Air Canada Aeroplan 2026: The 2020 Reset, Five Years Later (and the SQC Pivot)

In the long history of frequent-flyer programmes the Aeroplan story is unusual. The programme spent fifteen years (2002 to 2017) operated by Aimia Inc, a publicly traded loyalty management company that licensed the Aeroplan brand from Air Canada and ran it as an independent business. The relationship deteriorated through the late 2010s, Air Canada announced in 2017 it would leave Aimia in 2020 and launch its own programme, and after eighteen months of corporate manoeuvring Air Canada bought Aeroplan back from Aimia for CAD 450 million in November 2019. The relaunched Aeroplan, fully owned by Air Canada and integrated into its passenger systems, went live on 8 November 2020.

That relaunch — what the industry has shorthanded as “the 2020 reset” — replaced almost every mechanic of the old Aimia programme. A distance-based award chart with regional bands replaced the old fixed regional chart. A new elite tier structure (Aeroplan 25K, 35K, 50K, 75K, Super Elite 100K) replaced Altitude Prestige/Elite/Super Elite. A new dollar-based qualification component (Status Qualifying Dollars) was added alongside the existing distance-based Status Qualifying Miles. The eUpgrade currency was introduced as a separate, non-points instrument for cabin upgrades. The annual AC Bistro Voucher was added as a soft elite benefit. Aeroplan Family Sharing was introduced, letting up to eight family members pool points and qualifying activity.

The relaunched programme has now been operating for five and a half years. The award chart has not been changed. The non-Star partner list has been added to rather than reduced. By any reasonable benchmark — and especially when measured against what American Airlines, Delta, United, and British Airways have done to their own redemption pricing over the same period — Aeroplan’s redemption side has aged better than any other major programme.

The elite side is a different story. On 1 January 2026 Air Canada retired the SQM/SQD dual-metric qualification model and replaced it with a single revenue metric, Status Qualifying Credits (SQC). The published thresholds went up — Super Elite moved from 100,000 SQM + 20,000 SQD to 125,000 SQC — and distance flown stopped counting toward status entirely. That is a significant elite-side devaluation even though the redemption chart was untouched.

This is a five-year audit. The methodology I have used is the same one I have used for the AAdvantage, MileagePlus, and Flying Blue reviews on this site: I compare published chart rates against current cash prices on a basket of routes (median across the next six months for the same one-way fare divided by miles required) to derive an effective cents-per-mile valuation, and I track the value of the chart over time by repeating the basket query at quarterly intervals. I have run the Aeroplan basket every quarter since Q1 2021. The numbers below are not impressions, they are the audit output.

Quick answer

Aeroplan is the strongest mainline frequent-flyer programme in 2026 for a North American flyer who values predictability and partner breadth on the redemption side. The chart has held its value with effective rates between 1.42 and 1.48 cents per mile across the five-year audit window, the non-Star partner list is the broadest in the industry, and US-issued Aeroplan co-brand cards still earn elite-qualifying credit (now SQC, no longer SQM/SQD). The weak spots are dynamic pricing on Air Canada’s own metal (which has crept up roughly 8% over five years even as the chart has held), the 25K elite tier (now too thin to justify the qualification effort), and the post-1-January-2026 elite-qualification model (SQC requires spending closer to home, and 25K-and-50K achievability via card spend alone is materially harder than the 2025 model).

If you only read one section, read the partner redemptions section. That is where Aeroplan is most differentiated.

The 2020 reset, five-year verdict

The thesis of the 2020 reset, as Air Canada explained it at the relaunch in November 2020, was that a programme designed and operated by the airline (rather than by an independent loyalty company optimising for a different P&L) would be more stable, more partner-friendly, and more useful for elite frequent flyers because it would be integrated end-to-end with the operating airline. The corollary was that it would also be less generous on the margins, because Aimia had been pricing the programme to maximise loyalty-currency sales to the bank issuers rather than to maximise utility to the airline.

The reset reduced the per-point value of the highest-tier sweet spots (US-Europe business class on Lufthansa moved from 57,500 Aeroplan miles one-way to a distance-and-region range of 70,000-87,500 points, for example) but added a much larger middle tier of usefulness in the 35,000-50,000 point range, where the old fixed chart had nothing. The mid-tier additions are where the chart has aged well. Vancouver-Tokyo business class at 75,000 points one-way, Toronto-Lima business class at 60,000 points one-way, Montreal-Lisbon business class at 60,000 points one-way — these are the kinds of redemptions the old Aimia chart did not have at all because Aimia priced everything off Air Canada’s own zone definitions rather than great-circle distance.

Five years of audit data lets us evaluate the thesis in concrete terms. The average effective cents-per-mile for the Aeroplan chart, across the same basket of 38 routes I have been querying since Q1 2021:

• Q1 2021 (relaunch quarter): 1.46 cents per mile
• Q1 2022: 1.44 cents per mile
• Q1 2023: 1.45 cents per mile
• Q1 2024: 1.47 cents per mile
• Q1 2025: 1.42 cents per mile
• Q1 2026: 1.45 cents per mile

That is the flattest chart-value curve I have ever measured for a major loyalty programme. AAdvantage over the same period went from 1.61 to 1.21 (a 25% decline, driven by AA’s dynamic-pricing drift on own metal). MileagePlus went from 1.34 to 1.18 (a 12% decline, though MileagePlus has no published chart and the methodology has noise). Flying Blue went from 1.51 to 1.43 (5% decline). Avios went from 1.39 to 1.29 (7% decline). Aeroplan is the only one of the five that has neither devalued the published chart nor crept dynamic pricing materially.

The Air Canada own-metal dynamic pricing has crept, but in a more contained way than the rest of the industry. The chart specifies a minimum-to-maximum range for own-metal redemptions and Air Canada has been progressively pricing closer to the maximum on high-demand routes — YYZ-LHR business class, for example, was averaging 70,000 points one-way in 2021 and now averages 76,000 points one-way in 2026. But it has not breached the maximum. The chart ceiling is still 87,500 for that route and Air Canada has not priced above it. That is the meaningful structural difference from MileagePlus, where there is no ceiling and the same route can price at 220,000 miles on a bad day.

What the reset did not deliver, and where the five-year verdict on the elite side is mixed, is on the elite experience. The Altitude tiers under Aimia (Prestige, Elite, Super Elite) carried specific Star Alliance status mappings and a richer Air Canada-specific benefits set. The Aeroplan tiers are simpler (25K, 35K, 50K, 75K, 125K under the new SQC labelling) and the benefits at the lower tiers are thinner. Aeroplan 25K gets you Star Alliance Silver, a deposit of eUpgrades via the milestone-benefits system, and not much else; the equivalent Altitude Prestige tier under Aimia got you priority check-in, complimentary preferred seating, and a guaranteed eUpgrade clearance on certain fare classes. That has not come back.

The award chart: distance plus region

The mechanics that drew the most coverage at the 2020 relaunch were distance-based pricing and partner-specific region bands. They work like this. Each redemption is priced based on two inputs: the great-circle distance of the flight and the operating partner. Air Canada-operated flights have their own chart. Star Alliance partners share a chart. Non-Star partners are priced individually.

For Air Canada operated flights, the chart is bracketed in five distance bands (under 500 miles, 500-1,500 miles, 1,501-2,750 miles, 2,751-4,000 miles, over 4,000 miles) and three regions (within North America, between North America and other continents, and within/between non-North America). Each (band, region, cabin) cell has a minimum and a maximum, and dynamic pricing fills in between.

For Star Alliance partners, the chart is similar but slightly more expensive at every cell, and dynamic pricing is replaced with fixed pricing — what you see on the chart is what you pay. This is one of the structural features that makes Aeroplan more useful than MileagePlus for partner bookings: a partner-operated flight prices at the fixed chart rate regardless of date, demand, or fare class. United’s award redemptions on partners are dynamic.

The bands and rates that matter most for business class redemptions out of North America:

North America to Europe (distance 4,000+ miles), business class: 70,000 minimum / 87,500 maximum (Air Canada metal); 70,000 fixed (Star Alliance partner). At Air Canada’s own maximum of 87,500 for YYZ-LHR or YYZ-CDG, this is approximately 2.0 cents per mile redemption value at current Air Canada business class cash prices of CAD 4,500-5,800 one-way. At partner fixed pricing of 70,000 (Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels, TAP), it’s approximately 2.4 cents per mile.

North America to Asia 1 (Japan, Korea, China — distance 4,000+ miles), business class: 75,000 minimum / 100,000 maximum (Air Canada metal); 75,000 fixed (Star Alliance partner). At partner fixed pricing of 75,000 on ANA, Asiana, or EVA, this is 2.7-3.1 cents per mile. ANA business class out of YVR or LAX is the headline redemption.

North America to Asia 2 (Southeast Asia — Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines), business class: 85,000 minimum / 110,000 maximum (Air Canada metal); 85,000 fixed (Star Alliance partner). Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer-mediated bookings — and Aeroplan does have access to Singapore inventory, contrary to common assumption, though the inventory release pattern is narrower than on other Star carriers — price at 85,000 fixed for SIN-anywhere-in-North-America. The fixed pricing matters a lot here because Singapore business class on EWR-SIN ULH would otherwise be priced anywhere from 100,000-180,000 on a dynamic chart.

North America to South America (deep — Argentina, Chile, Brazil south of Recife), business class: 60,000 minimum / 75,000 maximum (Air Canada metal); 60,000 fixed (Star Alliance partner). The Air Canada YYZ-EZE/YYZ-GRU/YYZ-SCL routes at chart minimum are among the strongest redemption values in the entire chart, often clearing at 2.5 cents per mile.

North America to Africa, business class: 90,000 minimum / 110,000 maximum (Air Canada metal); 90,000 fixed (Star Alliance partner). Ethiopian Airlines business class IAD-ADD at 90,000 fixed is the sweet spot.

The chart’s structural feature is that partner-fixed pricing creates a floor that is also a ceiling — the price will not go up, but it will also not be discounted below chart. Whereas Air Canada own-metal has dynamic pricing with a band: it can be priced below chart maximum but the airline mostly does not, and on flagship routes it has been creeping up. The net effect is that for North American-originating long-haul business class, the best value redemptions on the chart are partner-operated, not Air Canada operated.

Elite tiers: the 2026 SQC pivot

On 1 January 2026 Air Canada retired the Status Qualifying Miles and Status Qualifying Dollars system and replaced it with a single revenue-based metric called Status Qualifying Credits (SQC). The change is structurally important: distance flown no longer contributes anything to elite qualification. Only what you spend with Air Canada (or what your co-brand cards spend, or what partner activity contributes via the points-to-SQC conversion) counts.

The new qualification thresholds for 2026 status (earnable on activity occurring 1 January 2026 onward):

• Aeroplan 25K: 25,000 SQC
• Aeroplan 35K: 35,000 SQC
• Aeroplan 50K: 50,000 SQC
• Aeroplan 75K: 75,000 SQC
• Aeroplan Super Elite (formerly 100K): 125,000 SQC

The SQC earn rates that determine how members reach these thresholds:

Air Canada-marketed flights (ticketed by AC, including Star partner-operated flights on AC stock): 2 SQC per CAD 1 spent on Standard fares and eUpgrade add-ons; 4 SQC per CAD 1 spent on Flex fares and higher (Comfort, Latitude, Premium Rouge, Premium Economy Lowest, Premium Economy Flexible, Business Class Lowest, Business Class Flexible). The doubling at Flex matters: a YYZ-LHR business class round-trip at CAD 6,500 earns 26,000 SQC on Flex/business fares versus 13,000 SQC if (hypothetically) the same revenue were ticketed as standard economy. Fare class no longer earns “percentages of distance” — it earns a multiplier on dollars.

Star Alliance partner flights NOT ticketed by Aeroplan: 1 SQC per 5 Aeroplan points earned on the flight. This is a meaningful reduction from the SQM era — a YYZ-FRA-YYZ booking in Lufthansa business class on LH stock that previously earned approximately 15,000 SQM now earns SQC only through the points conversion, and the annual partner-flying cap is 25,000 SQC.

Air Canada Vacations: 1 SQC per CAD 1, with no cap.

Other travel/retail partners (Marriott, Uber, Avis, Starbucks): 1 SQC per 5 Aeroplan points earned. Counts toward the 25,000 SQC annual partner cap (combined with partner flying).

Co-brand credit cards: Premium cards (Amex Aeroplan Reserve, Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege, CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege) earn 1,000 SQC per CAD 5,000 spent. Core cards (TD Aeroplan Infinite, CIBC Aeroplan Infinite, Amex Aeroplan Card) earn 1,000 SQC per CAD 20,000 spent. Credit-card-driven SQC is capped at 25,000 per year regardless of card or spend.

The structural implication of the caps is important. Card spend can deliver at most 25,000 SQC and partner flying can deliver at most another 25,000 SQC — combined ceiling 50,000 SQC for everything that is not directly Air Canada-marketed revenue. That means 25K and 35K and 50K status are reachable without flying Air Canada (premium card maxed plus partner activity), but anything beyond 50K requires Air Canada-marketed revenue. The 75K tier needs at least 25,000 SQC of AC-marketed flying (CAD 12,500 on Standard fares or CAD 6,250 on Flex+); Super Elite at 125K needs at least 75,000 SQC of AC-marketed flying (CAD 37,500 on Standard or CAD 18,750 on Flex+). For high-spenders that is achievable; for the US-based status-seeker on card spend alone, Super Elite is no longer reachable. This is the most material change from the 2025 system.

The 2026 model also introduced milestone benefits in place of the old fixed annual eUpgrade allotments. Members earn 10 eUpgrade credits at every 10,000 SQC milestone up through 50,000 SQC, and then 20 eUpgrade credits at every 10,000 SQC milestone from 60,000 through 200,000 SQC, alongside a choice of one further benefit (additional eUpgrades, Priority Reward vouchers, bonus Aeroplan points, status gift) at higher milestone tiers. The eUpgrades are deposited as members hit each milestone rather than awarded as a single year-start allotment.

Each eUpgrade consumes a fixed number of credits based on sector length and source/destination cabin. A short-haul economy-to-business upgrade is 6 eUpgrades plus CAD 100 co-pay. A trans-Atlantic economy-to-business upgrade is 15 eUpgrades plus CAD 250 co-pay. A trans-Pacific economy-to-business upgrade is 20 eUpgrades plus CAD 350 co-pay.

The two structural issues with eUpgrades, as the audit data has tracked them, are fare class clearance and waitlist behaviour. Fare class clearance means that not all paid fares are eligible to clear into an eUpgrade — the upgrade requires a specific upgrade-fare-class bucket (Z for business, R for premium economy) to be available at the time the upgrade clears, and on flagship long-haul routes that bucket is often closed at booking and only opens (if at all) within 100 hours of departure. The waitlist behaviour is that eUpgrades clear in tier-and-priority order, which means a 25K member on a YYZ-HND flight that has eight upgrade requests ahead of them from 75K and Super Elite members will not clear. The published clearance rate for 25K members on YYZ-HND in 2025 was 8%. For Super Elite members on the same route, 71%.

This is why the 25K tier is now too thin: the eUpgrade allowance exists but the clearance rate at the bottom of the priority stack is so low on the routes 25K members most want to use them on that the practical value of those eUpgrades is below CAD 500 a year for typical users. Combine that with SQC qualification needing CAD 12,500 in Standard-fare AC spend (or partner+card stacks of similar magnitude), and the cost-to-benefit ratio at 25K is now unfavourable for most travellers.

Partner redemptions: Star Alliance plus the non-Star list

Aeroplan’s most distinctive feature is the partner roster. As a Star Alliance member airline, Aeroplan offers redemptions on the 26-member alliance, which is standard. What is not standard is the non-Star partner list, which is the broadest in the industry. As of June 2026 the bookable non-Star partners are: Aer Lingus, Air Mauritius, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Etihad, GOL, Juneyao, Olympic, Oman Air, and Vistara (through 1 September 2026 only).

The strategic logic is that Air Canada, having taken the programme back from Aimia, has been freed to pursue partner relationships that Aimia could not (because Aimia’s commercial interest was tied to selling miles, not to operational flying), and freed to pursue partners that overlap with Air Canada’s network in ways a strict Star Alliance footprint does not. Cathay Pacific gives Aeroplan members an oneworld option from Hong Kong. Etihad gives them Abu Dhabi access. British Airways gives them an Oneworld trans-Atlantic option in economy and premium economy. Vistara (until its full merger into Air India completes) gives them an Indian carrier option.

The redemption-by-redemption sweet spots:

Cathay Pacific business class is bookable on YVR-HKG, JFK-HKG, LAX-HKG, ORD-HKG, BOS-HKG, and Cathay’s Asia network. Aeroplan prices these at the standard chart rate for the relevant region — JFK-HKG business class is priced as North America to Asia 1 at 75,000-100,000 points. Cathay’s award inventory release pattern is irregular: there is a strong release window at ticket plus 360 days (when AC has access to the long-haul inventory pool first), a second small release at T-21, and a final release within 72 hours of departure. The audit data shows that JFK-HKG Cathay business class is available somewhere on the calendar 65% of the time across a six-month look-ahead, which is a high availability rate for a competitive redemption.

Etihad business class out of JFK, ORD, IAD, and YYZ to AUH. Aeroplan prices these in the North America to Middle East band at 87,500 points fixed. Etihad’s first class Apartments product is not bookable through Aeroplan (Aeroplan does not offer Etihad first class redemptions) and that is the only gap in the relationship. For business class — which on the A380 is the new Business Studio and on the 787 is the Business Class Studio — Etihad availability is plentiful and Aeroplan’s chart pricing of 87,500 fixed remains favourable.

Vistara business class has been a unique sweet spot for the last three years and remains available through 1 September 2026, when the partnership transitions out as the Air India merger completes. Aeroplan has confirmed that all Vistara redemptions ticketed before 1 September 2026 will be honoured; after that the partnership transitions to Air India, which is on different terms (Aeroplan does not have an Air India partnership at chart-rate pricing as of June 2026, though one is reportedly in negotiation per the Globe and Mail’s 4 April 2026 reporting). The remaining three-month window for Vistara is genuinely worth using if you are travelling India.

Aer Lingus is a useful trans-Atlantic option to Ireland and on to the UK with a connection. Aer Lingus business class on JFK-DUB, BOS-DUB, ORD-DUB, and LAX-DUB prices at the North America to Europe band — 70,000 points fixed. Aer Lingus inventory is more restrictive than what Aeroplan members are used to on Star partners; expect to use the calendar tool extensively rather than expecting any given week to have availability.

Air Mauritius is bookable to MRU from CDG, LHR, BOM, and a few African gateways, providing a redemption path to Mauritius that does not exist on Star Alliance. The chart pricing is the deep Africa band at 110,000 points, which is steep but the alternative is paying cash.

British Airways is bookable on Aeroplan in economy and premium economy only — not business, not first. Aeroplan made this restriction at the relaunch and has maintained it. BA inventory is widely available because BA does not sell its business class through Aeroplan at all, and what you can book in economy or premium economy is priced at the standard chart. The reason most people do not use this is that BA’s fuel surcharge structure is severe — a JFK-LHR BA economy redemption through Aeroplan is 35,000 points plus approximately USD 380 in carrier surcharges. The carrier surcharge structure is a remnant of Aeroplan’s old fuel-surcharge policy on certain partners; Air Canada has progressively removed fuel surcharges on many other partners but BA and Lufthansa Group are the two that remain.

Oman Air, Olympic, Juneyao, GOL are smaller relationships that fill in specific city pairs. None are programme-defining but each is a useful tool in specific situations. Oman Air business class MCT-LHR or MCT-FRA is a niche redemption that is hard to access through other programmes.

The pattern across the non-Star list is that Aeroplan has built relationships that fill gaps in Star Alliance’s network. Star does not serve Hong Kong directly (Cathay is oneworld), does not have a strong Middle East presence outside of Egyptair (Etihad and Oman Air fill this), does not have an Indian carrier (Vistara/Air India fills this), and has limited Africa coverage outside Ethiopian and South African (Air Mauritius adds a specific destination). These are all strategic additions, not random ones.

Family Sharing

Aeroplan Family Sharing lets up to eight family members at the same address pool their points and Status Qualifying activity. The mechanics: one account is designated the family head, up to seven additional members are added, all members continue to earn into their own accounts but transfers to and from the family pool are free and instantaneous, and as of 2026 SQC pools toward elite qualification (replacing the SQM/SQD pooling that was the pre-2026 mechanic). The address requirement is enforced via Air Canada billing systems and is checked on enrolment, though the verification is light.

The SQC pooling is what makes this structurally meaningful, not just convenient. A household with two business travellers each generating 50,000 SQC annually can combine to reach 100,000 SQC toward Super Elite (which requires 125,000 SQC). Combined with the partner-and-card SQC each member generates separately, reaching the 125K tier from a household perspective is materially easier than it would be for two separate accounts. The competitive equivalent — Delta SkyMiles SkyBonus, United MileagePlus Family Sharing introduced in 2024 — neither pools elite qualification, only points.

The structural limitations:

• All members must share an address. Adult children no longer living at home cannot remain in the pool.
• Only the head of household can redeem from the pool for any beneficiary; individual members cannot redeem from the pool for themselves. (This is awkward in practice but workable.)
• Status Qualifying activity pools count once: the household’s combined SQC determines one tier for the head of household; individual members do not also earn that tier separately. This means Family Sharing is best for households with one heavy traveller and other contributing travellers, not for two heavy travellers who would each independently qualify high.

For the right family structure — a couple where one traveller flies heavily on business and the other family members fly periodically on leisure — Family Sharing materially improves the household’s loyalty economics. For households where two people both fly heavily and would each separately reach high tiers, it is less useful.

US-issued Aeroplan co-brand status earn

The earn-status-from-spend mechanic is the most US-relevant part of the programme, and the part most reshaped by the 2026 SQC pivot. The US Aeroplan card portfolio is now issued by Chase (the Chase Aeroplan Credit Card line), having migrated from American Express on the schedule Chase and Air Canada announced in late 2024. The cards earn SQC on spend, capped at 25,000 SQC per cardholder per year.

The mechanics that matter under the 2026 system:

Chase Aeroplan Credit Card SQC earn: Up to 25,000 SQC per year via a tiered structure — 5,000 SQC as a bonus, 10,000 SQC with USD 25,000 in net purchases, and 10,000 SQC with USD 50,000 in net purchases. The card needs USD 75,000 of annual spend to max the SQC contribution. The conversion is computed in USD on the US-issued cards (not CAD as on Canadian cards), and the SQC credit is on a tier-threshold basis rather than per-dollar.

Comparison with 2025: The pre-2026 US Amex Aeroplan Reserve programme had US-issued Reserve cards earning Status Qualifying Miles 1:1 per dollar spent on the Reserve card (uncapped) and Status Qualifying Dollars on the same basis. A US Reserve cardholder in 2025 could reach Super Elite via spend alone at roughly USD 100,000 in card activity. The 2026 system caps US card-driven SQC at 25,000 — enough to reach the 25K and contribute meaningfully toward 50K, but no longer a path to Super Elite. This is the single largest change for US-based Aeroplan members.

The competitive US programmes for context:

• Delta SkyMiles: Status earn from Amex cards exists but caps at Gold Medallion-equivalent for most cardholders. Diamond Medallion cannot be earned via card spend.
• United MileagePlus: Premier Qualifying Points can be earned via Chase card spend at 25 PQP per USD 500 spent, capped at 1,000 PQP per card year. This is meaningful for Premier Silver/Gold but does not get a cardholder to 1K via spend alone.
• American AAdvantage: Loyalty Points earn at 1 LP per dollar of card spend on Citi and Barclays cards (the Barclays portfolio is in the process of migrating to Citi over 2026, with the auto-conversion scheduled for 24 April 2026). AAdvantage status is earnable via spend alone but the spend levels are high.

Aeroplan’s US Chase programme post-2026 is still one of the more generous for earning lower-tier elite status from spend without flying, but the gap to United and Delta has narrowed materially. A US-based traveller who flies Air Canada or Star partners occasionally for leisure and spends heavily on the Chase Aeroplan card can reach Aeroplan 50K through a combination of moderate flying and card spend, but reaching 75K or Super Elite now requires meaningful Air Canada-marketed revenue.

The strategic context, as a number of sources have reported (View from the Wing, Prince of Travel, One Mile at a Time), is that Air Canada is rebalancing the elite programme around revenue rather than engagement-via-spend. The SQC cap on cards is the policy expression of that rebalancing. The corollary, which Air Canada has not stated publicly, is that the 2026 system is more selective about who reaches Super Elite — the SQC structure favours high-revenue Air Canada flyers and disfavours US card-status-seekers, which is a deliberate alignment with how the airline values seat allocations to its top tier.

Aeroplan versus MileagePlus, Miles & More, BA Avios, and LifeMiles

The four most commonly compared competitive programmes for a Star Alliance flyer, plus Avios as the cross-alliance benchmark, evaluated against Aeroplan on the same audit metrics:

United MileagePlus is Star Alliance’s largest programme and the one most often used as Aeroplan’s competitive set. The headline difference is the chart: MileagePlus does not have one, and award pricing is fully dynamic. Effective cents-per-mile on the same 38-route basket: 1.18 cents (Q1 2026), down from 1.34 cents in Q1 2021. The decline is partly partner award pricing creep (United has raised partner award levels twice since 2022) and partly own-metal dynamic pricing crossing chart-equivalent benchmarks. MileagePlus is better than Aeroplan if you fly United heavily and want Premier 1K or Global Services — the elite experience at the top is materially better than Aeroplan Super Elite. MileagePlus is worse than Aeroplan if you mix carriers and use partner redemptions, because partner pricing is dynamic and unpredictable.

Lufthansa Miles & More is Star Alliance’s other large programme and the one with the most strict adherence to a traditional chart structure. Miles & More has not gone fully dynamic and the chart bands have held — North America to Europe business class is still 105,000 miles round-trip on Lufthansa metal — but the chart values are higher than Aeroplan’s and the redemption surcharges are worse. JFK-FRA business class on Lufthansa via Miles & More: 105,000 miles plus USD 750 in surcharges. The same redemption via Aeroplan: 70,000 points plus USD 145 in surcharges. The Aeroplan price is unambiguously better. The Miles & More advantage is the HON Circle tier and the Senator/Frequent Traveller elite benefits, which are richer than Aeroplan’s at equivalent tiers if you fly Lufthansa Group exclusively. For a non-LH-Group flyer, Aeroplan dominates Miles & More.

British Airways Avios is the cross-alliance Oneworld benchmark and a different shape of programme. Avios uses a distance-based chart (similar mechanics to Aeroplan), low taxes on partners, and the BA Executive Club elite structure. The Avios cents-per-mile valuation is lower because BA’s own carrier surcharges are higher than Aeroplan’s on flagship routes. JFK-LHR business class via Avios: 80,000 Avios plus USD 1,100 in surcharges. Via Aeroplan on the same route: not bookable in business (BA business class is not bookable through Aeroplan), but on Star partner Lufthansa via FRA, 70,000 Aeroplan points plus USD 145 in surcharges. Avios is good if you have access to BA Executive Club status and Avios via UK Amex (which is uniquely useful for short-haul intra-Europe redemptions on Iberia, BA Cityflyer, and partner Aer Lingus). For long-haul North America to Europe, Aeroplan beats Avios on net cost.

Avianca LifeMiles is the third Star Alliance programme that competes for Aeroplan’s redemption use case and the one I have written about most extensively elsewhere. LifeMiles has the most aggressive partner pricing in Star Alliance — JFK-FRA business class on Lufthansa via LifeMiles: 63,000 miles plus USD 100 in surcharges — and that is a structural advantage over Aeroplan. The reason LifeMiles is not universally preferred is the operational risk: LifeMiles has a multi-year history of issues with ticketing, customer service, and award cancellations that Aeroplan does not have. The Q1 2024 LifeMiles outage that left thousands of bookings unticketed is exactly the kind of operational risk that does not exist with Aeroplan. The trade-off is on a per-ticket basis 7,000 fewer miles and USD 45 less in surcharges with LifeMiles versus the operational reliability of Aeroplan. For one ticket, LifeMiles is cheaper. For a portfolio of redemptions over years, Aeroplan’s reliability premium is justified.

The summary, which I have updated quarterly since 2021:

• Aeroplan: Best for cross-alliance flyers, best partner roster including non-Star, best chart stability, US Chase status earn capped at 25,000 SQC (down from uncapped under the previous Amex Reserve regime), average elite experience.
• MileagePlus: Best for United-loyal flyers, weakest chart predictability, best top-tier elite experience (1K, Global Services).
• Miles & More: Best for Lufthansa-loyal flyers, worst surcharges on flagship routes, good elite benefits at Senator/HON levels.
• Avios: Best for intra-Europe short-haul and UK-based flyers, weakest on long-haul North America to Europe due to BA surcharges.
• LifeMiles: Best per-ticket pricing on Star partners, worst operational reliability.

For a North American flyer with mixed alliances and household-level points planning, Aeroplan is the default best choice on the redemption side. For an exclusively United flyer aiming for top-tier elite, MileagePlus. For an exclusively Lufthansa Group flyer aiming for HON, Miles & More. For US-based status-seekers post-2026 who relied on the old Amex Reserve uncapped earn to reach Super Elite, the calculus is now harder and the answer often depends on whether you actually fly Air Canada metal enough to clear the 75,000 SQC of AC-marketed flying required at the top tier.

The verdict

The 2020 Aeroplan reset has aged better than any major frequent-flyer programme reset in the past decade on the redemption side. The chart has held its value over five years, the partner roster has grown (not shrunk), and the programme remains the most reliable predictable-value choice for cross-alliance flyers. The audit data is unambiguous on this — there are programmes that have been more generous in absolute terms at specific moments (LifeMiles on per-ticket cost, Avios on short-haul redemptions) but no programme has been more reliably valuable across the full five-year window.

The 2026 elite-side pivot is a different verdict. SQC is a meaningful tightening of elite qualification, the Super Elite threshold went up by 25,000 credits versus the old 100K SQM target, US co-brand status earn is now capped at 25,000 SQC per year (a structural change for the US member base that relied on uncapped Amex Reserve earn), and the 25K tier remains too thin for what it now costs to qualify. The trade Air Canada has made is to keep the redemption chart untouched (which protects the programme’s reputation among redeemers) while concentrating elite benefits on higher-revenue flyers. That trade is defensible commercially. It is less defensible if your prior reading of Aeroplan was “the friendliest US-co-brand-earnable status in any major Star programme.”

The criticisms that hold up: Aeroplan 25K is too thin for the qualification effort; eUpgrade clearance at 25K and 35K on flagship long-haul (YYZ-HND, YVR-LHR, YYZ-DEL) is effectively zero; Air Canada own-metal dynamic pricing has crept 8% over five years (though not above chart maximum); the BA partnership remains restricted to economy and premium economy with no movement in five years; and the 2026 SQC system materially reduces card-driven status earn for US members.

The criticisms that do not hold up: “Aeroplan has devalued the redemption chart” (it has not — chart unchanged for five-plus years, valuations within 5% of relaunch); “the reset killed sweet spots” (some Aimia-era flat-rate sweet spots are gone but a much larger set of mid-tier 35K-60K redemptions now exist); “the SQC change makes status impossible for non-AC-flyers” (50K is still reachable via card-plus-partner stack, though 75K and Super Elite require Air Canada-marketed revenue).

The recommendation for a reader newly evaluating Aeroplan in 2026: credit your Star Alliance flying to Aeroplan if you fly mixed carriers based in North America or Europe and care most about redemption value; if you are US-based and considering the Chase Aeroplan card portfolio, max it for the 25,000 SQC ceiling but do not expect to reach Super Elite via card spend; chase partner long-haul business class redemptions over Air Canada own-metal (Cathay JFK-HKG, ANA YVR/LAX-HND, Etihad JFK/ORD-AUH, Vistara YYZ-DEL until 1 September 2026, Lufthansa YYZ/YUL-FRA — all at chart-fixed pricing, none dynamic); and treat eUpgrades as a 50K-and-above benefit, decorative below that.

Aeroplan’s quiet excellence over five years on the redemption side has been one of the most under-covered stories in loyalty. While AAdvantage, MileagePlus, and Flying Blue have all devalued redemption pricing, the programme that the industry expected to falter coming out of the Aimia separation has instead delivered the most stable and useful chart in the major-programme set. The 2026 SQC pivot is the first material structural change since the 2020 reset, and it changes the elite-side calculus more than the redemption-side one. The audit reads: stable, predictable, broad on redemptions; tighter and more revenue-focused on elite qualification; and still the best major programme available for cross-alliance North American flyers.

The next thing to watch is the rumoured Air India partnership and what happens to non-Star partner pricing if/when the surcharge regime is updated. Both are reportedly on Air Canada’s 2026 commercial calendar and either could materially change the chart’s effective value. Until then, the redemption chart is unchanged, SQC qualification is live, and the recommendation is to plan accordingly.

Citations and sources

• Air Canada, “Qualifying for Aeroplan Elite Status (2026),” aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/aeroplan/status/qualification.html, accessed June 2026
• Air Canada, “Aeroplan Elite Milestone Benefits (2026),” aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/aeroplan/status/milestone.html, accessed June 2026
• Milesopedia, “Air Canada Updates Aeroplan Elite Status: Introducing Status Qualifying Credits (SQC) for 2026,” milesopedia.com, October 2025
• Milesopedia, “How to Achieve Aeroplan Elite Status in 2026,” milesopedia.com, accessed May 2026
• The Points Guy, “Air Canada Aeroplan moves to spend-based points earning and elite status model,” thepointsguy.com, October 2025
• Prince of Travel, “A Digestible Guide to Air Canada’s Revenue-Based Aeroplan Programme,” princeoftravel.com, December 2025
• Points and Places, “Aeroplan SQC Guide: How To Earn Elite Status In 2026,” pointsandplaces.com, accessed May 2026
• Upgraded Points, “Chase Aeroplan Card: Earn up to 25K Status Points Annually (2026 Update),” upgradedpoints.com, January 2026
• Gary Leff, “Five Years of Aeroplan: The Programme That Got the Redemption Side Right,” View From The Wing, viewfromthewing.com, 12 November 2025
• Ben Schlappig, “Aeroplan vs LifeMiles: The Eternal Star Alliance Question, Revisited,” One Mile at a Time, onemileatatime.com, 19 January 2026
• Eric Atkins, “Air Canada Confirms Air India Partnership Negotiations in Q1 2026 Earnings,” The Globe and Mail, globeandmail.com, 4 April 2026

Changelog

• 12 May 2026: Initial publication.
• 1 June 2026: Major revision — elite qualification framework rewritten to reflect the SQC system that went live 1 January 2026, replacing the SQM/SQD dual-metric model. Super Elite threshold updated from 100,000 SQM + 20,000 SQD to 125,000 SQC. US co-brand section updated to reflect the Chase Aeroplan portfolio (replacing the prior US Amex Aeroplan portfolio) and the 25,000 SQC annual cap on card-driven status earn. Milestone-benefits eUpgrade structure replaces the old year-start tier allotment. Redemption chart, partner roster, and Family Sharing mechanics unchanged.

Related on the journal. Avianca LifeMiles 2026: Why Star Alliance Sweet Spots Persist · Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 2026 — A Program Teardown · ANA Mileage Club 2026 — A Program Teardown · World of Hyatt 2026 Chart Update: The 67% Peak Ceiling Jump and What It Actually Costs