Aeroplan Award Chart Changes: Dynamic Pricing On More Partners

Air Canada Aeorplan is one of the most useful frequent flyer programs out there, thanks to the reasonable award pricing, the huge number of airline partners, and the ability to have stopovers for 5,000 points, among other things. Unfortunately the program just became a bit less useful.

Several weeks ago, Air Canada Aeroplan announced plans to make some award chart updates, impacting award travel on select partner airlines. Well, the changes are now live. Up until now, we didn’t know how bad the updates would be… unfortunately they’re pretty tough, and worse than I was hoping.

New “Air Canada and Select Partners” award chart

Air Canada Aeroplan publishes zone based award charts, with distance based pricing within each chart. For example, below is the standard award chart within North America. As you can see, there’s consistent pricing on partner airlines, and then there’s a range of pricing on Air Canada. Up until now, as far as partner airlines go, we’ve only seen dynamic award pricing on Emirates and FlyDubai.

Unfortunately the number of partner airlines on which dynamic award pricing applies has just increased, as of March 25, 2025. Specifically, Aeroplan has introduced dynamic award pricing on more partner airlines:

• In addition to Emirates and FlyDubai, dynamic award pricing has been expanded to two more global airline partners — Etihad and United
• Dynamic award pricing has also been added to Canadian regional partners — Calm Air, Canadian North, and PAL (Provincial Airlines)

With the introduction of award pricing ranges on more airlines, there’s also preferred award availability with select partners. While the pricing under the new chart can be higher than the fixed partner award chart and sometimes vary from one itinerary to another, it will also result in greater availability for reward seats on at least some of these partner airlines, compared to before.

For example, as part of these changes, we’re seeing Aeroplan again have access to Etihad business class awards worldwide (though not Etihad first class awards).

With this new chart, there are no longer pricing ranges for these partners. Instead, there are starting prices (unchanged from the previous values) and a new median amount, based on historical member redemptions with these carriers. Note that:

• Median amounts aren’t being displayed for ranges outside North America or for first class awards, as lower redemption volumes in these categories could result in significant fluctuations over time
• The median amounts will be updated quarterly, based on redemptions from the previous four quarters, ensuring greater accuracy

Aeroplan Elite members and credit card members receive discounted redemption rates on these awards as well. Below is an example of what the updated award chart looks like, with price ranges.

Aeroplan’s award pricing updates are pretty rough

Up until now, we didn’t really know what these changes would look like. The way I viewed it up until this point:

• Previously, most Etihad business class awards weren’t actually bookable through Aeroplan, so I guess availability at any price is better than no premium availability at all
• For United, I was curious if the introduction of dynamic award pricing would be in situations where there’s actually saver level award availability, or if this would be a situation where Aeroplan would have access to non-saver awards on United, but at higher costs (as we frequently see with Alaska Mileage Plan)
• For Aeroplan’s Canadian partners, they generally had very limited inventory, so the idea is that this opens up lots more availability, but at a higher cost

Now that the changes are live, how bad are they? Well, they’re pretty rough, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. It appears that Aeroplan doesn’t actually have access to more United award availability, but instead, the pricing is just higher in many situations.

For example, up until now, a one-way award on United from Los Angeles to San Francisco would cost 6,000 points in economy or 15,000 points in business class, while now the cost is 10,000 points and 30,000 points, respectively. Ouch.

Meanwhile up until now, a one-way award on United from Newark to London would cost 35,000 points in economy or 60,000 points in business class, while now the cost is 40,000 points and 80,000 points. No bueno!

Even worse is that up until now, a one-way award on United from Houston to Buenos Aires would cost 43,000 points in economy or 60,000 points in business class, while now the cost is 45,000 points and 100,000 points.

Now Aeroplan does have access to Etihad award space, but at highly inflated costs. For example, a one-way Abu Dhabi to Paris business class ticket costs 117,300 Aeroplan points, when the same award would cost 42,500 American AAdvantage miles.

I’d consider this to be a major devaluation to Aeroplan awards on United, so that’s unfortunate. Meanwhile in the case of Etihad, it’s more of a mixed bag. The pricing isn’t good, but at least Aeroplan has access to these seats.

So, what’s causing these changes to Aeroplan’s award pricing? All we can do is speculate, though I have to imagine this reflects the underlying economics of these redemptions. I don’t know if United has greatly increased its reimbursement rates with Aeroplan, or has somehow forced Aeroplan’s hand in these changes, though I imagine there’s a very specific reason for this update.

Bottom line

Aeroplan has made major changes to award pricing on select partner airlines. Awards on both Etihad and United, as well as on Canadian regional partners, now have award pricing ranges, rather than fixed costs.

The worst news here is United, where it appears that Aeroplan still only has access to the saver level award availability, while charging much higher costs. Meanwhile with Etihad, Aeroplan finally has access to premium awards again, though the redemption rates aren’t very attractive.

This is a pretty significant devaluation to the Aeroplan program. As I’ve written about before, the miles & points world has changed, as many airlines get savvier, and I imagine there’s a specific reason these changes were made.

What do you make of these Aeroplan award chart changes?