Chase is running a 20% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan from now through September 30. Move 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points and 60,000 Aeroplan points land on the other side. Holders of the Chase Aeroplan card do better still: the card’s standing 10% bonus on big transfers stacks on top, up to 30% total.
The timing is the entertaining part. This bonus appeared the morning after Air Canada sold a quarter of Aeroplan to a Blackstone-led group at a C$10 billion valuation. Make of the calendar what you will; the offer is real either way, and it points at one of the few currencies genuinely worth boosting.
Why this one clears the bar
The doctrine on this site is that the size of a transfer bonus tells you nothing; the destination currency tells you everything. Aeroplan is the good case: a published, distance-based chart, the widest useful Star Alliance partner list, and no fuel surcharges on partner awards. Regular readers know where I stand; I’ve written a whole guide to the five best Aeroplan sweet spots, and this bonus discounts every single one of them.
At 20%, the effective price of those redemptions drops meaningfully. The 60,000-point transatlantic band costs 50,000 Chase points. The 75,000-point Pacific band costs 62,500. Stack the cardholder 30% and a lie-flat to Europe runs about 46,200 Chase points, which is the kind of number that makes the Frankfurt trick borderline silly.
The rules don’t bend for a good bonus
Find the seat first. Transfers are one-way, and a bonus into a program you can’t spend this year is a discount on nothing. The search tools exist for exactly this moment: confirm the award, move the points, book the same day.
Don’t oversend. The bonus runs six weeks. There is no reason to move your whole balance; move what a specific booking needs, and let the rest stay flexible where it’s worth the most.
And spend what you send. The new ownership structure is precisely why I wouldn’t park points in Aeroplan long-term. A program that owes Blackstone a return is a program whose chart drifts upward. Points that arrive with a 20% head start and get spent this year are a great trade. Points that arrive and sit are a bet on a landlord’s patience.
Bonus ends September 30.
