Table of Contents
Points Miles and Bling (blog) contains referral or affiliate links. The blog receives a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your continued support. Credit Card issuers are not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details, current product information, and Terms and Conditions, click the link included.
Being able to share your elite benefits with your travel companions is one of travel’s joys, as far as I’m concerned. Not only does it amount to significant cost savings, but seeing someone marvel at entering a lounge also makes me smile, even after the novelty has worn off for me. Given that many in the PMB audience have Aeroplan status, let’s consider which benefits we can share with friends and family.
When Travelling Together
Put everyone on the same reservation, and elite status can unlock a surprising number of perks for the entire entourage:
- Priority check-in
- Priority and complimentary seat selection
- Priority baggage handling
- Complimentary checked bags (even if the benefit technically only applies to the elite member, just check everyone’s bags under their name)
- Priority security clearance
- Priority boarding
Did Delta think Anshul was travelling with his mom?! 😉
Lounge access is less strict: elite members eligible to bring guests can do so regardless of whether the guests are on the same reservation.
Loyalty programs that allow complimentary upgrades will apply them to the elite member and one travel companion, which is a pretty sweet perk.
Your travel companion receives the same upgrade priority as you. If there are more than two people on the reservation, you can call the airline to split the passenger name record (PNR) to determine who qualifies for the complimentary upgrade list.
Sharing Air Canada E-Upgrades
While Air Canada does not offer complimentary upgrades, they do offer eUpgrades, which are effectively upgrade credits. It costs a different amount to upgrade to the next cabin depending on what fare class you booked, which region you’re flying to, and the total distance travelled.
Within the scope of this article, we’ll focus specifically on how Aeroplan Elite members can share these benefits with companions.
If you’re on the same reservation travelling together, Elite members can share their eUpgrade credit with up to four other people. Requests can be made online, just as when travelling alone.
Aeroplan Elite members can also share their eUpgrades with up to four more people at the airport check-in desk, regardless of whether they are on the same reservation. This only works on the day of travel, and is a very handy trick to keep in the back pocket. For this, you do need to be travelling on the same flight.
May the odds be ever in your favour
If the reservation has more than five people (the Elite member + 4 others), you’ll need to split the PNR in order to apply eUpgrades online.
All eUpgrades on the same reservation will clear with the same priority as the Elite member, so having a Super Elite travel companion is a good thing. 🙂 eUpgrades, when the companion is travelling on a separate reservation, will be processed according to the traveller’s status.
Super Elite eUpgrade Nominee
Top-tier Aeroplan Super Elite members can have one eUpgrade Nominee with the benefit of the Nominee being able to use their eUpgrades when travelling without the Elite member. Nominees can use eUpgrades for themselves but not for anyone else, even if on the same booking.
All eUpgrade requests from a Super Elite Nominee will clear with the same priority as Super Elite.
As a very meaningful perk, a Nominee may only be appointed once per year and cannot be changed until the next qualifying year.
Sharing Milestone Benefits
On the way to becoming an Aeroplan Elite member, you earn Milestone Benefits for every 10,000 SQC collected. At each qualification threshold, you’ll have a choice among various benefits, including but not limited to Priority Rewards, Maple Leaf Lounge guest passes, eUpgrades, status passes, bonus SQC, and even a banked year of Super Elite at higher thresholds.
You’ll also get automatic eUpgrades at the 10k, 30k, and 50k thresholds. At 20k, 40k, and 60k, additional eUpgrades are available if you choose this benefit. Starting at 70k (and every 20k thereafter), you get both eUpgrades and a choice, and starting at 80k (and every 20k thereafter), you get a choice (but not automatic eUps).
The more SQC you earn, the more meaningful the benefits become, so you can only choose a banked year of Super Elite upon reaching 200,000 SQC. In any case, a meaningful number of benefits can be shared with friends and family.
Priority Rewards
Priority Rewards are among the most powerful tools Aeroplan offers and should be the most popular Milestone Benefit (unless you need more SQC to qualify for the next tier).
Each Priority Reward allows you to get a 50% points discount on your Aeroplan redemption, with distinctions based on your status:
- 25K Elite members can use it for economy flights within Canada and the U.S.
- 35K and 50K Elite members can use it for economy and premium economy flights within Canada and the U.S.
- 75K Elite members can use it for economy and premium economy flights worldwide
- Super Elite members can use it for economy, premium economy, and business class flights worldwide
The tier of Priority Reward is based on your status at the time of Milestone Benefit selection. If you’ll climb up the status ladder, hold off on making your selection until you’ve reached your highest status for the year, as that will also extend the expiry rate. The 50% discount applies to any redemption, whether on Air Canada or on partner airlines.
When it comes to sharing Priority Rewards, you can make redemptions for anyone as long as the points come out of your Aeroplan account. You also don’t need to be travelling with the passenger to apply the Priority Reward. If you have multiple, you can apply them all at once to multiple passengers on the same reservation.
An advanced maneuver is to apply your Priority Rewards to an Economy Latitude fare and then apply your eUpgrades to clear into business class.
Maximize your North America Priority Reward by booking flights to Hawaii
Maple Leaf Lounge Passes
Maple Leaf Lounge guest passes are basically designed to be shared with others, since the Elite member likely already has access based on their status. No need to travel together, and feel free to gift it to anyone you know.
Status Passes
A Status Pass allows up to eight passengers on the same reservation to receive a fixed set of benefits similar to those offered with Elite status:
- Priority airport check-in
- Priority security clearance
- Priority baggage handling
- Priority boarding
- 3 complimentary checked bags (up to 32kg each)
- Maple Leaf Lounge & Air Canada Café access
Like Maple Leaf Lounge Passes, Status Passes are designed to be gifted to your friends and family when you’re not travelling together. It’s best to maximize it for a round-trip or multi-city booking with as many people as possible, since one Status Pass applies to one reservation.
Super Elites get 2 Status Passes as a Core Benefit
Personally, I really appreciated a Status Pass from a friend when my partner was moving cities (even though it was a one-way flight) since being able to check three bags per person, each weighing up to 32kg, was a game-changer.
Status Gift
When reaching 70,000 SQC or higher, Elite members can gift 25K, 35K, 50K, or 75K, with higher SQC tiers offering a higher-status gift. The status gift will apply for the rest of the calendar year and the full year after.
This is the best way to share your Elite status with your loved ones, since they’ll have access to the full set of status benefits of that Elite tier when travelling with or without you. 50K is a very meaningful status tier, as it offers alliance-wide benefits like Star Alliance Gold. 25K is a great gift for a frequent traveller, since some status is much better than no status during irregular operations or when calling Aeroplan.
35K and 75K are a harder sell, as you can simply gift 25K at a lower SQC threshold, and you can choose a banked year of Super Elite at the same threshold as gifting 75K.
Takeaway
Aeroplan Elite status becomes much more valuable when you start sharing the benefits with friends and family. Whether it’s priority services, complimentary checked bags, lounge access, eUpgrades, or even full-on Status Passes, there are a surprising number of ways to extend Elite perks beyond just yourself.
The strongest benefits are arguably Priority Rewards and Status Passes, since they can be used even when you are not travelling together. Meanwhile, perks like eUpgrades and complimentary airport benefits make travelling with an Elite member noticeably smoother for everyone on the reservation. Ultimately, sharing these benefits is one of the most rewarding parts of having airline status in the first place.
