Chase Aeroplan Card Gets a Major Refresh: 115K Bonus, $195 Annual Fee, Automatic 25K Status and More

There are some legitimately useful new benefits, including:

• Automatic Aeroplan 25K status
• A new 15% discount on eligible Aeroplan award flights
• Up to $100 per year in Air Canada statement credits
• New 3X earning on travel
• A fourth day free on eligible Aeroplan rental-car redemptions starting in 2027

But there are also some notable negatives.

The annual fee is increasing from $95 to $195, dining and grocery earning are dropping from 3X to 2X, and the existing 10% Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus to Aeroplan will end after December 31, 2026.

There is also a new welcome offer of up to 115,000 Aeroplan points, but getting the full bonus requires a substantial amount of spending.

New Welcome Bonus: Up to 115,000 Aeroplan Points

For a limited time, new cardmembers can earn:

75,000 Aeroplan points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months

plus:

40,000 additional Aeroplan points after spending $20,000 total in the first 12 months

That brings the total potential welcome bonus to:

115,000 Aeroplan points

The annual fee is now:

$195

Chase states that the card is available if you do not currently have the Aeroplan Card and have not received a new-cardmember bonus on the card within the past 24 months.

The Spending Requirement Is the Catch

The first 75,000 points are reasonably straightforward:

$4,000 in 3 months

The additional 40,000 points are much less compelling because they require:

$20,000 total spending in the first year

That means you are putting another $16,000 of spend on the card after earning the initial bonus just to pick up the remaining 40,000 points.

That is effectively:

2.5 additional bonus points per dollar of incremental spend

before considering the normal category earnings on that spending.

Depending on what other signup bonuses or category bonuses you could be earning elsewhere, that may or may not be worthwhile.

For many points-and-miles enthusiasts, I suspect the practical offer will really be viewed as:

75,000 points for $4,000 spend

with the extra 40,000 points treated as optional.

Automatic Aeroplan 25K Status Is Now Included

One of the strongest improvements is automatic Aeroplan 25K elite status for primary cardholders.

Previously, cardholders could receive Aeroplan 25K status temporarily and then needed spending activity to maintain it.

With the refreshed card, the status comes automatically with no spending requirement.

Aeroplan 25K includes benefits such as:

• Priority check-in
• Priority boarding
• Star Alliance recognition
• eUpgrade credits
• Additional opportunities to earn benefits through Aeroplan activity

For someone who actually flies Air Canada, this is probably one of the most valuable ongoing additions.

New 15% Aeroplan Award Discount

Cardholders now receive a 15% discount on eligible Aeroplan flight rewards.

The important detail is that the itinerary must include at least one Air Canada-operated segment.

That means partner-operated segments can still potentially be included in an eligible itinerary, which makes this benefit more useful than a discount that only applies to flights operated entirely by Air Canada.

For example:

The higher the award price, the more meaningful the benefit becomes.

Up to $100 Per Year in Air Canada Credits

The refreshed card now includes up to:

$100 in annual Air Canada statement credits

delivered as up to:

$50 semiannually

This appears to be Chase's main attempt to soften the blow of the annual-fee increase.

If you naturally spend at least $50 with Air Canada in each half of the year, you can potentially offset the entire $100 annual-fee increase.

But I would not value that credit at face value if you rarely fly Air Canada.

A credit is only worth what you would otherwise have spent.

New 3X Travel Category

The refreshed Aeroplan Card now earns:

3X Aeroplan points on travel purchases

That is a useful addition and makes the card somewhat more competitive as a general travel-spending card.

However, the changes to dining and grocery are less appealing.

Dining, Grocery and Gas Drop to 2X

The card now earns:

2X Aeroplan points at restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations

and:

1X everywhere else

Dining, grocery and gas previously earned 3X, so this is a real devaluation for anyone who used the Aeroplan Card heavily in those categories.

For many people, Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning cards will continue to make more sense for dining and general everyday spend.

Up to 5X on Air Canada Purchases

The refreshed card can now produce up to 5X total Aeroplan points on eligible Air Canada purchases.

That comes from a combination of:

3X from the credit card

plus:

additional Aeroplan earning tied to 25K status

It is important to understand that this is not simply 5X from the card itself.

The extra earning comes from the Aeroplan program and the elite status attached to the card.

Fourth Day Free on Rental Cars

Beginning in 2027, cardholders will receive a fourth day free when booking qualifying four-day rental-car rewards using Aeroplan points.

This is an interesting addition because Aeroplan has been expanding beyond airline redemptions into hotels and rental cars.

I would not value this very highly unless you already redeem Aeroplan points for rental cars, but it is still another potentially usable benefit.

Fourth Night Free on Hotel Redemptions Continues

Cardholders continue to receive a fourth night free when redeeming Aeroplan points for qualifying hotel stays.

That means the card now effectively has:

• Fourth night free on eligible hotel redemptions
• Fourth day free on eligible rental-car redemptions starting in 2027

For travelers who use Aeroplan beyond flights, those benefits may become increasingly relevant.

Existing Travel Benefits Remain

The card retains several useful travel protections and benefits, including:

• Up to $120 toward Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS every four years
• No foreign transaction fees
• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance
• Trip delay reimbursement
• Baggage delay insurance
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• World Elite Mastercard benefits

The card also continues to allow Aeroplan points to be redeemed through Pay Yourself Back for eligible purchases.

The 10% Chase Transfer Bonus Is Ending

One of the more disappointing changes is the loss of the existing 10% bonus when transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Aeroplan.

That benefit ends after:

December 31, 2026

This was a useful benefit because it effectively made transferable Chase points more valuable when moving them into Aeroplan.

For example:

100,000 Ultimate Rewards points

could become:

110,000 Aeroplan points

under the old cardholder transfer bonus.

That is going away.

The Monthly Spend Bonus Is Also Disappearing

The existing monthly spending bonus is also ending.

Cardholders previously could earn:

500 bonus Aeroplan points for every $2,000 in monthly spend

up to the applicable monthly cap.

That benefit is being eliminated as part of the refresh.

Again, that is another reason the new structure should not be viewed as purely an upgrade.

Old vs. New Chase Aeroplan Card

That table makes the tradeoff fairly clear.

The card is becoming more valuable for people who actively use Air Canada and Aeroplan, while becoming less attractive as a general everyday-spending card.

Is the $195 Annual Fee Worth It?

That depends almost entirely on your Air Canada usage.

The annual fee is increasing by:

$100

But the card is simultaneously adding:

Up to $100 per year in Air Canada credits

So someone who can use those credits naturally could potentially offset the entire increase.

Then the remaining question becomes how much you value:

• Automatic Aeroplan 25K status
• 15% award discounts
• 3X travel earning
• Fourth-day-free rental-car awards

If you use those benefits regularly, the refreshed card can make sense.

If you primarily hold the card for occasional Aeroplan partner awards and rarely fly Air Canada, the value proposition is considerably weaker.

Trash Panda Take

The refreshed Chase Aeroplan Card is clearly being repositioned.

This is no longer a relatively inexpensive $95 airline card with strong everyday earning categories.

It is becoming a more Air Canada-focused travel card with:

$195 annual fee + automatic status + credits + award discounts

For frequent Air Canada travelers, I can see the appeal.

Automatic 25K status and a 15% award discount can create substantial value.

But there are enough negatives that I would not call this an across-the-board improvement.

The annual fee doubles.

Dining, grocery and gas earning drop.

The Chase transfer bonus disappears.

The monthly spend bonus disappears.

And the headline 115,000-point welcome offer requires $20,000 in spending to earn in full.

For most points-and-miles enthusiasts, I think the right way to evaluate the welcome offer is to ask whether the initial 75,000 points for $4,000 spend is attractive enough on its own.

The additional 40,000 points should be viewed separately.

Overall, the refresh makes the Aeroplan Card more compelling for Air Canada loyalists and less compelling for everyone else.

That is probably exactly what Chase and Air Canada intended.