Aeroplan Credit Cards Are Changing: Higher Fees, New Benefits

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It’s been six years since Aeroplan launched its current suite of credit cards, so it’s perhaps no surprise we’re seeing a refresh this year. Specifically, all changes will be made on January 12, 2027.

The timing is no coincidence, as we also saw Aeroplan refresh its Chase Aeroplan Card just weeks ago. Let’s not bury the lede: the annual fees are going up but offset with Air Canada (AC) credits, and there are new benefits that come along with that. Furthermore, Amex has taken a very different approach from TD.

CIBC has confirmed changes are coming, but no further details at this time.

At a Glance: Changes Kick in January 12, 2027

• All Premium cards: Up to $100 a year ($50 twice a year) Air Canada wallet credit
• All Premium cards: Worldwide Maple Leaf Lounge access (not just North America)
• All Premium cards: Priority security clearance at select airports worldwide
• Amex Aeroplan Reserve: $200 dining credit at eligible participating Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants
• Amex Aeroplan Reserve: Earn a bonus 10% Aeroplan points upon spending $125,000 annually + earn 10% bonus points for every $25,000 spent, up to $400,000 a year
• Amex Aeroplan Reserve: 6 Priority Pass lounge passes + 8 Amex Aspire Canada lounge passes a year
• Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve: 6 Priority Pass lounge passes + 8 Amex Aspire Canada lounge passes a year
• Core and business cards: Up to $50 ($25 twice a year) Air Canada wallet credit
• All cards: 4th day free on car rentals when redeeming Aeroplan points
• All cards: 15% savings on flight rewards is now a permanent benefit
• All cards: 4th day free on hotel redemptions is now a permanent benefit

Credit Card Fee Structure Changes:

The new benefits begin January 12, 2027, but annual-fee timing varies by issuer. Amex fee increases will apply on the first annual-fee billing date after January 12, while TD lists January 25, 2027.

Premium cards:

• TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card
  • Annual fee increase of $100, from $599 to $699
• American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card
  • Annual fee increase of $200, from $599 to $799

Core cards:

• TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
  • Annual fee increase of $20, from $139 to $159
• American Express Aeroplan Card
  • Annual fee increase of $30, from $120 to $150

Business cards:

• American Express Aeroplan Business Reserve
  • Annual fee increase of $200; from $599 to $799
• TD Aeroplan Visa Business Card
  • Annual fee increase of $20, from $149 to $169

Entry-level cards:

• TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum Card
  • No change – $89

An In-Depth Look at All Changes

Air Canada Wallet Credits

The main point to clarify in these changes is the Air Canada wallet credits. Broadly speaking, annual fees are going up, and these AC wallet credits are the main offering to offset those changes. The premium Aeroplan co-branded cards get a $50 AC wallet credit twice a year, for up to $100 a year total, with 6 months of validity. The core Aeroplan co-branded cards get a $25 AC wallet credit twice a year, for up to $50 a year, with the same 6-month validity.

Air Canada distributes these credits directly to your Air Canada wallet on January 15 and July 15 each year.

The 6-month validity is the key detail, so you can’t stack wallet credits from the same credit card. Of course, if you hold both a premium and core Aeroplan card, you can stack the $50 and $25 credits every six months. The same applies if you hold an additional business co-branded credit card; you can stack all 3 credits. Note that the credit expires in 6 months, but you can book up to one year ahead.

You can use these credits for any Air Canada booking, but they won’t work for Aeroplan flight redemption taxes/fees. You can use two forms of payment in one transaction (for example, AC wallet and credit card) online and three if you call in (for example, AC wallet, AC gift card, and credit card). You can also use it for any passenger, and you can find full AC wallet FAQs on the Air Canada website.

Expanded Maple Leaf Lounge Access + Priority Security

Maple Leaf Lounge (MLL) access is already a benefit on the premium Aeroplan co-brand cards, but now includes Maple Leaf Lounges outside North America. This means you can visit the MLL in London, Paris, and Frankfurt as long as you’re flying Air Canada or a Star Alliance airline and hold a premium co-branded card, even if you’re flying economy. Air Canada is opening a new Maple Leaf Lounge in Rome this year as well.

You get 1 travel companion per visit. As a new benefit, premium cardholders get Priority Security at select airports. This applies to up to eight companions on the same reservation.

Hotel & Car Rental 4th Day Free + 15% Off Air Canada Flight Rewards

These are pretty straightforward, and the 4th-day-free car rental was introduced on the Chase card a few weeks back. If you book 8 days, you get 2 days free and so on. Like with hotels, the 4th-day-free offer stacks with any points back Aeroplan promotions.

The 4th day free on hotel redemptions has been around since 2024, but it is now a permanent offering rather than a promotion renewed on an ongoing basis.

Air Canada also introduced 15% off Aeroplan redemptions a few weeks ago, and it’s already in effect. It was stated to have an end date of January 11, but is actually an ongoing offer as it’s a new benefit set to resume perpetually as of January 12, 2027. Notably, the discount also applies to bookings that include both Air Canada and a partner, and the search results reflect the discount baked in, but the website doesn’t display the “15% savings applied” banner for those redemptions.

15% off Aeroplan redemptions also applies to anyone searching for a flight within an Aeroplan Family Sharing pool, as long as a single member (does not have to be Verified Family Lead) holds an eligible credit card. Again, the “15% savings applied” banner might not show up due to a system bug.

The good news is this benefit, along with 4th day free car rental and hotel redemptions, applies to all tiers of Aeroplan cards, including the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Card and the TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum Card.

The Amex Aeroplan Reserve Cards

The Amex Aeroplan cards do deserve their own section because Amex is diverging quite significantly from its counterparts at TD. On the premium card front, Amex is increasing the annual fee not by $100 like the other premium Aeroplan card issuers, but by $200. However, Amex is also adding on the most additional perks (along with the $100 AC wallet and other benefits already discussed).

$200 Dining Credit

First off, the Amex Aeroplan Reserve (personal card) is introducing a new $200 dining credit. It applies at eligible participating Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants and I suspect this is an extension of Amex Platinum Dining, which offers a $200 annual dining credit for Amex Platinum cardholders. The restaurant list isn’t confirmed yet, but I’d bet it’s the restaurants that overlap between the two lists.

6 Priority Pass + 8 Amex Aspire Canada Lounge Visits

Amex is also adding more lounge benefits on top of the expanded Maple Leaf Lounge access, and it’s pretty generous: 6 Priority Pass lounge passes, and 8 Amex Aspire Canada lounge passes (usable at select eligible locations) a year. Even the Amex Platinum only gets 6 Priority Pass lounge passes a year (come January 2027), and 6 visits equals TD and CIBC’s offering of 6 complimentary Visa Airport Companion Pass visits.

However, Amex is also including 8 Amex Aspire Canada lounge visits, which is actually quite handy because the latest Aspire lounges are excellent. Anshul enjoyed his visits to Aspire Executive Lounge Ottawa and Aspire International Montreal. Aspire also has lounges in Montreal’s domestic terminal, Toronto Billy Bishop’s domestic terminal, and Calgary’s domestic terminal, and it’s opening a new lounge in Montreal’s transborder terminal in early 2027.

10% Bonus Aeroplan Points

Finally, the Amex Aeroplan Reserve (personal card) has a new accelerated-points earning feature the more you spend. Earn 10% bonus Aeroplan points upon spending $125,000 annually and also earn 10% bonus Aeroplan points for every $25,000 you spend after that, up to $400,000 a year. I take that to mean 10% applies to your entire earned balance at those dollar bands, including categorized earn.

The Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve is Not as Compelling

On the other hand, the business variant of Amex’s premium Aeroplan offering is nowhere near as compelling. The annual fee is still going up $200, but without the $200 dining credit.

You do get the additional lounge access (6 Priority Pass + 8 Amex Aspire Lounge Canada visits) unique to Amex, plus the Air Canada credits available to everyone: the $100 a year AC wallet credit ($50 every 6 months). The expanded lounge access is still a decent perk, but without a direct credit to offset the difference in annual fee, the business card is a harder sell.

That said, TD and CIBC have no competing premium Aeroplan business product, so the Amex Aeroplan Business Reserve has a specific audience.

Analyzing the Aeroplan Credit Card Changes — Premium Cards

There’s a lot to unpack here. First off, if you value the Air Canada wallet credits at face value, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege annual fee is staying exactly the same. It’s worth face value as long as you book at least one Air Canada flight or buy ancillaries like seat selection or Air Canada Bistro every six months.

To be transparent, this is inferior to the Air Canada credits the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan Credit Card received a few weeks ago, since those work even for Aeroplan redemption taxes/fees and apply as a statement credit. However, it’s fair to assume Air Canada co-branded cardholders buy Air Canada tickets, so assuming cardholders make at least one Air Canada purchase each January-June and July-December period isn’t unreasonable.

The New Perks are Nice-to-Have

From that perspective, the changes are purely positive because no good perks are being removed, while a couple of “nice-to-have” things are being added. And that’s my entire take: all the new changes are nice-to-have quality-of-life improvements, but none are reason enough on their own to sign up for the card. The most compelling reasons to hold a premium Aeroplan card are:

• Air Canada status 10% Head Start + Efficiency of Earning SQC
• Air Canada Priority Boarding + Priority Everything
• Earn World of Hyatt points + Get Globalist With 20 Nights
• Unlimited Maple Leaf Lounge and Air Canada Cafe access
• Annual Worldwide Companion Pass upon spending $25,000 a year

Frankly, none of the new benefits are better than any of the above. The main reasons to hold a card are still to earn 25,000 SQC a year when you spend $125,000, qualify for the Hyatt status challenge, and get Air Canada perks like priority boarding and MLL access.

Priority security is a new benefit now and includes Gold Track at eligible airports, which is the same lanes Air Canada 35K members and above are eligible for. This is definitely a nice-to-have perk because you can also use NEXUS lanes or Amex Priority Lanes, although the latter only exist at Toronto Pearson (YYZ). Admittedly, more priority security access is better than none because the fastest lane can be inconsistent between airports, so having more options is a valuable perk.

But the Value Proposition Sticks

From that perspective, it’s disappointing that the annual fee is increasing by $100 or $200 and you have to jump through extra hoops (use AC wallet credits) to take full advantage of the card.

Still, if you spend at least $50 with Air Canada every six months, the value proposition stays the same or arguably improves considering the new perks. I personally think the Amex Aeroplan Reserve personal is the strongest offering despite the hefty $799 annual fee. It costs $100 more than the TD variant, but comes with a $200 dining credit and additional lounge access. The lounge access is less meaningful if you hold other cards with enough visits to cover your needs. The $200 dining credit is worth face value (or close to it) if there are eligible restaurants in your city.

At the end of the day, you hold a premium Aeroplan card for the compelling reasons I mentioned above, and while a higher annual fee is a tough pill to swallow, taking advantage of the Air Canada wallet credits goes a long way and is not a huge obstacle.

Analyzing the Aeroplan Credit Card Changes — Core Cards

For core cards, it’s a lot simpler. Amex is increasing the annual fee by $30, so the new $120 annual fee becomes $150. It comes with a new $50 AC wallet credit ($25 twice annually). TD is increasing the annual fee by $20, so the annual fee changes from $139 to $159. The Amex version had a lower annual fee before these changes, and it remains lower after, although the gap has narrowed.

No new benefits are coming to the core cards (except the 4th day free car rental + hotels and 15% discount, but those apply to all Aeroplan cards), but the main reason to keep one is the free checked bag. Again, the value proposition is objectively improving since the effective annual fee actually decreases if you book with Air Canada or redeem Aeroplan points once every January-June and July-December period and take advantage of all $50 of AC wallet credits.

Analyzing the Aeroplan Credit Card Changes — Entry-Level Cards

For thoroughness, we can look at entry-level cards and there are only improvements here. The annual fees are not increasing, but new benefits like 4th day free car rental and hotel redemptions kick in. The 15% flight discount is quite a notable perk and I’m honestly pleasantly surprised to see it provided to the entry-level Aeroplan cards.

Takeaway

A slew of changes are coming to Aeroplan co-branded credit cards in Canada as of January 12, 2027.

The best reasons to hold an Aeroplan co-branded card already existed before this refresh, and none of the new perks fundamentally change that. Higher annual fees are disappointing when you now have to use semi-annual Air Canada wallet credits just to offset the increase, but if you can easily use those credits, the value proposition largely stays intact.

That said, the new benefits are welcome additions. Expanded Maple Leaf Lounge access and priority security make the premium cards more useful, while making the 15% flight reward discount permanent adds value across the entire Aeroplan card portfolio. None of these benefits alone is a reason to get a card, but they do make already strong cards better.

Featured Image Credit: Air Canada