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.

In the coming weeks, the Air Canada Aeroplan program will be making some award chart updates. Don’t panic, though — this only impacts a limited number of partner airlines, and it’s not all bad news.

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 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. Currently, you’ll also find dynamic award pricing on both Emirates and FlyDubai.

As of March 25, 2025, Air Canada Aeroplan plans to make some award chart changes. Specifically, the airline will introduce dynamic award pricing on more partner airlines:

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

With the introduction of award pricing ranges on more airlines, there will also be 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 these partner airlines than before.

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

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

• Median amounts will not be 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 will receive discounted redemption rates on these awards as well.

Aeroplan has shared the below example of what the new award chart could look like.

My take on Aeroplan’s award chart changes

Of course I don’t like the sound of award chart changes, and of dynamic award pricing. However, this doesn’t necessarily strike me as terrible news.

Aeroplan has had dynamic award pricing on Emirates and FlyDubai for a long time, and more often than not, it isn’t a good value. At the same time, I suspect that just reflects the underlying economics, and that those airlines are charging Aeroplan a lot for award seats.

Specific to this situation:

• Currently most Etihad business class awards aren’t actually bookable, so we don’t have much to lose there; I’m happy inventory will be coming back, though I suspect it won’t be a great deal, and that Aeroplan will be paying a lot more than before
• I’d speculate that increased award availability on United will be in situations where United doesn’t have saver level award space; it’s similar to how Alaska Mileage Plan offers award seats on Aer Lingus and Qatar Airways when saver level seats aren’t available, but at a much higher cost
• For Aeroplan’s Canadian partners, they generally have very limited inventory, so perhaps this will open up a lot more availability, but also at a higher cost

So yeah, we’ll have to reserve judgment until the changes go live. Best case scenario, the changes aren’t substantially negative, and primarily offer access to more availability than before, but at a higher cost. Worst case scenario, maybe some of Aeroplan’s partners are playing dirty, and Aeroplan has no choice but to hike award costs on them. We’ll find out soon!

Bottom line

As of March 25, 2025, Aeroplan is making changes to award pricing on some partner airlines. Awards on both Etihad and United, as well as on Canadian regional partners, will have award price ranges, rather than fixed costs. This will apparently include access to preferred award availability. On top of that, Aeroplan will once again have access to Etihad business class awards worldwide.

Generally speaking, partner award opportunities at the non-saver level don’t represent a great value for those of us who are maximizers. At the same time, having more options isn’t a bad thing, and I wouldn’t assume that this is necessarily negative. We’ll find out more soon, I’m sure, and I’ll reserve final judgment until then…

What do you make of these Aeroplan award chart changes?