you would likely end up with a super cheap, multi-leg itinerary.

35K & 50K Status – North America Economy & Premium Economy Priority Rewards

The main advantage 35K and 50K members have is being able to book in the Premium Economy class. Not only will this cost fewer eUpgrades should you wish to upgrade to business compared to booking Latitude, but sometimes the Premium Economy fare can be cheaper than the Latitude fare.

You also unlock sun destinations to use your Priority Rewards, which is precisely how I used 4 of mine early in 2024. 

There are only a few routes Air Canada flies Signature Class equipped planes to sun destinations, but you will find some flights from YVR and YYZ to Cancun (CUN). Equipment swaps are always a possibility, but the best way to make sure you book a widebody from the start is to sort results by price from lowest to highest based on Premium Economy fares.

Narrowbody planes don’t offer Premium Economy, so if flying Signature Class with eUpgrades and a North American Priority Reward is your goal, this is the best way to do it.

75K Status – Worldwide Economy & Premium Economy Priority Rewards

As I mentioned earlier, acquiring these rewards is worth playing games as they unlock the world quite literally. I think there’s a vast difference between North American Rewards and Worldwide Rewards, but I also have no problem splitting up my wife and me on two flights. Keep in mind that you have to have two identical Priority Rewards to book two people on the same ticket.

If you only want to fly as a couple or family, it may not be worth the extra work to acquire if you’re only going to cross the $10,000 SQD threshold and receive just one Worldwide Reward.

To maximize the 75K Reward, you’ll be somewhat limited to where Air Canada flies, or at least for your long haul portions. Luckily, Air Canada flies to a lot of destinations outside North America, and you can keep up to date with them using Flight Connections.

If you can find a cheap fare in Premium Economy transatlantic, that would be a great start to your booking. You could pair it with a couple of economy flights intra-Europe where you stopover once for 2,500 Aeroplan points (50% off!), have a long layover on the other, and then head home on a Premium Economy fare. 

With Aeroplan’s Dynamic Pricing in play, it’s hard to know exactly how much it would cost, but I estimate 77,500 Aeroplan points round-trip per person. Note that your intra-Europe flights would be economy only, but if you land in Paris, stay for 23.5 hours, then fly to Rome (stopover) and continue onto Athens, your longest flight is 2 hours gate to gate or about 90 minutes in the air. 

Even if you don’t have luck with eUpgrades to Business Class on the long haul legs, this is such a good deal, and I find Premium Economy fine from the East Coast to Europe.

100K Status (Super Elite) – Worldwide Business Priority Rewards

Worldwide Business Priority Rewards are awesome. The opportunities are literally endless, as this is what Air Canada and its partners’ route network look like.

Finding availability might be the only thing harder than deciding where you want to go, but if you follow our best practices when booking award flights, you should be fine. 

A sample of what’s possible would be flying from Toronto to Dubai on Emirates A380 business class (make sure it’s not the 777), adding in your discounted stopover, and then flying from Dubai to Sydney with a 23.5-hour layover in Singapore. 

On your way home, start your journey in Brisbane, then fly EVA Airlines business class to Taipei with a 23.5-hour layover, and carry on to Tokyo, where you can add your second discounted stopover. After you’ve eaten your weight in sushi and bought an extra suitcase for your Don Quijote haul, fly home with ANA’s “The Room” business class (if they ever open up partner award space), United, or Air Canada. I know that’s a lot to visualize, so here’s a map to help showcase this opportunity.

As this itinerary has dynamic pricing, it’s hard to know exactly how much it will cost. However, a rough estimate based on each segment and distance is 162,500 Aeroplan points per person round-trip. 

A fantastic deal indeed!

Sample Aeroplan Priority Rewards Bookings

Back to reality, most of us maximizing points and miles from financial institutions will never fly enough revenue miles to earn Super Elite status and have those fantastic worldwide business awards at our disposal. But that doesn’t mean we can’t maximize what we have, and I’ve managed to use my lowly US/Canada and North American Priority Rewards in some pretty fun ways.

The least impressive itinerary I’ve used a Priority Reward for is to fly from Vancouver to New York in Business Class for only 14,250 Aeroplan points, $100, and 4 eUpgrades.

While it would have been better to book this as a round trip, this booking was a positioning flight, and the Priority Reward voucher was expiring.

I have also made use of these Rewards when I needed to make multiple stops across the country. This takes a bit of work, as the multi-city online booking tool can only accommodate 2 flights even though you’re allowed 6 within one reward.

In this situation, I had a milk run to make that involved moving out of Seattle, dropping off our cats and extra luggage in Winnipeg (where my parents live), stopping in Ottawa to visit a Wolf Cabin, and then stopping in Toronto to see my in-laws, and finally heading to Philadelphia to board an Aer Lingus business class flight. Here’s a map to help visualize our path.

I wondered if this itinerary would work the way I wanted it to because I needed to make two quick stopovers within North America, which should go against Aeroplans’ rules. Because this booking started life as a Multi-City rather than a One-Way, it circumvents some restrictions. 

I started by booking the Seattle-Winnipeg and Winnipeg-Ottawa segments online, specifically in Economy Flex, so I wouldn’t have to pay a change fee on this Aeroplan flight award.

After confirming that part of the ticket, I called the Aeroplan priority phone line and requested to add our flights from Ottawa to Toronto and Toronto to Philadelphia, which I searched for in advance. Much to my surprise, the request was granted, and the agent had no problem re-booking my ticket in Economy Standard!

All in all, my milk run itinerary cost 34,950 Aeroplan points and $141 CAD per person! Saving 70,000 Aeroplan points (35,000 x 2) was amazing, and the cash cost of this ticket would have been exorbitant.

It’s probably one of my favorite redemptions ever because of its complexity and value.

Not all Priority Reward vouchers can be maximized, though. I used the four I received during 2023 to take my wife and in-laws to the Hilton Tulum Riviera Maya All-Inclusive Resort. Here, I only saved 44,800 Aeroplan points in total, but it was much better than paying cash for 4 people, and we would not have taken this trip if not for points and Priority Rewards.

Do You Need to Pursue Priority Rewards?

The short answer is no. The long answer is maybe. As Priority Reward vouchers are only given after thousands of dollars of spending, I don’t see any situation where it makes sense to “buy” one if you were not going to spend that money anyway. But, if you fly often with Air Canada and are close to your next Reward at the end of the year, it could make sense to do a ‘mileage run’ of sorts.

I did just that at the end of 2022 when Air Canada ran a promotion doubling your Priority Rewards if you earned them before Dec 31st. I had $6,600 SQD in my account with no other travel plans, but the opportunity to “buy” two of these for $475 ($420 base fare plus taxes and fees) was too good to pass up. I flew from Toronto to Montreal on a same-day round trip, ending the year with just over $7,000 SQD and two extra North America Priority Rewards.

As I planned to use them and could bring my wife on the same ticket, this made good sense, but it was still a gamble. As you saw in my examples, the value of Priority Reward vouchers varies greatly, but they are worth at least $100/piece and can be worth $1,000+ if maximized correctly. 

Rather than doing a mileage run, you could also consider buying a more expensive fare class like Flex, Comfort, or Latitude for your final travels of the year to save yourself some time while still accruing enough SQD to earn a Priority Reward voucher.

Conclusion

Priority Rewards are a rare and extremely unique perk offered to the most loyal Air Canada flyers. With proper planning, the least powerful Rewards can be worth hundreds of dollars, and the most powerful can be worth thousands.

At the very least, you’ll be able to use them to fight Air Canada’s dynamic pricing and take the ideal flight for a reasonable amount of Aeroplan points.

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