Chase's refreshed Air Canada Aeroplan Credit Card has taken some flak from points bloggers for its higher $195 fee and watered-down earning rates. But there's a case for it that has nothing to do with making it your everyday card: two perks alone can repay the fee several times over, and one of them has nothing to do with flying at all.
The first is a 15% discount on the points needed for eligible one-way awards. Here's the clever bit: you only need one Air Canada-operated flight on the one-way itinerary for the whole award to qualify. So a short Air Canada hop tacked onto a long partner flight in business class can knock 15% off the entire points price. Itineraries flown entirely on partners don't count, and an Air Canada segment on your outbound doesn't help the return. Crucially, the points themselves don't have to come from the card — transfer from another bank program, use an existing Aeroplan balance, and the discount still applies. Reportedly even members of Aeroplan family pools are seeing the discount without holding a card themselves.
The maths is easy to like. Four eligible awards at 80,000 points each would normally cost 320,000 points; with the discount it's 272,000 — a saving worth roughly $720 at a typical 1.5 cents per point valuation. Two $50 Air Canada statement credits each year (one per half-year) can offset another $100 of the fee if they replace purchases you'd make anyway, such as award taxes.
The second perk is the sleeper hit: automatic Aeroplan 25K status with no spending requirement — and 25K status is the entry ticket to Hyatt's Globalist status challenge. Instead of the usual 60 qualifying nights in a calendar year, you can earn World of Hyatt's top tier with just 20 qualifying nights inside 90 days. You need to register by December 31, 2026, and the 90-day clock starts at registration, so time it around stays you can genuinely complete. Watch the fine print: credit card elite night credits and promotional night bonuses don't count, and challenge-earned Globalist skips the Milestone Rewards you'd get from 60 earned nights, like the Category 1–7 free night certificate. A 2026 registration earns Globalist valid through February 2028.
The card still makes sense as a way to earn Aeroplan status itself. Holding it gives 5,000 Status Qualifying Credits, rising to 15,000 at $25,000 of annual spend and 25,000 at $50,000. Cross the 20,000-milestone and you can pick a Priority Reward — 50% off an eligible award. At higher status tiers those vouchers unlock half-price international business class awards, and the 15% card discount stacks on top: a 100,000-point award could drop to 42,500 points, a 57.5% reduction.
Who's this for? Anyone sitting on transferable points who books Aeroplan awards, and Hyatt fans willing to plan a focused 20-night run. It's a benefits card, not a spender's card — new applicants still get 3x on groceries and dining through the end of 2026, but that advantage expires. The 75,000-point welcome bonus after $4,000 in three months, plus 40,000 more at $20,000 in a year, sweetens the entry.